Dear Devon, I have received a couple of private responses from people who agree with what I wrote, but not with responses to my questions, which I thank you for answering. I too began lace making with a couple of other little girls who gave up shortly after... so it seems it has always been a problem.
There is a problem with the divide between artisans, designers, artists and the world of amateurs which in the case of lace is filled with very knowledgable people and many resources. There has to be better communication (particularly visual communication; no mobcaps!) and less judgement from all quarters... lace makers are not dowdy old ladies and artists/designers are not necessarily chic, fashionable and snobby. There are so many aspects of life that would be easier if we could get beyond setreotypes! As for off-loom techniques; it is a whole fascinating world and as a handbook there is nothing better than Noemi Speiser's "Manual of Braiding", it contains an excellent introduction to braiding techniques including loop manipulation. When I am not teaching textile and costume history I have the rather curious role of teaching textile techniques which are neither industrial knitting or weaving; that means I am responsible for teaching dyeing, printing, embroidery and what I term "alternative structures" which includes lace as well as decorative braids, basketry techniques that are relevent to the design world and non-woven fabrics. It is an enormous amount of information to convey in a limited number of hours and I choose to teach the students "how" these techniques work at both a manual and industrial level and to simply be available if a student wishes to deepen their knowledge of a particular technique. In the end it is more important for my students to understand what is possible than to be able to complete all the work themselves. When I have groups of students at my school I begin with a sampler of different stitches to analyse the structural qualities and visual effects of each so that the students begin to build a vocabulary of stitches with which they will express their own ideas. Then I pass immediately to an analysis of how to construct individual moftifs and each student chooses a form and has to use their "vocabulary" to fill it in, it is a very free exercise of drawing with threads, from there I pass to techniques for joining such pieces together and in the second half of the course we look at the more complicated task of working the ground and motifs together. I have had very good results with this approach and in the coming years I hope that my students will begin to contribute to the various competitions that are around. Speaking of competitions it was very interesting to hear about the kind of work which has arrived for the Powerhouse competition and how many, even if the Powerhouse defenition of lace speaks of "fabric" and "structure", still presented objects with "lace patterns" often realised with laser cutting... "White stuff with holes in it!" Must go for the moment - Have a good weekend, Angharad - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachnemodera...@yahoo.com
