[lace] Many Thanks to all the Aussie Spiders ....
Dear Spiders all, I am overwhelmed! Thanks you all so much for your help - it will certainly be a good idea to check out the baggage allowances, and its good to know that there is a left luggage facility at the airport. I have forwarded the messages, and I am sure that my family will also send their grateful thanks to you all, too. So - many thanks to you all - and may your pins never bend. Carol - in North Norfolk UK - 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] Rembrandt's mother-lacemaker?
I have heard people say that it is thought that Rembrandt's mother was a lacemaker and as a result his paintings of lace are suitably detailed. Does anyone have a source identifying Rembrandt's mother as a lacemaker? 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] Rembrandt's mother-lacemaker?
Dear Devon, this is a story being in the world but difficult to find out the truth. Also the claim that in the museum in Frankfurt a/Main a lace pillow would be on display.Visiting this museum some years ago I was eager to see this but there wasn't one. Than I asked the people working there nobody knew anything about lacemaking of Goethe's mother. They promised me to ask people from the staff of the museum who weren't there at that day. Some time later I got a letter with the information nothing to find about my question. I worked a lot about goethe and his family but nowhere a remark about lace making. That's all I can tell you. Try again asking the museum's staff. It is not only a museum it is the place you can make studies about Goethe and I got the impression they are very eager to answer questions. And I am sure they have no difficulties understanding English. Good luck Ilske - 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] Rembrandt's mother-lacemaker?
Dear Ilske, These things are very hard to track down, as your experience with the Goethe museum indicates. I don't know that there would even be any point to asking the Rembrandt house in Amsterdam. I was wondering if perhaps some lace maker, reading widely with a lace intensive focus might have seen such a reference to Rembrandt. Looking at the paintings, it seems that Rembrandt was able to paint lace very clearly. But, for all I know, it may be the case that every painter of that era would be well versed in painting lace, much as the painters of the Gilded Age were renowned for their ability to paint pearls. Another question, I suppose, is whether most Dutch housewives of the era made lace and thus that Rembrandt's mother's lacemaking would be assumed much as my mother made Jello, but we never talked much about it. It is hard, at least for me, to understand whether this was the case. I saw a slide show some years ago compiled by Lia Baumeister that showed Dutch lacemaking scenes and the practitioners of the craft were seated in nice interiors, wearing nice clothing and even having servants. Lia's theory was that bobbin lace was made by well off people. Of course, art historians may argue that composing a painting would involve bringing many pretty images together such as luxurious furnishings and women holding their hands in a charming way, so one may not be able to derive too much from examining these paintings about social history. Actually, my inclination is to think that the Dutch housewives of ample means made lace for pleasure with the maintenance of household linens as a pretext suited to their industrious culture, much as 19th century quilt making seemed to be about thriftily acquired warmth, but actually seemed to be more about artistic expression. But, I realize that I am projecting my 20th/21st century perception back to the 17th century, so it seems dangerous to go with my instinct. 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] Rembrandt's mother-lacemaker?
This topic came up on Arachne a few years ago because of a painting of Mozart's mother holding a strip of lace http://www.mozart.com/en/timeline/life/journeys-his-mother-anna-maria/ Nowhere does it say that she was a lacemaker though. Jeanette Fischer, Western Cape, South Africa. 22, 2014 1:53 PM To: lace@arachne.com Subject: [lace] Rembrandt's mother-lacemaker? I have heard people say that it is thought that Rembrandt's mother was a lacemaker and as a result his paintings of lace are suitably detailed. Does anyone have a source identifying Rembrandt's mother as a lacemaker? 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/
[lace] Lace fan and a bag.
There are photo's of a lace fan and small lace bag made by two of our members on our Guild Website. Beautiful lace made with silk. http://capelaceguild.tumblr.com/ Jeanette Fischer Western Cape, South Africa. - 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] I survived the One Day Workshop! (long)
I was asked to report and so I'll try. A Textile center 90 miles away scheduled a week of textile skills with a different one each day. I was asked to do Introduction to Bobbin Lace. We would have five hours to do it. The class would be people who had no idea how lace was made, and no supplies. With help from friends and the Poole Lace Guild, we devised a version of the twisted Christmas ornament strip that looked much like the famous 'snake' for beginners. It used only cloth stitch with extra twists to make a little design in the center a couple places. The great thing about it was that it could be ended at any point down the strip. They were shown samples without stiffening, and a sample twisted and stiffened. I had specified a limit of 12 people, and solicited 3 friends to come with me to help. All bobbins were wound in advance, and the patterns were on the pillows. I collected all empty pillows I had, ones owned by the lace society that hadn't sold at the last lace day, some borrowed from other lace friends, and covered new pillow forms to finish out the count. . Three days before class, I got an email that they had registered 15 people!! Yikes! That meant 66 more bobbins to wind and more pillows to find. Luckily, I had also had a 4th friend ask to come. I did write a terse email to the registrar whom I had been working with and started winding bobbins. It turned out the two employees of the museum who had signed out, dropped out so we had 13 in the class. I was up early because it was a two hour drive to the Center. I picked up one friend on the way. The other 3 met in another city and came together. We were from four different cities, but we arrived at the center within three minutes of each other. (Good timing.) And the Center was locked. No one home. One student showed up very soon, and phoned the person with the key. She came driving in very shortly (it's a small town), very much surprised we were there 30 minutes early. I had made arrangements with the registrar but she neglected to tell the person with the key. But we got in, and then had to wait a bit while they set up the classroom (moving things off the tables). The students came in and got settled (two were late). I started with basic background. They wound one pair of bobbins, just to get the idea of prep needed, then we switched to the prewound bobbins and I talked them step by step through the start. After that, the five helpers rotated around the room coaching as needed. Almost everyone was getting well started when lunch was announced. We took a half hour break and continued. There was one man in the class. I had expected all women. He was one of the first people to finish. He had a bit of a problem keeping left and right straight. He said each time I came by to look, he did the stitch backwards. However, he got the idea quickly, and even put a third design element in the strip without it being marked on the pattern. The pattern was 8 inches long. I think 3 or 4 made it to the bottom. One could not get the concept of the stitch and had to be coached through every stitch. She got only a couple inches or so. One lady worked hard but gave up at 3 inches and had me finish it off. She enjoyed the class but learned that her eyes and hands just could not do lace. She would stick to her weaving. The others were at all levels in between the fast and the slow. One of the early finishing students took all the bobbins as people finished, and stripped them. There's only a few left for me to do. (That was nice of her.) Half the class was very enthusiastic about it and wanted to do more. I had taken my bag of beginner supplies I keep on hand for our local people, which had just been stocked up with beginner books and bobbins. I sold all the books (have to order more now) and half my stock of bobbins, plus three of the pillows we used. I think I'm going to be asked back in the future for a continuing class. If so... I will limit it to 8. I have to admit that I was almost overwhelmed with trying to instruct 13 people at once. I'm more used to single tutoring. I could probably do a better job if I did it again... having been through it once. Of course, hind sight is always clearer and I could see where I could have done better. I did learn that the noise level was higher with five instructors. There was always the sound of at least five people talking. The other thing was that I could have used an easel to hold up a demo pillow and/or a paper pad to draw on. Class ended half an hour early, but everyone was getting tired. We had normal tables to work on which were too high, of course. I had suggested each person bring a seat cushion so they would sit a bit higher, which helped, but the chairs were not the best for lacemaking. If a group continues, we can use TV trays or the common adjustable plastic folding tables
[lace] Many thanks for LOKK start help!!
Hello All! What an outpouring of translations helpful advice! Thank you, one all! Not that I still don't have questions, heh heh. G. However, now that I'm down to the end fiddling with an invisible finish from Martina's book, dear husband has offered to chauffeur me to Guelph ONT to see the lace exhibit before it closes. Nancy let me drool over her laptop pictures in Ithaca so now I'm ready for the real deal. Alas, the pink ribbon must wait for my return but I will say that I'm thrilled with it so far. As Jacquie mentioned, the finish will be key so I'm trying not to mess up! Truly I could not have gotten this far without your generous assistance!! To be continued after Guelph... Sincerely, Susan Hottle, Erie, PA USA iPhone - 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] One day workshop
Thank you so much, Alice, for the detailed report on the workshop. I know how tired you must have been after it was all over, but I'm sure it was certainly worth the effort for both students and teacher. I have one little suggestion, which might save a sore back from the long bending over other people's pillows. When I spent several days at the Kant Cantrum I noticed that the set up for both students and teacher was as I have never seen it elsewhere: Three chairs were set up along the wall. The teacher sat in the middle one, and a first student took the chair on her right, followed by a second student on her left. The teacher turned to the first student and helped her with her problem, then turned to the second one and took care of her. Meanwhile, a third student took the place of the first, and so it continued all afternoon. This might not work as well at the beginning of a group introduction, but as the afternoon wore on it might have saved the teacher's back and give the students a welcome change of position now and then. Most of the time the setup for lace classes, as I've experienced it in the US, is just as Alice described it, with poor light, inadequate tables, and miserable seating. But for me anyway, I love to introduce people to lacemaking and always welcome the opportunity to do so even under adverse conditions. We seem to be getting more requests for demonstration up here in Maine USA which is very encouraging. And interestingly, the most eager to figure it all out are the men and boys! Tess - 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] survived the 1 day workshop
Alice Your description of your day sounds like a situation I encountered many years ago. But you handled it very well. And it sounds like a success. I recall a lace class where I asked for bright light, but got a large room with only 1 fluorescent bulb in each fixture. They were trying to save money, but the students in the class complained all day about how they couldn't see. They blamed me, I think. The group which had asked me to come in had engaged the room, and whoever handled that had obviously not looked at the room when dealing with the venue. I also recall a day when the local guild had a meeting at a church (we were using their space for all our meetings and had given them a list of dates for the whole year). When we arrived we found another craft guild had already set up in the space and they insisted that we leave, that they had reserved the room. (Our reservation was older than theirs.) We refused to leave and commandeered a small room within the space. I guess the lesson from all this is that we can't rely on people outside our guilds and activities to understand our needs. Somehow, we need to find a way to make sure that the teacher's requirements are understood. Perhaps this means a letter listing all the requirements, and another letter from them accepting those requirements, followed up by a phone call. But I can honestly also recall a major gaffe of my own. I was supposed to give a lace identification lecture using my own projector. When I got there I found out the bulb had burned out. A local woman came to the rescue and went out and found a replacement. I think, in the end, they enjoyed the lecture. But I sure was an idiot that day. Lorelei - 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] survived the 1 day workshop
Lorelei, I think we all feel like dills at times when we're doing things in public. I altered a pattern once in order to make it easier for the students to establish the basics of the piece before they tackled a more complicated technique. However, I didn't revise the starting instructions - and discovered in the class that, because the start was so different, I should've added two rows of pinholes at the top instead of one. And I was in New Zealand teaching the not-quite-released Lace8 programme when I discovered that some people, using older laptops with smaller screen resolutions, couldn't access all the buttons on the toolbars. The programmer had assumed that anyone with a smaller screen resolution would be able to access the buttons a different way - but I didn't know that way at the time, so I hadn't tested it, and found out that it didn't work!I felt so terrible about it all, and couldn't get onto the programmer either because he was away on a cruise somewhere! Hopefully our students accept us as human beings and don't hold a grudge! Ruth Budge (Sydney, Australia) But I can honestly also recall a major gaffe of my own. I was supposed to give a lace identification lecture using my own projector. When I got there I found out the bulb had burned out. A local woman came to the rescue and went out and found a replacement. I think, in the end, they enjoyed the lecture. But I sure was an idiot that day. Lorelei - 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] Margaret Ruhland Alice
Oh Dear. I had not heard of Margaret's passing - I must have missed that news while I was away. I have chatted to her over the Internet when she posted some wonderful photos of some of her laces. I found her very knowledgeable, and also very generous with sharing photos of her collection. That is a great loss., but how wonderful that her lace collection is up on show. For others to enjoy. Very well done, Alice, for attempting that big class of beginners. I am sure they all enjoyed it, but you must have been exhausted by the time you got home. I hope you get some of them to carry on learning the craft. Please say Hi to everyone. I always have happy memories of my trips to Oregon! Even DH enjoyed them!! Regards from Liz in Melbourne, Oz. - 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/
