Blog & News

We had a wonderful workshop with Rita at the NELG meeting on 11/16.  There is a certain knack that must be acquired to perfect the netting knot -- sort of like learning to "flip" that tatting knot.  And although most of us had difficulty trying to keep the thread wrapped around the correct fingers, some of us actually made a little progress!  Rita has agreed to come back to our January meeting, which is devoted to UFOs among other things, and help us further with the bag project if wanted.  So keep on netting!  I think she said it's a little like tallies -- it takes a 100 or a 1000....

And be sure to check out Jeri's report in the post below.

Netting Artist, Stephanie Crossman
 
On November 2, 2013, I discovered Stephanie Crossman, of Vinalhaven, Maine  www.mainenetbags.com at a Maine Crafts Guild museum show located in the large entrance lobby of the Maine State Museum.  When I exclaimed that some of her Netting was like lace art, and introduced myself, she asked if I knew Lauran Sundin.  It was then that we knew we could "talk lace".
 
This artist has a web site that features a limited selection of her creations.  I suggest you look at each tab:
 
Pocket bags, Shopping bags, Shawls and Scarves are what you would expect, though each is unique.  But the one you really must view is Sculpture.
 
These items are made with very fine threads, using old hand-made tools inherited from a great grandmother, not standard-size netting needles.  All these small thread sculptures were presented in protective shadow boxes, none much more that 8" in height.  The featured item is a Jelly Fish, and it was the first that caught my eye.  It is shaped to puff out from the surface, somewhat like a child's balloon.  Then, position your screen arrow over the Sand Dollar, Lady's Slipper, Bird. and Fish to enlarge other images.  All are 3-D.
 
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For research and instruction, there are chapters in books devoted to Netting, but fully-dedicated-to-the-subject books may be hard to find.  IOLI has some, listed with Needle Lace books:
 
http://www.internationalorganizationoflace.org/iolilibrarylist.pdf
 
N-065 Art of Netting from the Kliots - 112 p. reprint
N-084 Beautiful Netting, by Rita Bartholomew - 66 p. for 2001 IOLI Class
N-057 Harper's Bazar (sic) Netting Patterns - 26 p. of articles & patterns
N-034 Knotting & Netting, by Lisa Melen - 88 p. hardback
N-082 Make Nets, Here's How, by H.T. Ludgate - 72 p.
N-066 Priscilla Netting Book - 40 p.
 
My lace library inventory contains over 1,000 book titles and I had been looking for one on Netting for a long time.  At the Caen OIDFA Congress, a German book dealer offered "Knotting and Netting - The Art of Filet Work - Designs, Materials, Techniques", originally published in Sweden in 1971, and re-published in the U.S. by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1972.  Library of Congress # 72-1857 and ISBN # 0-442-29958-3.  I looked at the Netting section, illustrated with pictures, before buying.  It would be worthwhile to try to borrow from InterLibrary Loan.
 
New England magazines (like Yankee and Downeast Maine) often contain articles about local crafts and historic homes, some of which have pictured Netted bed canopies.  The 2-volume set "The Treasury of Early American Homes" by Dorothy and Richard Platt (republished frequently since 1946) shows Netted bed canopies at Gore Place and Whipple House.  A woven fabric canopy is shown at the Nathan Hale house.  Attached at the edges is a Netted trim that looks to be about 8" wide.
 
These may all have been replaced with reproductions, since my books are over 50 years of age.  I am guessing this, because the nets were stretched tautly, which may have weakened them over time.  Sharing these resources, in the event photos are needed for anyone's research files.
 
Information is the way I can share with the NELG, since I no longer make lace.
 
Jeri Ames in Maine USA
Lace and Embroidery Resource Center
 
 

The following sad news was just posted on Arachne:

Much thanks to GAIL MACLEAN, DORIS SCHICK, RITA BARTHOLOMEW, and JEANNE GOODWIN for volunteering at the 

I think I often get a bit complacent when looking at the NELG website if there is nothing new for a while.  Today for some reason I went to the Member's Lace page.  Jim Martin has added a lovely Bucks sampler bookmark that he made.  It is lovely!  We will have to remind him next summer that he needs to enter Creative Arts in the Big E since we know that he has at least one piece that is well worth entering. 

Participation is important to NELG.  Please post pictures of your lace when you have finished it.  People love to look at lace examples.  And do remember that it is never to early to start planning for the Big E.  If you are working on a large project, don't you need an occasional break to make something small to say you accomplished something?

Catherine Barley is a teacher of international renown, and has been teaching bobbin lace, needlelace and stumpwork both in the UK and abroad for over 40 years. Her book ‘Needlelace Designs and Techniques Classic & Contemporary’ first published in 1993 by BT Batsford and re-printed four times is now sadly out of print and it is prohibitively expensive to have another re-print.

 

Catherine has been looking into the possibility of ‘print on demand’ for this book, largely prompted by the outrageous prices being asked by second-hand booksellers.  I checked today and Amazon.com is currently selling it at $250, but I found other sites (in the UK) where they are asking up to $1,000!

 

Catherine needs to get a quote from a ‘print on demand’ company, but they will want some idea of the number of copies.  Therefore, she is asking that if you might be interested in a copy, to email her so she has some idea of how many copies to get a quote for.  She is not asking for a firm commitment, but if you would be seriously interested, she would like an indication of intent.  Catherine can be reached at catherinebarley@btinternet.com.

 

If you have friends belonging to embroidery groups or other lace groups, perhaps you would forward this information on to them.   More information about Catherine and her work can be found on her website; there is a link on the ‘Links page’.

 

Thanks in advance,

Jill

I’m sure that all of us, at one time or other, have looked through a lace pattern book and been unable to understand the text because it is in a foreign language.  Like me, you’ve probably tried Google Translate and laughed hysterically at some of the results.  Then you should read on….

 

Our good friend and lace teacher, Jean Leader, posted on Arachne that her husband, David (who is webmaster for OIDFA) has just released a facility on the OIDFA website for translating between common lace terms in different languages.  Although there are printed lace dictionaries available, the distinctive features of this facility are:

1. It is freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection
2. For each language the terms are certified by native speakers
3. Each term is accompanied by a defining image
4. Discrimination is made between rare and common words in that translations of rarer words are provided, but these words are not given as translations of terms from other languages.

The url is http://www.oidfa.com/translate.html.  Although only four languages are currently available in addition to English and French (the official OIDFA languages), anyone can contribute additional languages, without having any knowledge of lace terms in another language, merely by identifying the images.  In this way it is hoped that, for example, a Czech/Japanese translation can be achieved without requiring any individual to know lace terms in both these languages.

The number of items is currently quite small (40) but the focus is on words that appear in instruction or pattern books, and which Google Translate will not handle properly.  The use envisaged is for people reading lace books in languages other than their own (and non-English speakers with a general knowledge of English translating terms into English correctly – lazy loops anyone?)

 

Jean and David encourage any non-English lace makers whose language is not represented (Italian? Spanish? Japanese?) to contribute either on-line or by contacting them by email.  The rule is native-speakers only.

 

For technical reasons the facility doesn’t currently at all on the iPhone, or well on the iPad.  However, these problems will be addressed in due course.

 

I took a quick peak, and it looks to be a very useful tool.  Kudos to Jean and David for coming up with the idea!

 

Apologies for the long post - but it's all good stuff!  Check it out and let me know what you think!

 

Jill

In doing a search this morning, I came across a lace page with a lot of interesting pictures.  The site is
     http://blog.seniorennet.be/kantklossen/archief.php?ID=1159907
While the site is either in Flemish or Dutch (my apologies for not being able to distinguish between the two), it appear to be the blog of Gisela Altruye who has been making lace for about 35 years. There is a lot of lace here in many different styles including Binche and modern lace.  I don't know if she made all of the lace, but it is worth looking at when you have the time.

I just scrolled through the photos of the lace entries - wonderful, beautiful work! Thanks to all of you who entered and helped  make it a great exhibit at the fair.

Many thanks to NELG member, Jeri from Maine, for posting on Arachne that the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) textile and fashion collection will be re-opening on October 8, 2013 in brand new facilities at The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion. The Centre is in Olympia, London which is approximately 2 miles from the V&A’s main museum in South Kensington.

The Centre will be open by appointment (there is no charge) to individuals and groups who would like to study and research objects in the collections. While many NELG members will not have the opportunity to visit the collection in person, they can take advantage of the huge online resource that the Centre provides. The Centre’s webpage (http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/c/clothworkers-centre/) features various links, and while there is a wealth of information to look at here, if you want something more specific about lace, then select ‘Textiles’. The resulting page (http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/t/textiles/) is a good place on which to enter ‘lace’ in the search box.

Jeri states that there are 75 search results. This will undoubtedly provide enough reading and ‘eye candy’ to last a long time. Having taken a very quick look around, I noticed that a lot of the images can be downloaded, which will give the opportunity for extended examination. Hopefully those who visit the website (or are lucky to visit the collection in person) will post their comments.

Thanks again to Jeri, who I trust will forgive my paraphrasing of her original post on Arachne.

Jill