Wednesday 24 October 2018

Ebb’n’flow lace exhibition


I enjoyed Jane Atkinson’s exhibition Ebb’n’flow at Walford Mill this week. It’s a contemporary bobbin lace response to the effects of climate change on an area of the country that Jane studies daily. There are several large hangings in subtle colours inspired by plants such as teasel, fennel, thistle, willow (detail above) and silver birch, these are beautifully hung to allow movement, while other pieces such as timber and mudlark are displayed draped as scarves showing the versatility of lace as fabric and canvas. One of my favourite pieces was ‘Oystercatchers on the trawl’, a panel of black lace that beautifully depicts the birds’ flight. In the accompanying book Jane describes how this work was designed on a log grid and required the addition of extra pairs of bobbins to produce the dense figures against the light open grid background. 
The book also includes some lovely close up images of ‘Oxygen’ a beautiful depiction of transitory bubble formations in Stanpit Marsh, rendered in four oblong panels that hang alongside one another to make the complete image (there's one panel in image above). As well as the main exhibition of Jane’s work there are showcases with pieces by other well known lacemakers, including jewellery by Denise Watts, Lauran Sundin and Hanne Behrens, sculptural pieces by Ann Alison, Sylvia Piddington and Anne Dyer, wearable lace by Sue McLaggan, figurative work by Pierre Fouche and dolls by Denise Watts reflecting women’s lives. The exhibition runs in two venues in Wimborne until 28 October and is definitely worth a visit.

Friday 19 October 2018

Decorative Art lace curtain


This lovely curtain design is similar to one I saw in the Nottingham archive earlier in the week. It mixes elements of Art Nouveau and traditional designs and is advertised in the Peach company catalogue for 1904. It is described as a ‘design in the new style of decorative art’. Although it includes Art Nouveau style panels and images such as the large stylised roses, twisting stems and drooping flowers it still conforms to the traditional curtain panel design of two outer borders with a scalloped edge, a lighter central panel and a more dense bottom border. It is 60 inches wide and can be bought in two lengths, either 3 and a half or 4 yards long, at 12 shillings per pair or 13/6 per pair depending on the size. Samuel Peach was a well known lace manufacturer in Nottingham, established in 1857, and clearly produced quite a range of curtain designs as well as other lace.

Thursday 11 October 2018

Rose ground lace


Rose ground is one of my favourite lace filling stitches - I love the structural lattice form of it. There are several ways of working the stitches and Pam Nottingham includes six varieties in a rose ground sampler in her book The technique of Torchon lace. The one in the picture is one of my favourites, which is cloth stitch and twist on the outer pairs and half stitch pin half stitch in the inner pins. I also like the variation with half stitch on the outer pairs and half stitch pin half stitch on the inner pairs. They both have a similar block like appearance but the first one gives a more defined square look to the pattern. I think it works well as a ground and also as a block (as in the image above) or as a diagonal run of just one square linked to the next by a corner. The other variations in Nottingham’s book use different combinations of stitches and twists for the central pins, such as cloth stitch and twist, or an extra half stitch but I’m sticking to this one for the pattern I’m working here.

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Joan of Arc lace panel


I took this photo of the Joan of Arc lace panel at Calais Lace Museum. It depicts scenes from the life of Joan of Arc including her triumphant inspiration on the battle field and her death at the stake. It is a panel of curtain lace and was made by the Nottingham lace company of Dobson and Browne for their stand at the 1881 Paris exhibition. This panel was also the inspiration for the Battle of Britain lace panel made by Dobson and Browne 60 years later. The story is that in 1942 the Managing Director of the company was talking to colleagues at the company bemoaning the fact that so few old pieces of lace had been preserved. One of them then went and found the Joan of Arc panel in a cupboard and showed it to him. He was so impressed by it that he suggested the company should produce a lace panel commemorating the Battle of Britain. Both panels are a similar size and follow a similar style, having individual scenes down each border and a central area with larger images, all finished with a scalloped edging. The Joan of Arc panel was bought by the Calais Museum in 2009 and added to their collection.