Pattern & Tutorial #14: Butterfly Pendant combines a simple tape lace with beading and wire wrapping techniques to create delicate lace jewellery.
Rich tape lace history has shown ingenuity of designs made with limited numbers of pairs. Wire lace builds on this creative tradition and expands the possibilities of decorative tape in jewellery and sculpture. In this pattern, decorative 4-pair tape with support of gimp outline folds into delicate filigree wings. Body is made of thicker wire with beads. Therefore, the butterfly perches perfectly between two fine crafts - lacemaking and jewellery making. If you are interested in either of them, or both, this 🦋 pattern is for you!
Included in the tutorial are:
• Pricking
• Bobbin winding instructions
• 2 Working diagrams
• 60 photos of work in progress with detailed description
• 10 photos of four design variations
• Safety rules for working with wire
Required Bobbin Lace Skills:
• Familiarity with plaits, half stitch and gimp work
Required Wire Lace Skills :
• Basic skills of handling wire (see “Wire Lacework” Manual)
• Plait (see Basics #001 - Flower Earrings)
• Half Stitch (see Basics #002 - Half Stitch Leaf)
• Gimp (see Basics #004 - Snail)
Safety rules are included with this pattern. Please read before you start working.
Required tools for making lace :
• 5 pairs of Lenka’s Bobbins for Wire Lace (Fine or Medium) are recommended
(4 pairs Fine + 1 pair Medium, or all 5 pair Medium)
• lacemaking pillow: any size or shape
• long dressmakers steel pins: size 32 mm [1 1/4 inch]
• nudge tool
• wonder clip
Required tools for finishing:
• jeweller’s wire cutters, round nose pliers, nylon jaw pliers
List of materials :
• copper wire size 0.2 mm (AWG 32) - 11m (12yd)
• copper wire size 0.4 mm (AWG 2) - 75cm (30")
• copper wire size 0.7 mm (AWG 20) - 10cm (4")
• seed beads in sizes 2/0, 4/0 and 6/0
Find Copper Wires 0.2mm here:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/245021389/brown-coloured-copper-wire-for
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/245122590/blue-coloured-copper-wire-for-lacemaking
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/245013311/purple-coloured-copper-wire-for
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/246364761/metallic-coloured-copper-wire-for
Find Craft Wire Sets in sizes 0.4-0.8mm here:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/867328398/craft-wire-set-12-spools-coloured-non
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Wire has an enormous potential in the field of lace. The more lacemakers embrace the wire medium, the faster it will grow and evolve into a unique lace art form.
Happy learning and lacemaking!
ABOUT INSTANT DOWNLOAD
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Upon purchasing this item you will receive a DOWNLOAD LINK to retrieve your new file. Please note that you will not receive a printed copy of the pattern or any products in the mail.
Reading any "New School of Lace Pattern & Tutorial for Wire Lace" on an electronic reading device will allow you to enlarge the photos for a close-up viewing. You can also print a copy for your reference.
ABOUT COPYRIGHT
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Copyright©Lenka Suchanek 2020. All rights reserved.
This manual may be printed for the personal use of the purchaser only. You may not in any form reproduce or distribute this manual in part or in whole through any venue, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without the written authorization of the author.
LACE DESIGNER'S APPEAL
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During the last hundred years, when hobbyists inherited a wealth of lacemaking patterns from then defunct lace industry, lacemakers became accustomed to a free pattern sharing. It has worked well for many, encouraged people to learn and helped to save the handmade lace craft from a total decline.
With so many patterns in public domain, there is an expectation that all patterns should be free. So why is the copyright making it illegal to copy this material and give to a friend? It’s because the copyright protects rights of contemporary, living designers, to fair compensation for their work. Designing new, original patterns requires knowledge, experience, creativity, and as every lacemaker knows, a lot of time. So much, actually, that applying our current cost and labour calculations would make the patterns prohibitively expensive. The prices are therefore set at a lower range and as a result, majority of lace designers work for far less than a minimum wage, regardless of their skill and dedication. They do it for the love of lace, for the love of craft, for the love of sharing their inspiration that speaks through lace. Because profit is not a priority, this fact is often not mentioned, and the problem is not addressed. In the age of internet, when many people search for free patterns online, it is easy to take advantage of designers’ work. Only awareness through education can facilitate a positive change.
Every lacemaker’s choice makes a difference in the survival of the craft. Purchasing the copyrighted materials is an important step forward, and sets an example of a responsible attitude that values a sustainable communal practice above self-centered interest. If everybody contributes even a little bit, together we can build an ethical lace world that offers a fair chance to all current and future artists and designers. Only then we will be able to say that we truly kept this beautiful craft alive for the next generation. Please do your share!
ABOUT NEW SCHOOL OF LACE
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New School of Lace was established in 2014 in a community of Ocean Park, in South Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Main goal of the school is to promote interest in traditional craft of handmade lace through teaching, lecturing and exhibiting lace art. The word ‘new’ in the school’s name refers not only to an event of spreading the original European craft to the New World, but also points to a unique potential of handmade lace to evolve and find many new creative expressions.
New School of Lace https://lenkas.com/new-school-of-lace/
School’s founder Lenka Suchanek, a lacemaker, lace artist and lace instructor, has devoted more than thirty years to preserving fine craft of handmade lace and is passionate about keeping lacemaking alive in families and communities for generations to come. She envisions fine craft of lace as a valuable addition to balanced, creative lives of modern people, who will carry on the Renaissance ideals of beauty and harmony, inherent in the delicate lace weave.
Lenka’s Way of Lace https://lenkas.com