I have been helping my next door neighbour to learn to make lace. I told
her I will teach her what I can and anything she doesn't understand to say
so as I can always find another way to show her or to tell her. Because she
has one week hand we are finding ways to make it all work for her and
although we are not quick she has produced two nice pieces of work she is
proud of and is 3/4 of the way through her third project. The first couple
of weeks I did the usual rough bit of lace to help her get the feel of the
threads and the bobbins, it also allowed me to see how quickly she
understood what she was trying to do. She is a year older than me, so not
quite as young to pick things up quickly.
I clearly remember the things I struggled with in my classes (Lace and all
those years at school), so told her there is no such thing as a stupid
question, ask and we can work at it. After the tapes which were very
untidy and not always right I didn't keep pushing with that, I decided that
she was ok moving the bobbins and threads and went on to the snake. I told
her we could take all the time she needed and that we wanted it to be a nice
tidy job for her grandson. It wasn't perfect but it was a good job done and
I told her she could be proud of her work, her grandson is delighted and she
had the confidence to tackle her next piece for her granddaughter. I told
her to relax, take her time and enjoy it, she wasn't needing to race and it
was for her pleasure, nothing more. Because of the childrens school
holidays we haven't had a session this month but will resume early next
month. I am not a teacher but I am hoping to pass on my enjoyment of the
craft, neither she nor I have a need to pass any exams now or in the future.
I have learned a lot from my teacher and also from many of you ladies on
here since she retired for which I am always very grateful.
Sallie, when you finish your fan, look and decide what could probably have
been a little better and what you could work on in the future and then step
back and see the beautiful thing you have created. I still get a sense of
please and mild disbelief thinking that I made this piece of lace. It is
really lovely.
Today you and another friend have made me realise that at the moment I am
trying to be too clever for my own good with my poppy so am going back to
keeping it simple and will make it back up later on, in the way I should
have done and then enjoy it and move on.
Take pleasure and pride in what you have achieved and remember you dont need
to know everything about lace to do each pattern. Just enough to allow you
to make it and learn a little more with each piece.
Have fun Sallie. Dont allow someone else to ruin your pleasure.
Sue T
Dorset UK
I was not going to say anything until your comments Lorelei. I liked your
comments.
When I met my dear friend for the first time (we had been communicating via
e-mail only as she lives in the UK) I showed her a bookmark I had made. I
was so proud of the fact I could finish something. She said it was
wonderful, however I could tell she was holding back. When I convinced her I
wanted her honest opinion. She responded with "you do spiders differently
here in America!" I asked her t show me how she does them and wonder of
wonders I could actually see the spider legs!!
Then I took my first ever class and had completely the opposite reaction
from the instructor I was paying to teach me. She looked at what I was doing
& picked up my scissors & cut all the bobbins off my pillow. Then she said I
needed to learn the the basic stitches and walked away. That ended my
efforts to learn that type lace and my desire to never take a courts with
that teacher again.
After that I was hesitant to take another class until I took a class with
Sylvie Nugyen. Talk about patience. She was fantastic and sold me on Russian
tape lace. This year at the Convention I took a course with Lia Baumeister.
I must admit I need way more lessons than we re programmed for this class.
At one point when I was really struggling I told her the problem is I can't
read Swedish. She laughed & said "but this is a diagram not words!" Then
she proceeded to color code the diagram so I could better follow what needed
to be done. I actually finished a small piece of lace!! More importantly
she took the time to work with me & didn't CUT my threads!! Lia's class on
Russian tape lace was fantastic. She started me on a fan and spent time
with me to do leaves which I am struggling with. So, bottom line I have had
three fantastic teachers and one very poor example of a teacher plus tons of
help from Arachne.
Robin, please don't give up & if you follow the advise from those who have
responded you will have the courage to tell those who downgrade you to jump
in the lake. My friend in the UK is constantly telling me to not be so
critical of my work and is always encouraging as have been Sylvie & Lia.
Please remember you can always chalk up the bad experience to ignorance on
the other person's part. For every bad experience there are tons of really
good ones as others have said in their comments.
Sallie in WY
-
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://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
