On the topic of lace - part two

Thank you for the comments on the last post. I hope you enjoy part two which is very picture heavy. The book I received from Gina is quite simply beautiful so I am going to let the pictures do the talking although it will be hard to appreciate the quality of this book unless you are lucky enough to hold it in your hand. It arrived on Friday - co-incidentally, my birthday - and it was the best 'present' I could have had. One of the key things Gina and I agreed on was the size of the book and the fact that it either had to have a closure mechanism or be self contained in some way so she has made a sturdy box covered in a satinised cotton bearing a strong lace like pattern. Inside is an A5 book covered in the same fabric folded in a blizzard book style. In each of the compartments there rests a sample card of different lace patterns like Point de Gaze and Punto Naria, each one cut in some way to highlight shapes and throw relief onto the red cards placed behind them. It is a work of art and something to treasure.

In return I sent two books, neither of which stuck to the A5 requirement but for my main book I did at least have a container! You know I had a raft of ideas which came to nought but in the end I was saved by two incidents coming together in that serendipitous way that things do. I happened to be given a stamp collection by somebody who knows how much I love them and rifling through I came across a 1970's set of explorers including stamps of Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh wearing huge Elizabethan lace collars and ruffs. Earlier in the day I had seen a book on, Paperfaerie, the site of artist Yvette Hawkins and I suddenly had an idea. I emailed Yvette to explain what we were doing and to ask if I could adapt her idea and she kindly came back straight away with a 'Yes, go for it'. Yvette had sewn a series of books to an embroidery hoop and it struck me how appropriate that was for a textile artist and then how it could look like a collar. I had a circular wooden box which I have been waiting years to use so I measured it all up and went ahead. I stayed with my black and white theme and painted the hoop black. I then scanned in lots of snippets of lace and printed it out to stick to black card for the book covers. The pages are from an old book about making lace which was my only purchase for a penny from Amazon. I stitched it all together with white crochet thread and painted my box black and luckily it all fitted inside. Don't ask how many little books I made, stitched and sewed together. I lost count and did not want to know. Every time I thought I'd done enough I had to make a few more......

The second book was an afterthought but hankered back to an idea I'd had a few weeks earlier but had ditched because I needed five sqaure doilies and did not have them. Ironically as I finished the lace book collar I went to a boot sale cum flea market and picked up a set of six lace doilies for a song. Even though I did not need to do it, this idea was still in my head and there was a compulsion to make it happen. I thought about dipping the doilies in a water and PVA mix to stiffen them as I wanted to fold them into a lotus book but then I remembered I have a can of spray starch! So, I sprayed them, they stiffened and I folded them, ironed them and then bondawebbed them together, made a cover and it was done all in less than an hour. If only the other one had been so quick to come together!

Working on this with such a talented artist like Gina has been a joy. It's been hours of work, mostly made by my own choosing because that's the way I am. Never work on one thing when you can have a whole raft of ideas going all over the place.... I have received something very special in return and something more than just a book. Exchanges like these reinforce blog friendships with like minded people. People whose talent is willingly shared. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.