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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Northern Lights Lodge, post: 8030186, member: 13464&quot;][USER=76316]@wlwhittier[/USER] </p><p>How did I miss this query way back in January! Shame on me! LOL!</p><p>Yes, it is indeed a lacemaker&#039;s bobbin! The shaft is made of bone and the &quot;tiger stripes&quot; are pewter. Also called a &quot;banded bobbin&quot;. The style is a &quot;Bedsfordshire&quot; lace bobbin. The pewter although decorative were meant to add weight to the bobbin which kept tension on the threads that were wound on the bobbin.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the book &quot;Success to the Lace Pillow by Springett - 1981&quot;; this type of bobbin is identified by the Springett&#039;s as one made by &quot;Bobbin Brown of Cranfield&quot; (1793-1872. He may be, perhaps, the most well known of all the bobbin makers of that era. His bobbins were fairly distinctive. The heads on his bobbins always had a very fat bulb immediately above the long neck of the shank, then tapering in to the short neck which gives a rather bottom-heavy appearance to the bulb and the very top is domed. The bottom ends were usually incised with several tiny grooves and the very end was a pointed tail, which makes this bobbin maker&#039;s work one that is easy to identify!</p><p><br /></p><p>The beads were called &quot;spangles&quot; and were also used as decoration; but also added additional weight and prevented the bobbins from rolling which would untwist the thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>The square beads were called &quot;square cuts&quot; and were melted off a stick of glass one at a time, twirled on a copper wire which made the hole; then pressed on the sides with a file which produced at once the square shape and the peculiar markings on the surface. The glass was obtained from decanter tops and tallow lamps were used for melting it. The big black bead is probably an African trade bead and I don&#039;t know what the blue one is.</p><p><br /></p><p>The &quot;cushion&quot; refers to the working surface to which the lace pattern, pins and bobbins wound with thread were attached. Bedsfordshire lace was worked on a &quot;hill shape&quot; cushion or &quot;pillow&quot; that had a rolling bolster on it. </p><p><br /></p><p>If you have more questions - please ask...</p><p>It is a really NICE bobbin! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" /></p><p>I also replied to [USER=8708]@KSW[/USER] regarding the two bobbins that she posted. You might be interested to go look at them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cheerio,</p><p>Leslie[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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