I suggested to Lorelei that the ground in the pictures was whole stitch pin whole stitch and she replied that that was what she meant by Brussels ground. I am not very good with ground names because I find that stitch descriptions are more accurate. But, I went to Cassell illustrated Dictionary of Lacemaking and they claim that the Brussels ground is a droschel ground. According to the book, "Each hexagon consists of two vertical plaits of six or seven half stitches, followed by an extra twist on each pair so that the diagonal pairs linking the plaits have a total of two twists. The term is sometimes erroneously applied to Mechlin ground, a lace with a similar ground although having a shorter plaits." If one were to do wholestitch pin wholestitch or some variation of that, ie. Wholestich pin linen stitch, one might get the same number of crosses and twists, which is kind of an interesting realization that I had not thought of. But I believe that Brussels and Mechlin are actually worked as plaits, and I don't think they have a pin in the middle of the plait. In fact, although I have never done it myself, I was under the impression that it was worked without pins at all. I feel that the picture looks as though there is a distinct pin hole in the middle of the ground stitch, or plait, if you will. Whether this is achieved with a single twist, or a double twist around the pin I don't know, and I don't know what it is called. What are the common names for grounds? I just looked up Dieppe ground, a name I recall, and it is half stitch pin half stitch. Spanish ground is half stitch twist pin half stitch and twist, according to Cassel, resulting in two twists around the pin, which is sort of noticeable, and which I might consider to be a candidate if the picture on picassa was clearer. Also the picture seems to be accompanied by a Spanish language caption, but I don't know if there if there is any real association between Spanish lace and the use of the Spanish stitch. I think that neither of these grounds would be inconsistent with what Lorelei notes as looking like a torchon lace. However, the thought process has gotten me to thinking about ground names. Is there any place where you can find all the ground names grouped together with all the variations in names? And is there any significance to the use of varioius torchon grounds? I realize that Brussels, Mechlin, Valenciennes, etc, are chiefly identified by the grounds, but there are a lot of other grounds. Thanks Lorelei, for opening this line of inquiry. Devon
- To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
