I often use magic threads at the beginning of a piece, and at a place of multiple crossings in Russian tape lace or Beds.
With the bunch at the beginning, I use (as has earlier been suggested) very long threads, and twist them or plait them together, twist the end around a glass headed pin, and, pulling them firmly, anchor the ends with the glass pin to one side of my work. There they remain. They never seem to get in the road of my ongoing work. And if it is a large piece and the beginning is going to be unpinned as you move the work up, then the plait is a better idea, then the threads don't get tangled up. I got the idea from seeing European samples started and finished with plaited threads to keep them tidy. Having used magic threads in tatting for many years before I moved on to bobbin lace, I was already keen on them, and immediately saw their value when I first heard of using them in bobbin lace. I also use a magic thread when doing fillings in Russian tape lace, when I want to do leaves in the gimp colour and don't want to bring a gimp thread in to the filling area. I clip two of my working bobbins together with a tiny rubber band, and introduce a new bobbin with the gimp thread on it at the top of the first leaf. The "tail" from this bobbin gets tucked into the rubber band and worked into the first leaf. For the final leaf, I lay in a magic thread with the centre bobbin, and use it to pull the coloured gimp thread back down the centre of leaf when I've finished using it. Noelene in Cooma - where we've finally got a spell of real summer weather (hot, dry, bushfires). Cooler today, but another week of 30 degrees plus forecasted next week. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nlafferty/ > Forgive me for making a suggested refinement for a technique that I have not > yet tried myself!!! I have really appreciated the notes on Magic Threads as > this is something I do intend to try at some stage. I note that someone > suggested pinning the threads behind the work to keep them in order etc. I > wonder if it would help to pin them into a strip of styrofoam. It seems to > me that it would then be an easy matter to move them around the pillow as > the work progressed!! Does this sound a good idea? I would appreciate > comments. > > Sue Fink > Masterton > New Zealand, where finally we are having hot days and nights; well three in > a row! Is this our summer for 2007? - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
