Dear Jean, This sounds fascinating. I would love to know how she worked with one hand for bobbins and one for pins. I wonder if it depends on the shape of the pillow. As someone commented, she is just rolling them around as they are suspended in air. I learned on a roller pillow with a flat apron, using European bulbed bobbins, from Gunvor Jorgensen who learned as part of the Tonder lace revival in the twenties and the 1920s and 1930s. She used to say, "try to use your thumbs as little as possible" and she would demonstrate how, ideally, you would hold the bobbins only between your fingers. I was never really able to master this to the level that she was hoping for. I am unsure why this was recommended by her. Maybe it was a speed issue. Or maybe it was an orthopedic issue. Or maybe it was even a tension issue. You were supposed to give a gentle tug to the bobbin every time you picked it up between your non-thumb fingers. I wish I had asked her. But, I was a high school student at the time, and I had been carefully trained to master material and not ask questions. I feel certain, though, that this was part of the instruction that she received in Tonder from Ingaborg Rasmussen. Over the years when I observed her teaching other people, it seemed to me that she was no longer emphasizing certain things that she had emphasized with me. So, perhaps her teaching changed as she evaluated what was important to the US student. For instance, speed wasn't that important to hobbiests. If only we could go back in time and see how lacemakers worked in the past. Devon
On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 1:24 AM, Jean Leader <j...@jeanleader.net> wrote: > Devon, > > The UK Lace Guild has a draft of a book on lacemaking by Ethel Nettleship in > which the instructions tell you to work with one hand for the bobbins and the > other for placing pins. I can’t remember the details and I’m away from home > right now but have them somewhere at home. I can look them out when I get > home at the end of the month. Ethel Nettleship was an interesting lady who > made lace in colour with subjects like parrots, cats, and even bread and > butter! As far as I remember she was making lace in the 1930s and 40s - the > UK Lace Guild now has her surviving lace and prickings in its Museum > Collection. > > Jean currently in Lake Arrowhead CA before moving on to San Antonio TX for > the IOLI Convention > ------------------------------------------------------- > Jean Leader > www.jeanleader.net > > - 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/
