[lace] An event not yet reported to arachne
Elena, It crosses my mind that we should probably report to arachne that you will be teaching a bobbin lace class at the House of Wax Bar in Brooklyn on July 28th. The event which is likely to be of interest, although not exclusively so, to the Goth and Lolita community will be followed by a lecture on Lace & Death that is free to the public. The House of Wax Bar seeks to revive and evoke the feel of a panopticum, a type of public exhibition which became popular in Europe in the late 19th century. They showed wax figures and anatomical models as well as other curiosities. The owner of the bar bought a complete set of these wax models which had once been on display in Berlin to put on display in the bar.. Here is an article from the New York Times about the bar. This kind of bar would appeal to those people who enjoy Atlas Obscura and the Museum of Morbid Anatomy (alas, now closed.) I myself am looking forward to settling in for the lecture on Lace and Death with the cocktail named after the serial killer, Fritz Haarmann, known as the Butcher of Hanover, in my hand. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/24/nyregion/brooklyn-bar-house-of-wax-alamo-drafthouse.html 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] New Grounds
Devon I am convinced that the motive behind the prevalence of point ground in the 19th c was speed of working. So much that went on during that time was aimed at speeding up the process, to compete with machine lace (a hopeless prospect). Even the clothwork was simplified. Lorelei Subject: [lace] New Grounds i am not sure why simple grounds like point ground came to dominate in the 19th century. Perhaps it was a matter of taste, a preference for gossamer lightness in the case of the blondes. Maybe it was a matter of speed. 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] reporting lace news
The description Devon gives of her lace reporting activities was interesting. I am doing much the same thing, collecting information form the 20 odd facebook lace groups that I belong to and posting the best parts to laceioli and needlelacetalk. Interesting photos are posted to my pinterest pages. The photos I select to link to are either very good examples of a particular type, or exceptionally unusual or very high quality design. There is a lot of lace news being reported. I often hesitate to post on arachne because !. arachne can't handle photos, and I would have to make a separate post to our flickr account. And 2. Arachne can't handle long urls, and nowadays nearly all photos on the web have very long urls. Now, I could take the time to do all this, but I spend a lot of my day, every day, checking out my facebook groups. There is a limit to how much fussing I am willing to do. So to see what is interesting - http://laceioli.ning.com http://needlelacetalk.ning.com http://pinterest.com/lynxlacelady/boards/ I think I will have to get an Instagram account to keep up with Devon. 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] Lace reporting
Thank you Devon for that wonderful explanation! I apologize that I didn’t share the “Lace Unveiled” event with Arachne sooner, I had included it on all of our social media platforms and in the BLG email newsletter- if anyone would like to subscribe to that, please let me know! In the future I will share to Arachne as well. I should add that I will be demonstrating & teaching a beginner workshop at Lace Unveiled, so they are not in need of another demonstrator but hopefully some Arachne members will be able to join us and enjoy the tour! We will also have a table of antique lace from Devon’s collection for visitors to view. I hope to see some of you there! 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/
Re: [lace] New Grounds - Requiring Starch
>From the perspective of conservation/restoration of lace and textiles:  Until aerosol dispensers were developed, starching requirements for very open lace grounds today would have been very difficult. Perhaps it could have been done with a paint or pastry brush, but it would have been messy. Starching was usually done by immersing an item in starch that was made from boiling potatoes down to a slurry mixture. If the mixture was not sufficiently strained through cheesecloth or something similar to remove small particles, these concentrations attracted micro-organisms that found a tasty potato meal. In the process of consuming these, they left behind round holes (they ate the fibers under the bits of starch). I have a late 18th C. handkerchief - shown during my NELG talk last month - that is a perfect example for teaching about what caused tiny round holes in textiles.  Let us consider the modern - synthetic - starches that are sprayed on lace. We might try to remember when products like hair spray came into use. I think it was after WWII. In 1960, I worked for a Yale chemist who developed an automotive product - de-icer - that needed a delivery system. He went to Alcoa and they came up with a spray can. In those days, car door locks iced up in freezing weather so keys could not be inserted. It was also convenient to spray icy windshields and rear windows - for safety. Now, you remotely unlock car doors and push a button on your dashboard to spray on windshield cleaners that contain de-icers in locations with Winter climates.  After inventions have occurred, innovations become possible. Eventually, some are used by artists.  Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center  In a message dated 5/10/2018 9:50:27 AM Eastern Standard Time, devonth...@gmail.com writes:  One interesting thing that has emerged from private correspondence about new grounds is that many of the new grounds have to be starched on the pillow to avoid collapsing. This had never occurred to me. Does this signify that, lace innovators are thinking more in terms of fiber art than items that are wearables that must withstand washing? - 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] Re: Help needed
I'll send you the instructions in a separate email Sue suebabbs...@gmail.com - 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] New Grounds
the reason the „new“ grounds we try to create, I am speaking of those lacemakers I am working together since several years in different seminaries, s because we use too big grids for to fine threads. Therefore you need starching otherwise there is no stability except we use wool or plastic material. If you work on a Torchon grid for linen 50/2 with cotton 100/2 it’s the same. 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/
[lace] Re: Help needed
Hello Arachneans, could somebody please help or tell me how to load up photos. I forgot how it works. Thanks. 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/
[lace] Oops. Corrections to previous post on grounds
I meant "cross, twist, twist, twist" for point ground. Also, I meant late 20th and early 21st century, instead of late 19th and early 20th century for the rise of grounds that require starching. I plead a sense of disorientation from using a new mail program. I hope these are transmitting ok. 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] New Grounds
Alex makes some interesting points in her post about grounds. The fact that we no longer have the finest of threads which enabled the elaborate quatrefoil grounds of the early 18th century is a shame. But, they are very much of the aesthetic of that era. i am not sure why simple grounds like point ground came to dominate in the 19th century. Perhaps it was a matter of taste, a preference for gossamer lightness in the case of the blondes. Maybe it was a matter of speed. Did the lacemakers decide they would rather cross twist twist, with two pairs, rather than plait with four? Was it the availability of pins that was significant here. Mechlin ground was made without pins and was quite likely more solid than point ground in terms of withstanding washing. One interesting thing that has emerged from private correspondence about new grounds is that many of the new grounds have to be starched on the pillow to avoid collapsing. This had never occurred to me. Does this signify that, now in the late 19th and 20th century, lace innovators are thinking more in terms of fiber art than items that are wearables that must withstand washing? 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 reporting
Jeri writes: The above is an illustration of how one of you might take over some lace news reporting, so I can cut back. I would like to reassure Jeri that in fact Elena and I do a great deal of lace news reporting, but it is invisible to those people without facebook or instagram. Some years ago the IOLI decided it should have a facebook page and I became editor. I try to post daily, sometimes I post multiple times a day. I subscribe to all the lace facebook pages that will allow me to subscribe to them, then cull the information that I think would be of interest to the larger community of the IOLI. I reach out to lace groups asking for photos from their demonstrations and the other fun things they do, since I think that photos of people happily enjoying lacemaking and lace club membership is a way of increasing lace club membership. I also share anything else that comes to me that I think would be of interest. For instance yesterday I shared an essay about the Feast of the Bobbin (May 9th), the announcement of workshops and speakers at the Finger Lakes Guild lace weekend, and I reposted a post that Elena made on the Brooklyn Lace Guild facebook page announcing a demo at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn this Saturday, 3-5, a full day introductory bobbin lace class at the same venue on Sunday, and the next meeting of the Brooklyn Lace Guild on May 19th. The International Organization of Lace's facebook page is oriented toward providing information about lace events and activities mostly in the US, although there is some international content if I think it would be of interest to IOLI members. Particularly enjoyed has been my series of profiles about the teachers at the IOLI convention, and my moment to moment coverage of the Philadelphia IOLI convention with the help of the rest of the media committee. It was an exhausting tour de force culminating in exciting video footage of members of the IOLI, including Kenn Van Dieran, dressed as Uncle Sam, dancing ecstatically through the banquet hall doing the Philadelphia Mummer's Strut to the tunes of the legendary John A. Ferko String Band. (I should really get some award for this footage, as I was almost strutted over.) The IOLI facebook page is followed by 3213 people, so I assume that if there are arachne members who are interested in US based lace activities that they are among the followers. In fact, I think it quite likely that Jill picked up the Yale event from either the IOLI facebook page or Elena's Brooklyn Lace Guild facebook page (2332 followers) , or Instagram account (2447 followers) Elena posts a constant stream of interesting, well composed pictures and announcements on the Instagram account which reaches and sparks interest in people who are often a different demographic than arachne members. In fact, I think that the invitation from Yale to demonstrate bobbin lace there probably came as a result of someone who may have been a follower of her Instagram account. The Yale event has been announced several times in the Brooklyn Lace Guild Instagram and facebook pages, and likewise on the International Organization of Lace's facebook page. I do encourage anyone who would like to share information from the facebook page to repost it on arachne. It is a little hard to navigate the every changing digital world, but one consideration is that if most people who are interested in US based lace activities are following them on the IOLI facebook site, is it necessary to repeat them on arachne, an international site, or does this result in information overload? The good news is that while it may appear to people who do not subscribe to facebook and instagram that lace communication is dying out, it may actually be the case certain elements of it have shifted to different platforms. Arachne, of course, remains the preeminent site for intelligent lace discussion by the best informed members of the lace cognoscenti. 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] New Grounds
Hi Arachnids I also got interested in exploring grounds and tried many of them. Then I made a Bucks point bookmark, an earlier version of the one in my geometrical Bucks book and it was a shock to the system. If you get a chance to see the updated version in my book p150 follow it up by reading the comments on pages 166-168. The majority of fillings and grounds have a strong effect on the design and can make it or break it by leading the eye in different directions. After trying many fillings and grounds have come to the conclusion that the traditional ones are popular because they do not disturb the design and the more elaborate ones, that we find interesting, have gone out of use because they do not enhance designs but interfere with them. Also bear in mind that designs for lace developed when fine thread was used and the stitches in the fillings could not be seen in detail, only the general effect. Traditionally lace consists of clothwork (including half stitch) areas with or without a gimp that look white set in a fairly non-descript ground and there is usually a filling or other set of stitches e.g. spiders, to add interest and focus the eye. Gimps will lead the eye through the design. These elements are put together to make a picture, not necessarily naturalistic, but one that is pleasing. Fillings can make or break the design by changing the focus so be very careful when working with unusual grounds. Be critical of the effect they have and also how dominant they can be, useful when used in a position that is the focus of the design, less so when they dominate the picture and you lose your design and I have not even mentioned colour, that is a totally different ball game. Have fun and by all means experiment with grounds, they are fascinating. Using them is another matter. 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] Single space between sentences; avoid quotations/apostrophes
I too will not be changing the habits of a lifetime. It also infuriates me how the pronunciation of so many words have now been changed by putting the emphasis on a different part of the word. Even news readers on TV do I! Are all these changes age related do you think? Catherine Barley UK where we have been enjoying glorious sunshine for days now! Catherine Barley Needlelace www.catherinebarley.com Subject : Re: [lace] Single space between sentences; avoid quotations/apostrophes I agree, habits of 50 odd years are very hard to break and I, for one, will continue with double spacing no matter the software gurus. - 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/
