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Tools needed for lacemaking are:
pillow, bobbins, thread and the pins for the print. A
bolster pillow is a small cylinder lined with a dark
fabric, stuffed with a particular hay, sedge. This herbal
plant while keeping the pillow hard and compact ensures
a certain precision upon the laces being worked. While
being worked, the lace is laid on a kind of wooden stand
but even a chair or a wall, or a railing would do just
as well.
The bobbins are little wooden rods with a groove at the
top which acts as a spool for winding the thread round.
There are different kinds, they differ in dimensions,
shapes and vary from one country to another. The most
precious ones can be made of walnut wood, but they can
be made of pear or olive wood, too. They are always used
in pairs and therefore the number of bobbins is always
even.
The thread is always a linen/flax yarn, of different
thickness, precious and strong, and has a sparkleness
which stays even after washing it. Once it was made by
the same lacemakers or by the nuns in convents, as for
today it is made by specialised firms. In some cases,
cotton can be used, too, even though it is less precious
than flax. The winding of the thread on the bobbins is
done by hand. The thread is stopped by a special knot
similar to that of a loop, and has to be free to run
whilst being worked. The bobbins must not be filled above
a certain capacity.
Pins are needed for keeping the work fixed on the pillow
and there are two kinds: common pins and longer ones,
with a bigger head called “cape”.
The print is a piece of paper reproducing the pattern
to be copied, fixed on a card or a parchment, with glue
made of water and flour, in order to have a base hard
enough to allow the pins to stick into it, following
the lines of the pattern and fixing the yarn in them:
the lace takes shape. This is then applied onto the lace. |
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