Hello all, I completely agree Alex! I start my students with Torchon but if the struggle with the steps I have them do some braiding first.
My goal as an instructor is primarily to get students excited about lace and to understand what they are doing so they can go off into the world and make lace on their own. And it works! A few people discover that lace is not for them, but many students send me pictures of their work later on and some even join our guild. Because my main introduction to lace was a four month trip researching lacemaking on a grant across Europe, I have picked up various tricks along the way and combined them to make my own style. I warn my students that if they take another class down the line with a more traditional instructor they might be told their methods are “wrong.” Of course the reality is that there are many, many ways to make lace lace, and as long as the final result is beautiful it doesn’t matter how you get there. In fact, this was the principal lesson we learned recently in South African lace artist Pierre Fouché’s workshop. He combines Flemish lace and point ground lace in his work and even uses macrame knots to secure his stitches. Of course his style is contemporary and not traditional, but the results are incredibly beautiful. It was very liberating to learn about his methods. I’d love to hear what some other students in Pierre’s class thought about it and how you think it will impact your own approach to lacemaking? What were the highlights for you? I’m sure the Arachnids who couldn’t attend would be glad to hear about it. All the Best, Elena - 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/
