Part of my lace journey involved the making of the tools. I bought a little Proxxon db250 micro lathe, three basic wood turning chisels and faced the whirling dervish that was to become a bobbin. Very scary stuff!
Practicing on oak dowel, l made some basic and useable bobbins, l could have stopped there, turned a few dozen and been happy, but l discovered the exotic woods and there l was, falling down another rabbit hole.
The history and local variations of bobbins took me down another path of reseach, all those amazing stories in tiny sticks of wood and bone, if only they could speak. Saddest thing is knowing that most of them have been thrown on fires over the years when lace and lacemaking went out of fashion.
My choice of Midlands spangled bobbins meant l had to make a 1mm hole at the tail of each one. Discovered an amazing little gadget, an Archimedes drill which did the job just fine.
The local wood turning store was very kind and took me through all the products, l chose 300, 800 and 1200 grade sand paper, Sanding sealer and microcrystaline finishing polish.
The scary sharp tools, fast spinning wood and, worst of all, the vibration, limited me to one or two bobbins at a time. Even these could take me an hour. Watching Chris Parsons turning a bobbin on his youtube video was inspirational, but l knew l would never be able to be that proficient. I was pleased enough with myself for facing this fear and producing useable bobbins, but it was taking me away from my lace, and my lovely zen calm mind space. I would come in from the shed shaking sometimes, but at least l can say l did it!
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| An early skirt of my own bobbins. |
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| Purple heartwood on the lathe |
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| Ebony long handled tools |
