A Heart Challenge

I've moved onto the second pattern from the Brigitte Bellon book.  I won't tell you how I know this but when you work this pattern, don't do it at one in the morning on a long weekend.  It'll catch you out sure as sure.  Not hard but tricky.

Coming Home

For quite a few months, I've been posting project photos on social media instead of here on the blog but I've decided it's time to come home.  To be perfectly honest, I was doing that because it was easier and seemed more immediate and I was being lazy) but, in the process, I've lost the recorded thread of the creative life.

So I've come home and look forward to being able to say more about what's going on along my creative path.

I have a long post about my progress and study through the Ulrike Voelker workbook on Torchon Bobbin Lace, having gone almost all the way through the first volume, but I've taken a little side road looking at Russian Tape lace.  This type of lace, typical of the lace made throughout Russian and the Eastern European countries, features tapes that undulate and move through often very complex designs as well as leaf tallies, braids, picots and discs that are used as fillers in between the loops of lace.

Here is a very simple, very beginner piece that I've just completed, taken from Brigitte Bellon's book, Gekloppelte Fruhlingsmotive.  It has many of the basic characteristics of the style.  As you can see, it's a very sweet little motif but it's definitely a beginner's effort.

Actually, it's a better effort than my first attempt, which shall remain quietly in the background.  I have a few more pieces from this book to try and then I will go back to attempting some patterns from one of the vintage books on Russian Tape lace I downloaded from the University of Arizona website.   Although some of the books are in Russian, the photos/woodcuts are distinct enough for me to learn from. 

I've also been discovering a couple of Russian lacemakers who have posted teaching videos on YouTube, such as this and this.  Even though I'm sure I'm missing out some of the details because I don't speak Russian, the videos are clear enough to be hugely helpful.  Thanks, ladies, for your generosity in sharing your art!  It's simplicity made into high art.