Re: [lace] Freebie
Hi Jenny and fellow Arachnids, Thank you Jenny, beautiful, clear explanations and photographs. My preference is to use smooth wire and doubling up in the bottom bead, using twisting the wire tightly around itself on either side of the bead (at least 3 twist each side) before cutting very close and running the tip of the pliers in the direction of the twists to smooth down the ends. This method causes less wear on the spangle hole. I have not yet seen these crimps and covers here but will give it a go if I can find any. Happy lace making, Joepie in cold, snow-covered but bright at present, East Sussex, UK -Original Message- From: Jenny Brandis I have been learning how to make EPUB books - electronic books that can be read on iphone, ibook, ipad etc and I my first effort is on spangling east midland bobbins. It gave me the chance to practice with text and graphics LOL The epub file is free to download from my website at http://www.brandis.com.au/craft/downloads/spangling.html - 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/
Re: [lace] Bobbin lace accessory
Hi Noelene and fellow Arachnids, This as the other responders describe it a implement to hold the threads down, just above the beginning line of the pattern, at the start of continental laces which don't start with paired bobbins. However, having had a look at the photographs on the Langendorf site I feel that physics preclude the metal bridge to do much work. The eyes are on the flat side of the bridge which means that the middle will be very loose and/or flick up, unless you hold that down with pins as well. I feel that the wooden, flat implement would work much better. Happy lace making, Joepie in wintry East Sussex, UK On the langendorfkloeppel site, I have spotted a bobbin lace accessory called a "Fadenbrucke" which my Google Translate can't cope with, and which is described as "an indispensable help for the beginning of lace with open threads". It looks like a needle with an eye at both ends - there are two sizes, one 30cm and the other 50 cm long. My German dictionary translates this as "thread bridge". Noelene Lafferty - 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/
Re: [lace] Bobbin lace accessory
The word means "Thread bridge" - similar to the horseshoe, or what I use is a thin piece of wood 2mm thick (various lengths as needed), with holes either side to pin down. I also use this as a "Bedfordshire stick" : when starting at an angle or semi-circle working in both directions with laid open pairs, it is very useful to butt one half of the pair up against the wood, so you can start the other side, then reverse the process. It makes a tricky job with everything sliding all over the place a lot easier. Agnes Boddington - Elloughton UK The wooden gadget is also described on the site as a "Fadenbrucke" but it seems to me this needle-like gadget is something different. To me it looks like an object similar to the green horseshoe, to allow one to lift the threads over pins. That would also be a use of a bridge. > Beth in Albuquerque - 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/
[lace] what is is?
Anybody recognize this thing? Ebay #221200831052. Laurie http://lacenews.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/
[lace] Eva Schaefer
This is to let you all know that my mother, Eva Schaefer, died last sunday, march 10th. This list was very important to her (though she tended to be more of a lurker) and due to her difficulty in reading I read it out to her every day. I must thank you all for the satisfaction she derived from your messages. Guillermo S. Kurtz Schaefer - 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/
Re: [lace] what is is?
Laurie, Anybody recognize this thing? Ebay #221200831052. While I haven't seen one in that shape, I'd say it's an antique version of a bobbin tree - something I can't live without. David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/
[lace] Eva Schaeffer
Dear Friends, I was so sad today to learn of Eva Schaeffer's death this week. I've been thinking of her a lot lately as it was she who sent me the spools of both black and white silk which have enabled me to make some of my larger pieces of Chantilly Lace. In fact I'm using it on my current piece. David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/
[lace] Straw Plaiters
Dear Friends, I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw Plaiters. Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!! I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!! David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
I think they made hats. At the Luton Museum, which I visited for lace purposes, there was an awful lot about straw plaiting and the hat industry. In fact, I got the feeling that people might move between lace making and straw plaiting depending on what was "hot". Devon In a message dated 3/13/2013 9:48:27 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dccoll...@ncable.net.au writes: Dear Friends, I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw Plaiters. Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!! I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!! David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/ - 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/
Re: [lace] Eva Schaefer
I am very sad of the loss of Eva Schaefer, whom I met through Arachne, and with whom I had lost touch a few years ago. Thanks to her, I had the opportunity to learn a lot things related to bobbinlace. She put me in touch with Mariña Regueiro, whose courses I have been attending for many years. She tought me not to put a flowery cover to my pillow (so typically Spanish). She taught me to make a crochet strip to hold the bobbins to the pillow in a safe way. She showed me bobbins of regions I had never seen before. She showed me her collection of lace books when I only had two or three: she also transmitted me the passion for buying lace books and now I also have a large collection. I learnt from her to wetten the linen threads while working, so that it did not break. To make picots differently to left and right. To make a star crossing the way they do it in Almagro (Spain). And many other things which I will possibly remember after finishing this writing. That's why the fact that that she could never see the magazine I have founded and edited, because she couldn't see anymore in the last years, makes me also very sad. I will always remember her. For those who did not know her, Eva Schaefer was a German Lacemaker who lived in Spain. That's why I could get to know her personally and meet her in several occasions. Antje González, from Spain. - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
Dear David, I'm taking a stab here, but millinery straw braid would be my guess. Straw hats were common for summer use, and at least some were made of straw braid, perhaps a half inch wide, although I'm sure it varied, which was then sewn together over a form for the proper shape. Such a straw hat uses a lot of braid. It can be coarse or fine. I once saw a Shaker lady's straw hat, in a museum, and it was very fine. Lyn from Lancaster, where it's cool but nice and sunny, 41F 4.5C David wrote: >I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and >find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they >were Straw Plaiters. > >Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these >were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!! >I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!! > "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
http://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/ Interesting site on traditional straw craftspeople. At some rural craft fairs, there is usually someone demonstrating tradional "corn dollies" and "symbols", sometimes used to ward off evil spirits. Agnes Boddington - Elloughton UK Dear Friends, I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw Plaiters. - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
Hallo David, don't know if it is the same thing, but my Gt Aunt Polly made what we called straw dollies which hung in the house and were made with the current years straw and replaced the previous years dollies which were then burnt, I think it was something to do with getting a good crop the next year, they were quite complicated things to make as I recall. Sue M Harvey Norfolk U.K. Sent from my iPad - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
There is an article about straw plaiting in Luton, and Bedfordshire here. It is really very interesting and illuminating about a trade that was similar to lace making. There are many parallels. For instance, you could do it in cottages. Italians did it better. The disruption of trade with Italy during the Napoleonic Wars resulted in a boom in the English plaiting industry. French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic Wars did it in distasteful competition with English workers. There were plaiting schools for children which were of questionable educational quality but resulted in a lot of daily plaiting. These schools bit the dust because of the dastardly, business unfriendly Education Act of 1870. Finally the industry is destroyed because of cheap imports from Asia. _http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/luton/0.local/hat_plaiting. htm_ (http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/luton/0.local/hat_plaiting.htm) 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://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters
Dear David, I am indebted to Jean Leader for the gift of a 192-page book from England by Veronica Main "Swiss Straw Work", self-published in 2003, ISBN 0-9541795-0-1. If you do a search of her name and the subject, you should be able to find out how to order it directly from Veronica. If this does not work, contact me off-line and I will supply the information given in the book. Alternatively, David, you could try to order it from Australia's version of InterLibrary Loan at your local library. Maybe there is at least one copy in a library in your country. Although the book is about Swiss straw work (not the straw work of the UK), it is most interesting to see straw work that very much resembles fine laces. There are many instructions (in color) in this book. Finer examples combine horsehair with straw to create delicate results. Implements used include needles, sometimes multiple needles, which result in very lacy doilies There is an antique straw embroidery on velvet shown in which the straw resembles gold thread. Resources given in the book can be searched for and will yield results (the old web addresses did not always work): Guild of Straw Craftsmen (UK) Freiamter Strohmuseum Wohlen (Switzerland) National Association of Wheat Weavers (U.S.) Correspondence is inserted in my copy of the book from Gil Dye mentioning that Veronica was a curator at Luton Museums. She is well-known. Another insert is a letter from Avital (our web master) referring people on Arachne to check out _http://www.thestrawshop.com/_ (http://www.thestrawshop.com/) , which appeared in a Nordic Needle (American) newsletter. Our Arachne archives contain 115 entries under "Straw work". Some are about pillows, but you'll find more information about working with straw as well. _http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html_ (http://www.mail-archive.com/lace@arachne.com/index.html) Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw Plaiters. Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/
RE: [lace] Straw Plaiters
Straw was plaited into narrow braids, which were then used to make hats. Luton in Bedfordshire was a centre for hat-making, and Hitchin in Hertfordshire (where I live, about 8 miles from Luton) was a straw-plaiting town. We used to have a building called "Plait Hall" but it fell into disuse and has been replaced by houses. When youngsters were making lace, they sat still where they could be supervised; but plaiting was a craft which could be done while standing up or walking about. Plaiters could therefore go roaming around the countryside, getting up to goodness knew what, while plaiting ... They got a reputation for being no better than they should be . Margery. margerybu...@o2.co.uk in North Herts, UK > -Original Message- > From: owner-l...@arachne.com [mailto:owner-l...@arachne.com] > On Behalf Of David C COLLYER > Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1:48 PM > To: lace@arachne.com > Subject: [lace] Straw Plaiters > > Dear Friends, > I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and > find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they > were Straw Plaiters. > > Can someone please tell me exactly what they produced? Some of these > were as young as 5 and 7 years of age on the censuses!! > I'm sure it wasn't all macrame hanging baskets!! > > David in Ballarat, AUS - 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/
Re: [lace] Eva Schaefer
Hello Guillermo and everyone on the lace list I met Eva through this list, years gone by, after a question I had written about Spanish bobbins. She very kindly, and with a hint of mischief, sent me several each of 6 different styles of bobbin used in areas of Spain. The real prize and pain were some in nicely carved olivewood which before I would use them I would have to do some boiling process to make them smooth. Needless to say I did not bother, but I have used them all. The rough olivewood aren't that bad for coarse thread. And, I treasure the photos she sent of each region where the bobbins were from. Thank you Guillermo for keeping her connected to 'us.' Rest in peace, Eva, On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 5:25 AM, eva schaefer wrote: > > I must thank you all for the satisfaction she derived from your messages. > > Guillermo S. Kurtz Schaefer > -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - 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/
[lace] Plaiters
Re: Dear Friends, I'm currently doing some family history research for one of us, and find that IF her female relatives were not Lace Makers, then they were Straw Plaiters. Hi David Luton was a centre for the plaiting industry. Among other things they made straw hats on a commercial scale, but I don't believe corn dollies were made commercially, I think they were a home craft and made for friends and family - but I may be wrong. Have not tried looking it up but try Luton Museum, Wardown Park. Happy lacemaking Alex - 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/
Re: [lace] Straw Plaiters-morally inferior to lacers?
Marjorie writes: When youngsters were making lace, they sat still where they could be supervised; but plaiting was a craft which could be done while standing up or walking about. Plaiters could therefore go roaming around the countryside, getting up to goodness knew what, while plaiting ... They got a reputation for being no better than they should be . But were lacemakers any better than they ought to be? The discovery of a lace pillow in the archeological excavation of a privy associated with a brothel in the Five Points section of New York has made me wonder whether lace making and prostitution were not practiced by some people at the same time. It doesn't seem to me like it was an either/or situation. For one thing, a prostitute spends time waiting for clients. Apparently in New York, prostitutes and everyone else, including invalids and children, were quite likely doing piecework, such as "sewing collars" during any down time. In England and Europe, there was a common practice of teaching women to make lace so they wouldn't fall into prostitution, or so they could escape prostitution, but we know that lacemaking wasn't exactly well compensated. So, it would seem that those inclined to lacemaking and those inclined to prostitution are often the same economic group. Prostitutes are being trained to make lace, and lace makers might need to supplement their income sometimes with prostitution. In fact, prostitutes might even need to supplement their income with lace making. Although personally, I think that the blindness associated with lacemaking is normal vision changes with age, one theory is that they got venereal disease because they tended to live in port towns with a lot of sailors, another tantalizing detail. Sitting outside the cottage making lace would afford better light, but also provide an excuse for being outside the cottage next to the street. Clearly, some lace makers also engaged in straw plaiting, which seems to be associated with "loose" behavior. Does anyone have any evidence to illuminate this subject? Devon PS. Ancestors of present company excluded, of course. Lace making and homemaking are also strongly associated. - 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/
[lace] straw plaiters
Straw plaiters made long strips of plaited straw for the manufacture of the bonnets that were in fashion at the time. Many of the plaiters were, at one time, lace makers but they made more money plaiting straw. I too had an ancestor, who, at the age of ten, was supporting her younger sister and Grandmother by plaiting straw. Like a lot of cottage crafts, each area had it's specialty plaited pattern. Some plaits were narrow and other's quite wide, it isn't too hard to see how lace makers could quickly convert from lace threads to straw. Sharon on Vancouver Island - 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/
[lace] rochet lace
The TV and newspaper pictures of the Cardinals in Rome for the election of a new Pope show only tantilizing glimpses of the wide lace edgings on the suplice-like garment they wear (the rochet) . Though I assume these varied wide lace trims are not handmade, they look very lovely. Does anyone know a source or website where one might more clearly view the lace? - 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/