On Nov 22, 2005, at 19:13, Carolyn Hastings wrote:
I do see raised parts (as the wreath on the head) but it doesn't fit my idea of what princess tape would look like. But then, I've never seen princess tape that I know of.
I wonder if it might not be "princess _cord_" they really mean, rather than "princess _tape_"; it would have been an easy mistake to make, because there's room for confusion...
In reference to lacemaking, the term "princess" is used twice (as far as I know): there's the "Princess Lace" and there's "princess cord". The first is a lace technique of its own, similiar to Battenberg, but the tape is appliqued to (machine-made) net first, then the net is removed from behind the tape and the lacy fillings. So it's, essentially, a Needle Lace, which uses (machine-made) tape and net as its foundation, with both "tape" and "princess" lodged in the same memory slot (especially for a non-lacemaker)...
The second - Princess Cord - is one of the "tools" (techniques) used in Bobbin Lace; it's somewhat similiar to a (square) tally, except that it has two weavers instead of one. It can very easily appear to be 3-d (raised), if its two "core" (vertical) threads are substantially thicker than its two weavers. It can also be raised-in-fact, if one uses it as a vehicle for carrying threads. Just use any number of pairs you want to carry, as the two "core columns", and use one pair as the weavers. And, because it's often done over a long distance, it can _look like a tape_ (even if thick). So it's easy to make a slip here, too, and put "princess" and "tape" in the same mental slot.
But, "princess" in _this_ (BL) context is much less often used, especially in English... Germans do use it consistently, true. But, Bridget Cook, in her "Practical Skills in BL", calls it either "Grand Venetian Cord" (if only one thread is used in each "core column") or "Royal Grand Venetian Cord" (if more than one thread is used in each of the"core columns"). The French split the hair in a different way; no matter how many threads there are in each "core column", if it has two weavers, it's "ganse princesse", not Venetian Cord. But they, too - like Cook - recognise the relationship to the Venetian Cord, so they also call it "Bastard Venetian" -- you take your pick (gotta love the French <g>)...
Unfortunately, I've not been access the website and view the tablecloth photo, since the info Ruth'd sent was not of the one-click kind (at least not on my puter), and I'm too 'puter-illiterate to cope. So, sorry, Carolyn; I'm shooting in the dark, as far as furthering your education goes :) But, if Alice says that most of it is Cantu - BL - then I'd vote for "princess *cord*", rather than "princess _tape_". Cantu is one of those "efficient laces", which use the minimum of pairs to maximum effect, and the princess cord might be right up its alley :)
Yours, in Lexington, VA where the temps are dropping rapidly, but where the rain has stopped, lifting half a ton of my depresion with it :)
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
