Sprigging School

I had such a lovely day yesterday that I have to share it with you.
By way of an introduction, my lace guild 'The Traditional Lacemakers of Ireland' led by Veronica Stuart won a Gold Medal in Italy last year for their research into the history of lacemaking.



This work resulted in the West Cork Lace Trail brochure published by the West Cork Leader Co-op Society.



Excerpt from the intro in the book:- 'Through the late 1800's to the early 1900's, lacemaking provided famine relief in almost every town in Cork. It was mostly taught through the convents and when a nun was moved from one convent to another she took and taught the lace in the next area. Each area adapted and made their own changes to the patterns and stitches. In West Cork countless pieces were sold to the passing liners.
Many orders were also received from royal families. No order was too big or too small as many families relied on their lace being sold to provide for their next meal.'

I haven't visited many places on the lace trail and yesterday was delighted to join guild members on an outing to the Rathbarry Sprigging school

I spent the morning visiting a lace class in Clonakilty where I continued with my Carrickmacross lace project. No tatting done today! I think I must dedicate a blog session to explaining how Carrickmacross lace is made. That's for another day.

West Cork I think has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and the area around the pretty coastal village of Rathbarry is lovely. The research for this part of the lace trail was mostly already completed as the Sprigging school which was in ruins had been reconstructed as a millenium project.





Sprigging is white embroidery usually worked on fine white linen and shaped like a sprig or spray.



The school was opened on 1825 by Lady Carbery who resided in the nearby Castefreke Castle. She employed a teacher who lived in the school. The building had two rooms, the kitchen and the school.



The teacher slept in the kitchen on a settle bed and laid green ferns on the floor.
She kept hens in a coup in the kitchen and ducks outside and at night after the pupils had gone home she brought the ducks into the school room.
On a visit to the school Lady Carbery decided that the school was not clean enough and had a summons served on the teacher by the local magistrate. When she was brought before the the judge she recited this verse in her defence.

"Your Honour, I have made lace for Lord Donoughmore, for ladies and gentlemen over a score. Then and never before was the charge of uncleanliness laid at my door"

The judge dismissed the case and she walked out like a lady.



The school was private and the students paid five shillings a term. On completion of their course they would then teach their skills to others.



Here we all are outside the school.



The school lies beside a fast flowing stream. the bridge over the stream is only newly constructed.



In 1825 access to the school was down these steps, lift up your skirt and cross the stream by stepping stones and up the steps at the other side.





The sprigging school is open every day of the year and is well worth a visit I certainly enjoyed mine.

Carnevale

Venetian Carnevale came to Galway, Ireland last Thursday night Feb 15th.


Carnevale meaning 'farewell to meat' is traditionally celebrated before the beginning of the Lenten season culminating on Shrove Tuesday and dates back to the middle ages.

Mardi Gras...french for Fat Tuesday is celebrated in the America's coming up to fever pitch on the last tuesday before lent begins.

Venetian Carnevale began to be popular in the eighteenth century. It began the day after Christmas and lasted for six weeks. Everyone wore brightly coloured costumes and masks and because they were disguised the social class system was turned upside down during Carnivale time. Nobility could mingle with the lower social classes undetected and vice versa... they had a ball!!

The festival would begin with a series of balls and was be followed by many smaller parties. Partying went on until midnight on Shrove Tuesday, when the bells of San Francesco dell Vigna tolled to announce the beginning of Lent, the end of Carnevale, and a return to the rigid socal restrictions.

The Venetian government encouraged the street theatre, juggling, acrobatics and organised games.

Lindsay and Dermot, together with The Italian Society at The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) decided to organise a Masked Venetian Carnevale Ball to benefit the Hospice Foundation and twisted our arms into going!

My Carnivale mask began it's life several years ago in 2002 when an art teacher helping with our Brownie Pack made masks with the Brownies using plaster bandage.

The results were so good and the technique so fascinating that when my children were both at home we decide we would have a go.

Three of us volunteered to have our faces smeared with Vaseline and trust our greasy faces to the skills of another. Their dad was non so keen!

The technique was to apply small pieces of plaster bandage that had been soaked in warm water, over the Vaseline. I really can't remember if we put cling film on top of the Vaseline. Plaster bandage used to make plaster casts on broken legs etc was readily available in our art shop.

Layers are built up evenly until the mask is about three layers thick, making sure not to go too close to the eyes and leaving spaces for the nose and mouth.
The plaster quickly begins to harden and the mask can be removed from the face. All in all a very strange experience especially releasing the suction hold to the face.
Then leave the plaster to dry completely.

The results were excellent if a little grim. This is Criss's mask.



The really funny thing about the three masks we made was...if she put on his mask it was like she was wearing his face!!! Even now as I still have them it is easy to recognise the owner!

They were decidedly ghoulish so we decided to have another go and make Venetian style half masks as we had done with the Brownies.

She styled my mask with a longer more pert nose more like a Carnivale mask, much nicer that my nose!!

Twas only when the masked ball come up that I remembered out efforts.

First job was to cut them to a more refined shape, tidy up all the rough edges and add more ordinary plaster of Paris to make them smooth.
Here is my mask ready for decoration.



Then I painted it with two coats of gold paint, real gold I think. Judson's Gold Paint consists of gold dust which is mixed in with a kind of varnish. The results are always stunning, it looked like something from King Tut's tomb!!

Since feathers are a part of many masks, it was suggested that my tatting and feather headdress that I made for her wedding (see my posts of Aug 2006) would go well with the mask, I chose to decorate it in gold and aubergine. The outfit that I wore for her wedding could have another airing too. I always thought that it was more suited to a fancy dress occasion, but I guess thats what a wedding is anyway!



Traditional masks often have rick rack round the edges and sequins surrounding the eyes.

Decided that it was to have a row of tatted split rings round the eyes finished off with an amethyst swarovski crystal.

The thread I used is Kreinik's very fine braid in light gold. This is a lovely thread to work with and really looks like spun gold.

Along the top edge I used the same thread to make arched chains with long aubergine (Flora 20)trefoils falling from them studded with beads and AB swarovskis to give a bit of sparkle.

I think it looks pretty good with the tatted orchids and feathers.




So you want to know about the ball.

Lindsay and Dermot are masters of fancy dress, look at my Halloween post Oct 2006 to see that.
They looked stunning!



Dermot had made his traditional mask in papier mache. It was such a good fit to his face that he didn't need to tie it on at all. The tricorn hat did give him a better sense of security tho.


Masks made on your face are so comfortable as it is like wearing a second face!


Lindsay didn't have time to finish her hand made mask and fell for this beautiful genuine traditional mask from Venice. It was stunning and even looked good on me.






Better than my own I thought but it was a lot of fun as always making one and I think it turned out well and quite authentic.




Hubby looked pretty cool too in his mask and evening outfit even tho he did get covered in silver sparkle.




The NUI Galway Juggling Society brought a real touch of carnivale to the event. At the beginning of the evening the juggled outside the hotel with flaming brands, and dabolo's. Later inside it was with streamers, and clubs added. The carnivale costumes and masks were super.

About 165 revellers attended the event and most were masked and made it a great success. The meal, dancing and spot prizes with a carnivale twist were all great.
I really should have taken more photos, but there is always next year...
Oooo I shall have to think up another mask!

Here are just a few photos to give you a taste of the atmosphere.

Brownie Tatbead and more

If you haven't seen Jane Eborall's Tatbead family, then you must. They are delight, she constantly comes up with something new and these are a wow.
Jane designed Brownie Tatbead especially for me, and she is so cool that I just had to stop everything I was doing and make her. She is very fiddly bit of tatting but then I love fiddly things and she was well worth the effort.


It's the detail on her that makes her so cool. I wish all of my Brownie Guides turned up dressed so smartly in their full uniform every week!! there are always missing/lost neckerchiefs,woggles and sashes.

I have been a Brownie Guide leader for 26 years and still love the kids.They really keep me young and there is nothing better to boost my ego than 24 adoring!!! little girls who notice when I have had my hair done, got new spectacles, jewellery etc.



This is me being presented with my silver 25 year service badge, that's the highest accolade. They mustn't expect us to last much longer that that!!

Not that it's always complimentary of course. I recently told them that I was too old to join in a raucous game. Later when we were in our Brownie ring, a little lassie holding may hand asked if I was a grandma. "No" I replied, "Phew!!!" she said in relief. Must be very uncool to have a grandma as your Brownie leader!!!

The uniform that Brownie Tatbead is wearing is relatively new and much more child friendly... sweatshirt top and tracksuit bottoms, scarf and sash to hold all the badges so they don't have to be washed regularly as on the old uniforms. How the kids used to hate those scratchy woollie hats!

When I first became a leader we had just got a new uniform which looked so smart.
I made this doll as part of a test for a Dollmakers craft badge. The brief was for a standing character doll with a moulded face. the face is felt stretched over stuffed balls of felt and she stands with the help of copper rivets in her shoes.



She was so much fun to make to get all the details right. From the side views you can see that she has earned a few badges. Two stripes above the wrist mean that she is a sixer in charge of her six.





People always ask why she is dressed in blue if she is a Brownie. The origin of the name comes from a story about the little fairy people, the brownies who helped out with chores round the house when no one was looking, just like our little lassies should be doing today.
When the little sisters of the first Girl Guides wanted to join in they were given the name 'Rosebuds'!! not very apt for these mischievous little imps.

More about my little Tatting Tree

Thank you so much for all the nice things said about my little tree.

Would you believe that I was just watching Gardener's World on the BBC tonight, and they were talking about the history of the Christmas tree, real and artificial.

What did I see but my tree! It was one of the early artificial trees, made in the 1930's from dyed Goose feathers. I always thought they were Chicken feathers. So now I know.

Confirmation of it's age makes me feel even worse as it loses more of it's feathers and becomes even more 'tatty'!

Christmas Wishes

November and December have gone by so quickly, filled up with Christmas preparations.
One of the things I like to do is to make my own Christmas cards (I love rubber stamping! This one has layered Christmas trees in silver and gold). It's my way of saying to each person on our Christmas list, that maybe we are only in contact with just once a year that they are special to us.
This year I manage to make 65 before energy and enthusiasm really did run out.


I would have liked to have made a card for each and every friend but that's just not possible. So here is my Christmas Card to all of you to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

Every year on Christmas day morning we head to the sea to watch the sponsored Christmas swim. It is always a delight to watch all those hardy people plunge into the icy cold sea and be thankful that we dont have to!!
My idea of a Christmas plunge is a few lengths of the swimming pool followed by an extended soak in a hot jacuzzi!
Last year was such a lovely bright day, the year before it snowed on Christmas day the first time that I can remember...this year the forecast is for very chilly fog, hope they are wrong. After all the rain and gales we have had, dry and calm would be good.

A teeny little tatted snowflake snuck into the Christmas card but here is my Totally Tatting Heirloom tree, it gets better each year.


All the tatting will hopefully end up as heirlooms and the tree already is, all the way up to the glass spire on the top.
This tree has been around for as long as I can remember, it may go back as far as the 1930's when my parents got married. It is certainly pre-christmas tree lights 'cos can remember it having little metal candle holders at the tip of each branch with pretty spiral red candles. Not sure if they were ever lit in my time or when they were removed to make way for electric lighting.
When it came to me it was in a pretty bad way, and had to be carefully reformed. The foliage is made of dyed feathers now rather brittle and getting thinner each year. Each little shard of broken feather falling off it at the end of the holiday season reduces it's time left to shine...
Click on it to see the tatting, maybe you will see something you designed, treasured by me. To all tatting designers, I owe you a big thank you.

Halloween fun

Happy Halloween every one.

I think that Ireland is the home of the Halloween tradition and it's celebration is getting bigger and more commercial each year. Not many people decorate their gardens yet but I am sure this will come. I saw some super ones in America, loved the sheaves of corn with cobs wrapped round the lamposts, a real squirrel treat.Not many kids come round trick or treating round here, they've all grown up, pity cos I love it.

We always carve a pumpkin, make pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie..yummy!


This year we had our first adult Halloween party as Lindsay and Dermot were home for the weekend.

It was horrific to see what a coupla months of marriage had done to them!!!

As for me, it was time to dust off the old broomstick and see if it still worked.


We played jengo and mahjong and ate monster cakes!


All this autumnal stuff spawned this birthday card for my sister in law. Card making keeps trying to be my number one craft and I keep resisting. It is such a different absorbing craft that it's hard to stop once the ideas start to flow.


I didn't tat anything for halloween this year but here is a witch I tatted last year, she is Pointy Hat Prue by Carol Amich, a super pattern.

Chicago! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

As soon as life began to get back to normal the next event took us away to America.

Alan was to give a talk at a symposium in Chicago on New Caledonian Geckos...his talk was first so that enabled him to sit back and enjoy the rest of the talks.

This is a map of the pacific island of New Caledonia only home of the Rhacodactylus geckos

One of his babies!
It was a great event, there are so many enthusiasts in the States that we had not met before, but we greatly missed a good friend from Germany and instigator of the symposium who died earlier this year.
The t-shirt is a beauty very wearable,showing two of the geckos that Alan keeps.





















Rhacodactylus ciliatus..the crested gecko













and on the back...

Rhacodactylus leachianus...the giant gecko, the biggest gecko of all, grows to 12 inches.






The meeting was timed to coincide with a huge reptile show. I wanted to tat a gecko but didn't have a pattern that was do-able so tatted a snake instead. We are not snake people but there were some beauties at the show as well as geckos, and our favorite chamaeleons.



I was delighted with the way the stripes worked out with this Altin basak thread. the pattern is Dianna Stevens Snake Bookmark.
This Chamaeleon would have been a real challege for my variagated thread!


My second snake in variagated Flora thread looked more like this chamaeleon in his party colours!!

This little gecko was a wow!!




After the show we had a couple of days to explore Chicago an achitecturally stunning city

and then it was off to see some more of the States.
First stop was Lafayette, Indiana, where I was to meet with tatters Gina and Bette.

Living proof that tatting it alive and well all over the world. That was such a treat, virtual friends from the internet becoming 'real' friends. In almost 50 years of tatting I could count the number of tatters that I have met on one hand, I am doing my best to create as many as I can to help this beautiful craft to survive.

That was where the shopping began....for anything tatting related. Michaels and Hobby Lobby I had never been to before and together with Vons beads and others my luggage was going to burst with beads,now I just need to live long enough to use them all!

If it hadn't been for tatting friends we would never have wandered round Indiana and would have missed Purdue University campus, another Indianan treat.

During our time in Chicago the weather had been glorious, almost t-shirt weather but now it began to change exactly as forecast. After we left Lafayette it gradually deteriorated first to rain on our day in the delightful Shipshewana (handcraft heaven), and then to flurries of snow in AnnArbor Michigan.

As we drove north up as far as Grand Haven the weather went from blizzards of snow and leaves to scenes of blue sky and snow inches deep. Never have I seen tree covered in snow and leaves at the same time, it was stunning.

I couldn't believe how much Lake Michigan looked like the sea, huge waves and lots of sand and even dunes. Boy it was windy!!




Driving back down to Chicago the warm weather gradually returned and we ended our stay with a visit to the son of my best buddy, another treat.

One of the highlights of the trip was to go to Ann Arbor. That has been a name in my life ever since I met Alan some 40 years ago. he had lived there for a year in 1949 when he was 7. His parents had been part of one of the first Anglo/American teacher exchanges. It had such an big influence on their lives, they even gave it's name to their retirement house.
In the school holidays they bought a Buick and drove from Michigan to California and back taking hundreds of colour slides. On their return to England his dad was for ever in demand to show his slides, a rarity in those days. Alan always had difficulty distinguishing what he actually remembered and what he rembered from seeing the slides.
We found the street where they lived and wondered if he would recognise the house that he lived in as a seven year old. A bit of a long shot but he finally fixed on one that 'looked right', the right size with the right porch and a shed in the back garden where he remembered his host doing wood turning.

We also found his school but that sparked no memories at all, obviously tobogganing down his street was much more memorable than school!!


When we got home I looked up the number in his dad's book and whoo hoo he was right. Cool!! Quite a feat as it was a very long street, a real trip down memory lane.