I've had a number of conversations with people both in person or on line about what to expect when you buy a lace pattern.

There has been a recent trend with designers providing explicit instructions with their patterns and some even provide YouTube videos to help with key parts of the pattern.

This is great, but it has a number of issues.

Testing
If the instructions are not tested properly, then the inexperienced lacemaker will become disheartened and at best, not make the pattern, at worst, be put off lacemaking

Understanding Prickings / Reliance on Instructions
Learning to read a pattern should be a key part of every lacemaker's evolution.

It gives confidence, speeds up your lacemaking and opens up many patterns where no instructions are offered. However, being reliant on instructions stops you from embedding the techniques in your mind. 

If you make a mistake reading the instructions it is harder to read the lace back to see where the mistake was because you don't have the understanding of what you have done.  

Providing instructions is not a global thing
If you limit yourself to only making lace where you have instructions then you are restricting what patterns you can access.

Most continental designers do not provide instructions, in fact, many don't even provide a photograph of the finished item.

If you look at my book blog, only a quarter of the books that have patterns, that I have logged, have any form of instruction with them and most of those are beginner instruction books.

Where designers created during the 80s through to the turn of the century, most did not provide instructions and a number of these designers are now dead.  If you rely on  instructions you are closing down your access to these amazing patterns.

As I work through my books and add them to the book blog, I have been amazed at the different prices I've paid for my books, over the years.

In my blog about Adult Education, I covered how in real terms, how lace equipment has become more affordable.

I'm at a point in my book buying that I'm selective about which books I buy, but this is simply because of the number of books in my library.  You know you have an issue when you measure your books, not by number but by the length of the bookshelf.  

However, because I teach, I am often on the look out for books to recommend to my students.

Buying a second hand book is very similar to buying a second hand bobbin and many of the suggestions that I made in my blog on bobbins apply here too.

It tickles me when I see a book that is still in print being offered for more than you can currently buy it.

Having spoken with a number of authors, it is heart breaking to see how much of their profit is taken if you buy from big sellers. 

Where possible, try to buy direct from the author as your money will help them publish their next book and keep new books coming.

If the book is in print, I have annotated the book blog to show this and help you buy direct.

Lace types come and go into fashion. 

Back in the early 90s Honiton was the in lace to make and the standard books on this lace were published in large numbers. 

​Having fallen out of fashion in recent years, Honiton books such as Suzanne Thompson's Introduction book now goes for a few pounds whilst her 'further steps' was a very small run and when it does appear, second hand, goes for an awful lot more.

Both of Briget Cook's Russian lace books go for higher than their original jacket price, with Russian lace patterns, at the time of writing (Jul 2022) being in the region of over £60

Of interest is that any of Pat Read's 90s books on Milanese Lace, command equally high prices, which has been consistent since the books went out of print, just before the millenium.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been dealing with a large donation of lace equipment.  

A few of the pillows had half finished work on them, which I was assessing to see if the projects could be finished.  Some were ok, but others, the thread were too degraded.

When I started making lace, in the 1980s, I, like many lacemakers, bought brass pins because these were what, traditionally, lacemakers had use.

Brass is a mixture of copper and tin.  

On its own, copper if very bendy so the tin helps to strengthen it.  The tin also stops copper from oxidising to a green colour - verdigris.

This doesn't mean that brass doesn't discolour - it can turn dark from usage.  Traditionally lacemakers would have a pin cushion with untreated wool in it so that the lanolin in the wool would make the pins slip into the pillow easily, however the lanolin also caused the pins to discolour.

If you put a magnet to your brass pins, and they are not attracted to the magnet then they are pure brass.

Nickel should not discolour nor should it react to a magnet

Stainless steel is a cost efficient alternative to brass but rusts.

Stainless steel stays sharp, it is incredibly sharp and is a cheaper material to manufacturer.

It's stainless because it does not pick up stains from being in contact with other things, however it is susceptible to moisture and can rust.

Steel is made up of iron and carbon, often with some Chromium in it to help minimise rusting.

What can you do?

The obvious solution is to not leave your lace on your pillow for extended periods of time.

The next solution is to move to using brass pins.

If that isn't an option, look for nickel plated steel as the nickel will protect the pins.

​For my finer laces, I use entomology pins (the ones people use for putting bugs in a frame) which are enamel coated, this gives me the strength from steel but the anti rust properties of the enamel.  Oh, as they are black with a gold head, they also look cool!