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Don't miss an episode - subscribe here  East Midlands wooden bobbins photo © the lace bee
In a recent post on Lace Bobbins - Find the Maker, I posted about having chosen to work with wooden bobbins on a short piece.
This then raised the question as to what other materials bobbins can be made from. If the designs on your bobbins tell the story of your life through commemorating events or places you have been, then what they are made of tell the story of how you create lace. The images that I've used below are from my own collection of modern and vintage bobins. These are predominately East Midlands but bobbins come in as many styles as there countries that make lace. The type of material will vary from country to country for traditional bobbins but with the advent of global commerce, there has been greater acces materials worldwide so traditional materials are less confined to particular countries If you would like to know more about styles of bobbins then do go to my bobbin page.
Material Types
Ivory bobbins are very rare and in the UK were predominately made by Barry Adams.
If you own an ivory bobbin then please be aware that the selling or trading in Ivory is covered by CITES, worldwide and in the UK by the 2018 Ivory Act. Failure to adhere to the act can result in a maximum fine of £250,000 or up to 5 years imprisonment. Exempltions apply to owning ivory for personal use, giving it away as a gift and leaving it to someone in your will. I strongly recommend that you check with the legislation in your country if you own any ivory bobbins.
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 Sally Reason bobbins with 7 main beads, including the crystal rondells. When I first started to make lace in the heady days of the late 1980s I was obsessed with buying big, bulky east midlands bobbins and having heavy spangles with 7 main beads on them. It was as though I needed something heavy duty to grab as I learned to make lace. Within a year or so I stared to buy slimmer bobbins and moved to five main beads in the spangle, with small seed beads between the main beads to stop them rubbing. It was as though as my speed increased I moved from grabbing at the bobbins to 'throwing' them. This change in technique is somewhat aligned to how when you start to drive you say out loud 'Mirror, sigal, manouver', then after a while you just do that without having to say it.  Gradually I respangled all of my bobbins to match my preferred style and started to move to buying bone bobbins as I could afford them. The move to bone bobbins was for a number of reasons:
 I usually buy new bobbins unspangled but sometimes this isn't an option and with secondhand, you get what you get. I'm always torn as to whether or not to change the spangles on preloved / secondhand bobbins. They are show you part of the character and personality of the last owner but other times they can be impractical. Often you realise from it's condition that a bobbin has not been used and it's obvious becuase of the spangle. They can be unwealdy due to dangling bits or just too heavy or too light. With bobbins to the right, the one in the middle has 7 beads on it but is of a good weight. The one to it's left, well, I tried but that dangle just keeps getting in the way. To it's right is a hinged bobbin whcih I have to say, is perfectly balanced. So, is there a rule as to how many beads you should have on an East Midland's bobbin? Nope - none at all. What I will say is that you are going to find your perfect weight and it may be quickly after you start or much later. But at some point, you are going to embrace the fact that you need to respangle ALL of your bobbins. It's inevitable. Just go with it and enjoy the fun.  Having just picked up some lovely bone bobbins on ebay, I thought it might be time to offers some advice about buying second hand modern bobbins. So here are my top tips on buying second hand on eBay (and elsewhere) 1) Is this bobbin still available from the original turner / painter at a reasonable price? Supporting our artisans is good karma, but obviously if it's a bargain then you are going to buy the pre-loved bobbin. Don't forget to check out 'find the maker' if you want to identify the maker is  2) Is the bobbin good value? If you have a budget, then set your limit according when bidding. It's really easy to get carried away and bid way over the top 3) Is this a private seller or a dealer? Always check out the other bobbins that the seller has on sale. There are starting to be a number of sellers who are effectively dealers, but pretending to be private sellers. They buy new bobbins from current artisans and then put them straight on to eBay with a markup. I don't believe in Caveat emptor - Buyer beware. If you then unsure about a purchase talk with one of the most experience lacemakers in the lace Facebook groups. You are more than welcome to message me. 4) Take a good look at the photos.
Fuzzy photos may be someone who isn't good at taking them or it may be an attempt to cover up a less than wonderful bobbin that has a fault. There is nothing stopping you contacting the seller to ask for more photos, or information, if you are really interested
Don't store under glass Bobbins should be stored out on a shelf or on a stand, putting them under glass, where there is little or no air circulating will cause blooming Not just wood, but also bone bobbins Remember, pewter inlay appears on both wooden and bone antique bobbins. A Nasty History Lead has a toxic history (sorry, couldn't resist the pun), from being included in the paint on toys being used as a sweetener in drinks. Yes, there was a history of adding lead to cider to make it sweeter leading to brain damage and death and is the origin of the jokes about 'country yokels'.  Lead musket balls with surface corrosion caused by exposure to organic acid vapours while displayed in a plywood display cabinet. Western Australia Museum Blooming
Lead can oxidise and start to have a white 'bloom' on it. This is a sign of 'lead disease'. Keeping antique bobbins in airtight containers will cause blooming. The first thing is do not touch this with your bare hands. Put on gloves. If you find that an antique bobbin has developed blooming then follow the advice from the Western Australian Museum on treating lead bloom. |
