| Original Message: Questions and Answers |
|---|
|
Hi Margot Q: Were the bobbins made by a company or companies or were they created by a 'cottage industry' of individual craftspersons who sold directly to lacemakers? A: Definitely a cottage industry - many of the bobbin turners lived in the rural villages just like the lacemakers. They sold directly to the workers, at markets in the nearby market towns, and at regional fairs. e.g. one turner lived in a village called Cranfield in Bedfordshire, and walked about 10 miles into nearby Bedford to sell his wares (see link). Q: I think I understand that the bobbin makers also made beads (at least the square cut beads using scrap glass by heating the glass and reshaping it using files)? Did they also make the British-made squiggle beads or were these from another British source? A: There is almost nothing written down, but we know of at least one bobbin-making family who also are listed as "lapidaries" in the trade directories. They made square cuts, and I have always maintained in my lectures and writings (having studied the 'decorated' square cuts), that similar families could well have made the English squiggle beads as well. Q: Would these same bobbin makers/companies have assembled the beads they made and/or other British + Bohemian/Venetian beads and placed them on the spangles or did the individual lacemakers select beads themselves to place on the spangles after purchase of the bobbin? A: The lacemakers bought/acquired loose beads and made their own. A box with a mixed bead stash must have been as regular a feature in a lacemaker's home as a necklace-maker's box is today! Probably recycled through the generations too, and played with by children (and cats!) Q: Were you able to gather fascinating information such as the fact the 'swirl' beads were considered protection against evil, the blue and pink dotted beads were nicknamed Kitty Fisher beads, etc. because elderly lacemakers are still living and recounted these insights? A: As with all research, the answer is a long time and a lot of research painstakingly gleaning a bit here and a bit there and putting 2 and 2 together etc - some documentary, some oral. But I have also been a lacemaker for nearly 30 years, and in the 1970's when it was realised that the last of the old lacemakers were passing quickly, both techniques and traditions were collected and preserved, and various people have researched their own specialist topics - with some it was the bobbins, with me it was the beads. The founding of the Lace Society (c. 1968) and the Lace Guild (c. 1976) has helped tremendously to make the craft live and thrive again, and many people learnt the craft in the later 20th century through adult education classes when it could have died out. Hope this helps Carole (PS As promised I have written the first of the small articles for the Bead Society of Gt Britain newsletter and it will appear in no 98.) All rights reserved by Bead Collector Network and its users |
|
|