Sunday, August 16, 2009

Bobbin Lace Bookmark



Still trying to get a photo of bobbin lace that's in better focus. Once again this looked fine in my camera but looks blurry to me here.

However, I think you can see well enough to get an idea of what is happening.

I'm using 12 pair - 10 0f them with a 2/20 mercerized cotton, 2 pair with a heavier hand dyed Tencel. The varigations in the Tencel are subtle and looking good as the colours are a short 'repeat' not a longer one.

I think some of the problem with getting good photos of the bobbin lace is partly my camera - it doesn't have a great close up feature - and partly the lace (depth of field) - the camera isn't quite sure where to focus. I tried to take the photo from the side as I'd found taking it from above was hopeless. The camera didn't know whether to focus on the pin heads or the textile, I think. :}

So far this year I have made quite a few bookmarks. They are small and soon finished, which is quite satisfying. I may do another fan yet - just felt too tired this weekend to deal with anything that wasn't dead easy.

Having company has been great, but the long period of hot weather we had, plus a change in medication and all the excitement of company has, I think, been a little more tiring than I had anticipated. Add the construction mess to the equation, and instead of steaming ahead on the shawl warp I beamed on Friday I decided that a day 'off' was what was required.

(The good news is that construction is nearly done - once the new light fixture is installed, the mudding and taping finished, I can paint. After that the flooring will have to wait until mid-to-late September or October.)

So I putzed the morning away (not entirely 'off' - I'm secretary for an association and had responsibilities for that to pay attention to), spent the afternoon having coffee with a friend (bringing a bucket of hand hemming with me - she doesn't mind if I do hand work while we talk) and then in the evening finished reading my library book and started the next in the pile.

This morning we're going for brunch with my mother - and then I think perhaps I will be refreshed enough to thread the loom. :)

Currently reading We'll Always Have Paris by Ray Bradbury

2 comments:

Sharon Schulze said...

Things are pretty draggy and tired on this edge of the continent, too. But I think today I might start warping the loom again. I'm wondering if I could get sufficient tension if I used dumbbells or bricks or something to weight the warp over the breast beam. It wouldn't be as quick as the valet/high bar/trapeze thing but it would give me tension and the lovely smooth beaming that goes with the tension....

It's an experimental warp anyway so I think I'll try that.

Laura Fry said...

What you use for weight isn't as important as using weight. :)

Dumb bells should work just fine.

Cheers,

Laura