Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Bev Walker]

Fun is the word!
I'd really like to be able to work lace intuitively.
Dance, too, but that's not going to happen except as bobbins dance, on the
pillow. Lace it is, diagrams or no, whatever works.

Happy lacing everyone, however way you like to make it.

On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 11:11 AM, Adele Shaak  wrote:

> ... if you made the lace yourself from nothing more than a cartoon. It
> might actually be more fun, too
>

-- 
Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of
Canada

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Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Adele Shaak]

I think it is actually more difficult to make Binche (and other laces)
following a thread diagram than it would be if you made the lace yourself from
nothing more than a cartoon. It might actually be more fun, too.

When you follow the diagram of what somebody else did, you aren’t working
intuitively. It is like when you take a dance class, and your teacher tries to
teach you a set dance routine that she created. It is so, so hard to remember
all the steps and where each one comes and what beat of the music it starts
on. Whereas if they played the music and you got up and boogied away on your
own, the steps you make up and the way you do it might be very complex but
completing a five-minute dance would be easy.

For lacemaking, probably your first few efforts at this might not look very
nice, and you might run into a lot of technical troubles. But in the old days,
you would start small and simple and work your way up to the big and
complicated. Probably at a certain point you would learn a lot more about
thread paths than most of us will ever learn by doggedly following diagrams.

Adele
West Vancouver, BC
(west coast of Canada)


> I still reflect on that, with no conclusion, but getting back to making
> lace in the present, I like the new floral designs by Fumi Kanai and her
> students, and all I do is follow the lace's diagram using lots of movable
> sticky arrows to help keep track.

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Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Bev Walker]

Hello Sharon and everyone

Indeed, literacy itself means competence in a given area.

I think the other is an ability we all have, that many of us forget to use
once we are taught read.

Straying off the topic of Binche, there is a poignant perspective on
learning to read and lacemaking, the chapter The Three Rs in Alan Brown's
"Take the Children..."
https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/ba_2_2000.pdf


On Sun, May 20, 2018 at 6:40 PM, Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi <
shg...@mail.harvard.edu> wrote:

> .
> What's thrilling about your idea, Bev, is the notion of a kind of reading
> that *requires* reading all over, rather than from right to left.
>


-- 
Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of
Canada

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Re: [lace] the logic of Binche

[Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi]

Dear Bev
I take seriously the idea of thinking about lace design or pattern as a
non-linguistic writing system.
If you accept this idea, then the lacemakers who may not be able to read
are not illiterate if they can read and follow a pattern.

What's thrilling about your idea, Bev, is the notion of a kind of reading
that *requires* reading all over, rather than from right to left.



On Sun, May 20, 2018 at 5:46 PM, Bev Walker  wrote:

> Hello everyone and Jane who wrote:
>
> >  I've never been taught Binche but I've made a few small pieces from
> working diagrams and their construction makes absolutely no sense
> whatsoever.
>
> Exactly what I thought when I decided 'how hard can it be' and made a small
> piece from its diagram. I am mostly self-taught from books, following a
> diagram was easy enough. And then I was able to see up close an old example
> of Binche; I marvelled at the mind and hands that created it. Fine, tightly
> woven threads seemingly went everywhere, but here, too, was a pattern
> repeat! Was there ever a diagram? Probably not. I got an idea, what if the
> lacemaker didn't read; they weren't illiterate, they were skilled in other
> ways. If they were unhampered by having to look at a page from left to
> right, and by extension anything else -  could they see in all directions
> at once? Maybe they learned their craft by watching someone else, as one
> might when learning dance steps?
>
> I still reflect on that, with no conclusion, but getting back to making
> lace in the present, I like the new floral designs by Fumi Kanai and her
> students, and all I do is follow the lace's diagram using lots of movable
> sticky arrows to help keep track. Find the topmost element that needs doing
> first and move on from there. It is usual for several sections across the
> design to need attention before advancing. The direction of work is in a
> general downward manner even though it seems like one is jumping all over
> the place. Weaver pairs become passives and vice versa as required to fill
> in a given space.
>
> IMO working a Binche lace is puzzle-solving at its finest, whether
> designing or dependent on the diagram.
>
> --
> 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/
>

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[lace] the logic of Binche

[Bev Walker]

Hello everyone and Jane who wrote:

>  I've never been taught Binche but I've made a few small pieces from
working diagrams and their construction makes absolutely no sense
whatsoever.

Exactly what I thought when I decided 'how hard can it be' and made a small
piece from its diagram. I am mostly self-taught from books, following a
diagram was easy enough. And then I was able to see up close an old example
of Binche; I marvelled at the mind and hands that created it. Fine, tightly
woven threads seemingly went everywhere, but here, too, was a pattern
repeat! Was there ever a diagram? Probably not. I got an idea, what if the
lacemaker didn't read; they weren't illiterate, they were skilled in other
ways. If they were unhampered by having to look at a page from left to
right, and by extension anything else -  could they see in all directions
at once? Maybe they learned their craft by watching someone else, as one
might when learning dance steps?

I still reflect on that, with no conclusion, but getting back to making
lace in the present, I like the new floral designs by Fumi Kanai and her
students, and all I do is follow the lace's diagram using lots of movable
sticky arrows to help keep track. Find the topmost element that needs doing
first and move on from there. It is usual for several sections across the
design to need attention before advancing. The direction of work is in a
general downward manner even though it seems like one is jumping all over
the place. Weaver pairs become passives and vice versa as required to fill
in a given space.

IMO working a Binche lace is puzzle-solving at its finest, whether
designing or dependent on the diagram.

-- 
Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of
Canada

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To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line:
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