Gabrielle, I think the source of the confusion is that we're talking about two different techniques, both called Spanier arbeit. If you look at my photos of the machine with a work in progress, you will see that it is very different from the German PDF. I translated parts of the PDF and examined the photos quite carefully to compare them. The machine that I saw actually weaves a thin metallic ribbon over and under 4 cords. The Austrian version that you refer to uses a much wider metallic ribbon or wire and coils it around two supporting cords.
The Austrian version looks quite fragile and is more suitable for the women's elaborate head-dresses in the photos. The Jewish examples in the Israel Museum use a braid form along the collar of a prayer shawl. This part of the tallit must be very durable because it is constantly being folded and shaken out and handled. It would also have to be quite flexible because it drapes around the neck. You couldn't do that with the version of Spanier arbeit that is used for the German head-dresses. Best wishes, Avital On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 9:40 AM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Spanier Arbeit has not much to do with bobbin lace. I’ll try to explain > (having learned it some 15 or so years ago), but give you as well a link > to a pdf where you will find good fotos. > You work on a bolster pillow on a tape lace-like pattern. While working, > two ticker cotton threads follow the outline of the tape. A flat wire is > wound around both cotton threads and fixed with one metallic thread on > each side. You simply turn two or four times on each side, then wound > again the flat metal wire around both. > > Here is the link: > http://members.aon.at/rosamichl/Anleitung_Lam_technik.pdf > The homepage to it is: > http://members.aon.at/rosamichl/page_1_1.html > You will see that this kind of work was/is used for traditional hats in > southern Germany and Swizzerland. > Mrs Selb explains, that the technique was a well kept secret. There was > only one woman in her area who was able to make it. She took about 360 > hours for one cap. > > Gabriele - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
