The Lacemakers Blog
Here are blog articles documenting my research and the project. You can click on a category heading (below) to see specific blog posts relating to different areas of research, or the project development.
All
- All
- Characters
- Creative Puppetry Development
- History of Lacemaking
- Lace Folklore and Customs
- Lace Legends
- Lacemaking Tools
- Music Development
Unpicking the Lost Stitch: A Conceptual Approach to Research By Ulysses Black
Ulysses Black writes of a concept he came up with, exploring how narrative threads can cross over, reflecting the method of making a lace stitch:...
The Smuggler Character (and his dog)
Meet the smuggler and learn more about lace smuggling generally and his struggle with a corpse... Puppets, puppetry and voice by Daisy Jordan. Video editing...
The Lace Merchant (character and history)
Above music: Maiden Maiden by Gemma Khawaja. Lyrics by Ulysses Black. The little puppet prototype pictured is the character of the lace merchant....
The Night Tangler (continued)
Above music: The Night Tangler theme by Gemma Khawaja. Above audio: Ulysses Black talks about our Night Tangler character More about our...
Animation – Patron and Clergyman pin Old Bob
Above music: "Needle pin" by Gemma Khawaja. Based on lacemaking tells. Video animation below: The two propagandist characters capture Old Bob and pin...
The “Propagandist” Characters
(Videos below text) When I was researching lace folklore, one thing that I found really fascinating was the fact that a lot of the lace...
Industrial Lace Machinery – Nottingham
Audio above: Recording of a lace machine by Gemma Khawaja with added accompaniment I spoke to Richard Brawn, who trained as an...
The Lace Mistress (and students)
Above: One of our own original lace tells by musician Gemma Khawaja. Lyrics by Ulysses Black This is a paper prototype I made...
Thinking about Show Structure and Aesthetics
I am currently thinking that I would like elements of the puppet show to reflect the process of lacemaking itself. I have decided (so far)...
Miniature Set prototypes
I recently found out I had to self-isolate for ten days, after having left all my puppet prototypes and props at the devising space. Without...
The Lace Schools
Above image supplied by The Higgins Bedford. Postcard by Braggins and Co. Copyright belongs to The Higgins Bedford. The following information was given to me...
Lace Smuggling
Back in the heyday of handmade lace, it was an extremely valuable commodity. There were also sumptuary laws which stopped people of certain classes wearing...
Animation – lacemaker and Virgin Mary
Above audio: Gemma Khawaja's version of A Shirt of Lace Very quick animation experiment exploring the legend of the young lacemaker being visited...
Scene Sketch Videos -Lacemaker’s Home
Above: Gemma Khawaja's version of The Bone Lace Weaver To get experimenting with test scenes using my quickly made prototype puppets, I painted...
Lacemaking Tells (rhymes/songs sung while lacemaking)
Above: Gemma Khawaja's version of Needlepin, a lace tell. The Lacemaking Tells are unaccompanied counting songs and rhymes sung/chanted by young lacemakers, particularly...
“Cross, twist” – bobbin animation experiment
A little stop frame animation experiment I did using lace bobbins and paper cut outs. The bobbins are (hopefully!) moving in the correct order sequence...
Lace Making Community Groups
Handmade lace is such an extremely slow process that it can no longer be done as a career. Today it tends to be a hobby...
Old Bob and the Gaps in the Lace – Stop frame animations
Above music: The Night Tangler theme by Gemma Khawaja. Old Bob (aka The Night Tangler) dwells in the gaps, or holes, in the...
