Lace intricacies in the Russian outback. Vologda lace: past, present, future What is Vologda lace

Vologda lace known for its exquisite beauty and unique patterns far beyond the borders of the country. Lacemakers spend many hours of painstaking work with bobbins for weaving airy patterns and ornaments, creating unique products - napkins, tablecloths, hats, capes, umbrellas, capes and much more.

In the article we will tell you where this kind of art came from in Rus', how lacemakers work, what a novice master needs to know about bobbin weaving, what materials need to be prepared in order to start making even simple lace things.

The art of weaving Vologda lace requires perseverance, manual dexterity, patience and accuracy in work. Even a small mistake can ruin appearance products. That is why the masters use a special scheme, which is called chips. How to create it and work with it, we will tell a little later, and now a few words about the history of Vologda lace.

Traditions

Weaving from threads was invented by French and Italian masters back in the 16th century. Russian princes brought such products to our country, who were fascinated by airy lace. The tradition of making braided patterns was continued by the masters of the Vologda province. The first mention of Vologda lace dates back to 1820. Craftswomen-serfs made decorations for clothes and linen for landowners.

At first, women copied the patterns of Western masters, but over time they began to embody their own patterns in lace. creative ideas. The number of masters grew every year, as did the popularity of such art. Factories were opened that made products for sale in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The technique of weaving Vologda lace began to be taught in specialized educational institutions, passed down from generation to generation. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the works of artists have been exhibited at exhibitions in Paris and Brussels, won gold medals at various competitions.

With the advent of the Internet, anyone can learn how to make Vologda lace. We will also consider the basics of this folk art. First, let's find out how these laces differ from any others.

The uniqueness of technology

The main feature of the Vologda lace is the presence of a clear separation of the pattern and the background. The ornament is a smooth wide bends, resembling a ribbon that winds in a continuous line, without intersecting anywhere. These can be images of flowers, birds, animals, and even coats of arms or temples. The background at the same time remains airy, weightless, very gentle. As a result, the products are voluminous and expressive.

Folk crafts of Vologda lace are recognizable by the weaving of a long braid, which is fastened with "couplings" or "lattices". Their craftsmen perform the usual knitting hook separately. Such laces are called "coupled". Drawings in this technique are more diverse. These are not only flowers or floral ornaments, but also all sorts of fantastic creatures, geometric figures, images of people and buildings. For weaving, only 6 to 12 pairs of wooden bobbins (thread holders) are used. For woven lace products, they will need much more (60 or more).

There are masters - "mernitsa" who make lace, creating both a pattern and a background at the same time. This is already a "paired" weaving. Often it is represented by simple measured pieces of lace. The required amount is cut from the roll to decorate clothes. Patterns in paired laces are unpretentious, mostly rhombuses, triangles, circles and other shapes.

background elements

There are several options for filling the background for lace:

• "Navnovki" - these are details consisting of dense ovals or squares that fill the voids between the bends of the braid.
• "Pleteshki" is a pattern consisting of thin cords woven into an openwork lattice.
• Loose loops on the braids are twisted threads that give the background more airiness.

Necessary materials

To work with lace, you need to prepare various devices and materials. Threads are used dense and natural. Is it cotton or linen.

The main tool for creating a product is bobbins. These are carved or carved wooden sticks, in which the lower part has a thickening, and a compartment is made on top for winding the thread. Each pattern requires a different number of bobbins, so it is better to buy a whole set (from 60 pieces and more). They are made from maple or apple, spruce or viburnum. Long will serve juniper.

Weaving is performed on kuftyr. This is a roller (pipe made of fabric), having the shape of a cylinder. For convenience, it is located on a stand - a hoop. Fill the roller with straw, sawdust or oatmeal husks.

The finished thread pattern is called a chip. It is drawn on white or colored paper and attached to the roller with pins. Thin "carnations" or pins with a bead on the end will hold the threads during operation. You will need more than one hundred of them, so do not save on them. Also, to tie the braid with a background, you will need a crochet hook, 0.5-0.8 mm in size.

Pieces of Vologda lace

This is a graphic image of the future canvas. Without such a weaving pattern, it is impossible to make lace. Previously, funds were raised for such drawings by the whole village, carefully stored and passed from mother to daughter. Now everything is much easier. A piece of Vologda lace can simply be copied from the Internet and printed on a printer.

For storage, you can attach it to cardboard, and put a sheet of tracing paper on top. This will significantly increase its service life, and white threads will not get dirty during operation. The chip must have a size of life size. The connection points of the lines in the diagram are where the pins are placed.

How to draw a chip yourself

First, a line is sketched with a simple pencil, which, without intersecting anywhere, makes up a continuous pattern. Try to do square napkin. Exact dimensions are not important here, as, for example, when weaving a collar or headdress.

To get a flat wide ribbon, use a poster pen. Circle the line neatly using black ink. This will help you understand how the pattern will look on the product. Then the tape is transferred to another paper through tracing paper with two lines, and traditional broken lines and dots are manually placed between them, on which pins will be pinned. Zigzags convey the movement of a pair of bobbins inside the flax.

Winding thread on bobbins

Preparation for work includes winding threads on wooden bobbins. They work only in pairs, but the winding of the thread occurs alternately.

Let's take a closer look at how this is done:

• Holding one of the paired bobbins in the right hand, the thread is pressed against the narrow place of the wooden stick with the left hand.
• A couple of turns are made to strengthen the end of the thread.
• Then rotational movements are performed with a bobbin so that a thread is evenly wound around the entire surface of the neck. At this time, fingers check the uniformity of tension and its distribution along the entire length.
• 3 meters of thread will be enough. At the end, a loop is made on which the stick will hold firmly during operation.
• Next, you need to unwind the same amount of threads from the skein and cut off the edge with scissors.
• Its continuation is similarly wound onto the neck of another stick.
• When 20 cm of thread remains between the bobbins, a loop is made and the second stick is securely fastened.

Roller preparation

Before starting work, a chip is fixed to the roller. For this, thick cardboard is used, corresponding to the size of the future lace. So that it does not fall off the kuftyr, you need to strengthen it with pins on all four sides. Then the chip itself is attached to the prepared cardboard. Next is the painstaking work of pricking all the available pin points.

Fixing a pair of bobbins

The fixing loop ensures the free operation of the bobbins in pairs, it firmly fixes the winding. To make it, you need to hold the stick in one hand, pull the thread well with your thumb. The bobbin is wound under it, and the upper part is pulled into the loop to tighten it. This is how all bobbins are strengthened, but they do not make a long arc so that the bobbin does not hang below the kuftyr. It is necessary to leave about 15 cm. During operation, the stick is held by the middle of the lower handle, do not touch the threads with your hands so that they do not get dirty.

Lace weaving techniques

Before starting work on creating lace, practice the technique of weaving threads together. A pair of bobbins is hung on a carnation in the middle of the thread. Another carnation is attached nearby with the next pair of bobbins. Two pairs of sticks with threads take part in the weaving work at once. All patterns are created by weaving threads together. This is done by dragging the bobbin from one place to another.

Let's consider two main methods of working with threads:

• Transfer or transfer. The movement always starts with the right bobbin. The thread from the right side is shifted over the thread of the left stick in a pair. Over time, you should learn to do this movement with one hand, using only your thumb. In job descriptions, such flipping is denoted block letter"P". There can be several turns, then the description will indicate "P-P-P". This means that the thread is thrown 3 times.
• Cross. Designated in the description of the pattern with the letter "C". This technique consists in shifting the middle thread of the left bobbins to the middle thread of the right ones. The extreme threads remain even, they are not yet involved in the work. They hold the bobbins with two hands, each with a pair of sticks. This weaving technique is usually performed after throwing. The description will say "P-S". Make sure that the movement is from left to right, that is, the thread on the left should lie on top of the thread on the right. Also stick to the same thread tension in all options.

After reading the Vologda lace master class, be sure to try to make a light pattern, practice winding the thread on bobbins, making a fastening loop, throwing and crossing the threads among themselves. Over time, learn to do small tasks. It's not easy, so you'll have to be patient. Good luck!

Lace has long ceased to be a common element of decor. It is perceived as a kind of metaphor for everything light and transparent, weightless and fragile. There are many techniques and varieties of weaving, but if we are talking about its production in Russia, then Vologda lace comes to mind. Thanks to him, lace makers became known all over the world.

If you want to learn how to create lace masterpieces with your own hands, remember that Vologda lace, like Vyatka lace, is woven on bobbins from the very beginning, which means that the first thing you need to do is to look for and acquire them. Pictures with pattern samples, training courses and master classes are available on the Internet for free - they can be viewed and downloaded. There you can also find splinters for collars, or vests, the main motive of which will be unusually beautiful lace flowers. And by the way - if you want to involve children in the process - you can not only weave lace, you can draw it! Lessons on decorative drawing It is also easy to find on the World Wide Web.

Lace has long ceased to be a common element of decor.

If it will be difficult for beginner lacemakers to master complex patterns, then weaving a simple mesh string bag will be possible. Special patterns are not used here, and accordingly it will be much easier to deal with bobbins.

What is necessary:

• bobbin;
• threads;
• roller filled with sawdust;
• lash;
• Styrofoam;
• graph paper;
• chip;
• needles;
• hook.

Progress:

1. Cut out the base from the foam.
2. Draw a grid on graph paper.
3. Fix the resulting drawing on a foam base.
4. Wind the threads on the bobbins and start weaving.
5. Prick needles into the upper end.
6. Visit them with a pair of bobbins.
7. Tie the top of the future string bag and hide the ends of the threads in weaving.
8. Focusing on the scheme, determine the place of future pens.
9. Fix at the bottom of the handle.

Gallery: Vologda lace (25 photos)

How Vologda lace is woven (video)

Pieces of Vologda lace for beginners

A chip is a picture that is a weaving pattern. It is on its basis that lace is woven.

The easiest way to create a chip is to print it on a printer. In the future, you will need to attach it to the cardboard and put tracing paper on top. Thanks to such manipulations, it will be possible to extend its service life and preserve the original whiteness of the threads.

The chip must be made in full size. The pattern on it is depicted in the form of dots and dashes. In addition, the needlewoman can draw a drawing of a running pair.

The dots on the pins indicate where the pins should be placed. It is these points that are used in the weaving process.

It is simply impossible to create a lace masterpiece without a chip. Each lacemaker carefully keeps each of them in order to pass them on to their next generations. For beginners, the simplest of them are suitable.

It is simply impossible to create a lace masterpiece without a chip

Imitation of Vologda lace crochet: easy scheme

The technique of making Vologda lace is complex and rather laborious. This is what is main reason that many knitters are afraid to resort to weaving. If you master the art of crocheting braid, you will be able to create no less beautiful products.

Progress:

1. First, nine air loops are dialed.
2. In the second row, four columns with a crochet are knitted.
3. Five air loops are made for the festoon.
4. After that, the work is turned over and the columns are knitted over the columns, five air stitches are typed for the festoon.

The technique of making Vologda lace is complex and rather laborious.

In all subsequent rows, the actions are repeated, due to which a braid with double-sided scallops is created.

DIY lace scarf

Even an inexperienced needlewoman can sew a light, elegant snood scarf made of lace. Despite the ease of manufacture, this unusual accessory looks elegant, beautiful and noble. Thanks to the combination of textiles and lace, it is possible to create a real masterpiece.

A light, elegant scarf-snood made of lace can be sewn even by an inexperienced needlewoman

What is necessary:

• cut of any fabric;
• lace;
• threads;
• scissors;
• needle.

Progress:

1. Cut out identical rectangles from fabric and lace, the length of which should be exactly a meter, and the width should be sixty centimeters.
2. Lay the rectangle cut out of the fabric face up on a work surface.
3. Put lace on top and fasten immediately with pins.
4. Baste the workpiece from all sides.
5. To create a trumpet, sew a pair of long sides together.
6. Sew a pair of open ends of the product to each other front sides but leave a small hole.

Turn the scarf inside out and sew up the remaining opening.

Vologda lace: the history of art

Vologda lace-making appeared in the sixteenth century, but this art developed into a craft only at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is generally accepted that it originated in Europe, namely in Italy and France.

Imitating European masters, serfs in the vicinity of Vologda began to weave lace only in 1820. Historians have established that during this period, lace production was located in all major provinces. It was from there that products were regularly delivered to the capital and St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of the 19th century, such a factory was founded in the village of Kovyrino by the landowner Zasetskaya. On it, the serfs wove very thin lace, intended for finishing linen and dresses.

After a while, the manufacture of lace began to be engaged not only in workshops, but also at home. It was at this moment that art became truly popular. Lacemakers began to perform work that fully satisfied the needs of a wide range of local residents.

Vologda lace-making appeared in the sixteenth century, but this art developed into a craft only at the beginning of the nineteenth century

If at the end of the nineteenth century there were only four thousand craftswomen near Vologda, then only twenty years later their number increased tenfold. A decade later, a vocational school was created, in which future craftswomen were taught this art.

In the thirtieth year of the twentieth century, even a lace union was created in the Vologda province, and five years later an art laboratory was created with it. During this period, images appeared on lace that fully reflect the realities of the Soviet era. In the 1960s, the association of lace-makers "Snezhinka" was founded.

In 2010, the Lace Museum was even opened in Vologda. It contains more than five hundred items, thanks to which everyone can learn about how this artistic craft was founded and developed.

Bobbin winding technique: instructions for beginners

Bobbin weaving requires a lot of patience. Beginning needlewomen, first of all, need to master the technique of winding threads. It is this process that will be the main training of this quality. In this case, paired bobbins are used, on which the thread is wound.

Progress:

1. Take one of the pair of bobbins in your right hand, and place the thread in your left.
2. Press the tip of the thread to the neck of the bobbin with your finger and make a couple of turns around it. Thus, securely fix the thread.
3. After fixing the thread, it must be wound by simple rotation. Be sure to hold the thread so that it is evenly distributed throughout the bobbin.
4. Wind about three meters of thread and secure it with a loop.
5. Unwind the same amount of thread from the skein and only after that it needs to be cut.
6. Wind the free tip in the same way on the second of the pair of bobbins and fix it with a loop.

Leave about twenty centimeters of free thread between the bobbins.

Imitation of Bruges or Vologda lace: crochet (video)

Vologda lace- a special phenomenon in the folk art of the Russian North. Wealth and variety of patterns, purity of lines, dimensional rhythms of ornaments, high skill - such is his artistic originality. Poems and songs have been written about Vologda lace, and films have been made. Known all over the world, it embodies the glory of Russian lace.

The word "lace" comes from "to surround", to decorate the edges of clothes and other items made of fabrics with an elegant finish. Lace weaving has been known in Rus' for a long time. It was practiced by women of all classes. The dress of kings, princes and boyars was decorated with lace made of gold, silver and silk threads; lace made from linen yarn was used in folk clothes, and from the end of the 19th century - from cotton threads.

The artistic features of Vologda lace were already formed in the 17th – 18th centuries. Until the 19th century, lace-making had the character of a domestic art craft. In the 20s of the 19th century, a lace factory was founded in the vicinity of Vologda, where dozens of serf lace-makers worked. In the middle of the 19th century, lace-making on the Vologda land turned into a craft, which was practiced by thousands of craftswomen in different counties. Especially this craft was developed on the territory of the Vologda, Kadnikovsky and Gryazovets districts. Each of them has developed local features of patterns and weaving techniques, its own range of lace products, but only a fine connoisseur of this art can distinguish them. Lace craft in the Vologda province flourished in the second half of the 19th century. If in 1893 four thousand craftswomen were engaged in weaving, then in 1912 there were almost forty thousand of them. The fame of Vologda lace has crossed the borders of the country. Fashion for him swept many countries of Europe.

A distinctive feature of the traditional Vologda paired lace is a clear division of the “structure” of lace into a pattern and a background. As a result, the large and smooth forms of the ornament are very expressively distinguished by a continuous line, even in width along the entire length of the pattern. In the early Vologda lace, stylized images of birds, the tree of life and other ancient motifs, characteristic of more ancient embroidery, varied as the leading ornament. Today, Vologda lace is distinguished by a variety of ornaments, monumentality of forms and the predominance of floral motifs.

The Vologda fishery has received wide recognition both in Russia and abroad. The talent and skill of Vologda artists and lacemakers have been repeatedly noted at many international and domestic exhibitions. In 1937, at the international exhibition in Paris, the Vologda Lace Union for the novelty and artistic performance of lace products was awarded the highest award - the Grand Prix, at the Brussels Exhibition in 1958, Vologda lace was awarded a gold medal. And in 1968, the leading artists of the production association "Snezhinka" were awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after I.E. Repin. A lot of imagination, creative work, high skill were put into their work by the oldest lace maker K.V. Isakov, famous masters of their work E. Ya. Khumala, V. V. Sibirtseva, Honored Artists of the RSFSR V. D. Veselova and V. N. Elfina. Many of their works are kept in the largest museums of the country.

Features common to all Vologda lace in the work of each master acquire an individual color. So, the works of K. V. Isakova develop a chamber lyrical direction. Tenderness and warmth of images distinguish her panel "Deers", created in 1968. It depicts firs and galloping deer. Dimensional repetitions of the figures, their arrangement in rows, a clear pattern with a relief contour against the background of a light through lattice, like flying snowflakes and the white color of linen threads - all this gives rise to the image of a winter forest immersed in silence.

The work of V. D. Veselova is diverse. A hereditary lace maker, she perfectly knows all the secrets of lace making, which allows her to create both small household items and decorative panels at an equally high artistic level. One of Veselova's unique works is the Ladya tablecloth. It combines all the best features of the artist's work: the poetry of images, the nobility of the drawing, the richness of developments in details, the refinement of the technical execution of lace, its indispensable conditionality by the content and nature of the ornament.

The work of another outstanding lace maker, V. N. Elfina, gravitates toward monumental compositions and large forms of ornamentation. In 1978, Elfina executed the Singing Tree panel. It symbolizes spring and the flowering of nature associated with its arrival, the awakening of life, the many-voiced singing of birds. The magnificent Tree of Life is dotted with flowers and birds sitting on it. The dense pattern is opposed light openwork background. The combination of harsh and white threads gives the panel a silvery hue.

In 2010, the Lace Museum was opened in Vologda. It is housed in a two-story stone building, an architectural monument of federal significance from the early 19th century. On the first floor of the museum there are exhibition halls, a lace cafe, an art salon-shop, decorated in a modern style, as well as a classroom where a lace-making studio operates. The main exposition of the museum, built in chronological order, is located on the second floor and occupies eight halls.

Interest in lace craft and the only Museum of Lace in Russia is constantly growing. Vologda has already hosted the guests of the Vita Lace International Lace Festival twice already. Thanks to the festival, Vologda unites needlewomen, artists, researchers and connoisseurs of the Vologda lace craft, the most massive lace craft in Russia.

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A few years ago, one clear winter day, driving up to Vologda, I noticed the lacy branches of roadside trees, covered with hoarfrost. It was then that I thought that here it is, the secret of Vologda lace - nature itself inspired the craftswomen, prompting them with exquisite patterns and images.

- one of the attractions of Vologda. It is located on the Kremlin Square, in the building of the former State Bank, an architectural monument of the late 18th century. In 2010, the Museum of Lace opened here. Let's go here to learn the secrets of creating Vologda lace.

The exposition of the Lace Museum includes the following sections:

• Lace in cult objects of the 17th-19th centuries,
• Lace in a peasant costume and ethnographic textiles,
• Lace products 1920-1940s,
• Lace centers of Europe and Russia,
• Author's works of artists of the association "Snezhinka".

The art of lace-making came to Russia from Europe in the 16th-17th centuries. It soon spread to many parts of the country. Lace decorated not only the exquisite outfits of the nobility, but also the folk costume.

Samples of foreign lace (France, Austria, England, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain), XIX-XXI centuries

The Russian word "lace" comes from the verb "surround". The fact is that initially the edges of the dress were decorated with lace. In the 19th century, Vologda lace became a craft. In most landowners' estates, lace factories appeared, where serf craftswomen worked. Products from them were delivered to St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. By 1912, the number of workers involved in the lace industry reached 40 thousand people.

Hall of the Lace Museum dedicated to the history of Vologda lace

In the past, mainly linen threads were used for weaving lace, and since the end of the 19th century, cotton threads have also been used. Traditional Vologda lace was white, sometimes gold and silver threads were woven into it. There were also laces of other colors.

Valance "Leopards and trees", the beginning of the XX century. Canvas, embroidery "counted cross", lace, digital technique, 46 x 210, Solvychegorsk district

Weaved lace on a cushion-roller, which is called kuftyr. This is a drum stuffed with straw, mounted on a special stand - raznozhke. They put on him chip- drawing on smooth paper with a lace pattern. Pins were stuck at the intersection points of the lines.

The threads are wound on bobbin which were made from birch or juniper. The bobbins had thickenings and indentations. Depending on the complexity of the pattern, the number of bobbins varied and could reach several hundred.

Weaving intricate lace. Photo from Wikipedia

The craftswoman deftly wielded the bobbins, winding the threads around the pins. This is how the lace pattern was born. In the process of work, the bobbins emitted a melodic chime.

Soon Vologda lace gained popularity among all segments of the population. IN folk costume traditional patterns were used - geometric shapes, images of fantastic animals and birds, floral ornaments, amulets.

After the October Revolution, lace craft in the Vologda Oblast reached new level. In 1928, a vocational school for lacemakers was opened in Vologda, and in 1930, the Vologda Lace Union. In 1935, an art laboratory was opened at the Vologda Lace Union. Today, Vologda lace makers are mostly united in Vologda lace company "Snezhinka", which occupies one of the leading places among the traditional crafts of Russia.

Until the 1940s, they mainly wove measured lace, intended for finishing linen. Later, various products began to be woven from lace: from napkins and tablecloths, to such complex ones as collars, gloves, hats, blouses, etc. One lace product could take a year or more of the work of a craftswoman.

In the 1930s, new motifs appeared in lace patterns, reflecting Soviet reality. On the museum stands dedicated to this period, we will see lace portraits of the leaders of the revolution, lace paintings of new architecture and other images.

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Lace depicting Soviet reality and fairy tale motifs

A distinctive feature of Vologda lace is a clear division into background and pattern. This lace is called doubles. Thanks to this, you can create whole pictures.

Moving from room to room, we admire more and more new lace products. What is not here! And lace paintings, and exquisite outfits of fashionistas. Lace wedding dress looks elegant.

If in the 1930s lace products Vologda craftswomen reflected, first of all, Soviet reality, then later a greater variety of patterns and forms appears. Products are becoming more and more complex in terms of technique. And one can only marvel at the art of lace-making and admire openwork products.

The Lace Museum annually hosts festivals dedicated to Vologda lace.

They say that Tsar Peter often traveled to overseas countries. He loved to see with his own eyes how and what. I figured out where and what good things to learn. One day he comes to the Azure Sea. The overseas king meets him, leads him to the palace, shows him all sorts of curiosities.
“I feel sorry for you, Tsar Peter,” he says, “you live among dark people. They don't know anything, they don't know anything. Take a look at the craftswomen in my kingdom. And shows a lace tablecloth. Tsar Peter looked at the tablecloth and laughed:
- Where did you see birches and daisies in your country?
This is Russian lace from my country.

That cannot be! - exclaimed the king and began to examine the tablecloth in a magnifying glass. But look, don't look - a birch will remain a birch. The king got angry and ordered to call the merchants. They threw themselves at the king's feet and confessed
We are to blame, your royal majesty. They did not lead to execute, they led to pardon. This is not the work of our craftswomen, but it was bought from Russian lacemakers - from seven Katerinas. No one weaves lace better than them. And this lace is called - Vologda.

Now you can hear: “Well, there were laces, and there are none - is it really that important? These are not shirts, not dresses, not coats. After all, it's fun, decoration ... ”Yes, of course, lace is just decoration. A thing in everyday life is completely, one might say, not mandatory. Especially today. And yet, for some reason, women and girls still cannot look at them indifferently: they calm down, examine, touch or stroke, and at the same time each eye is filled with such light and joy that you are afraid to utter a word nearby so as not to frighten off this amazing feeling..

And in the old days, men had exactly the same attitude towards lace. And in France, for example, and in Spain and Flanders, such fantastic passions boiled around these openwork decorations, and such cunning and cruel events unfolded that they would be more than enough for a dozen adventure novels. They went crazy about lace, they went bankrupt on lace, state councils, kings, cardinals and ministers discussed lace issues.

They imprisoned them for lace, beat them with whips and cut off their heads. Lace, they say, even saved an entire nation from poverty, an entire state - Flanders (modern Belgium). And although at the end of the sixteenth and in the seventeenth centuries there were already a huge number of them, the best of them were still very expensive, and King Philip III of Spain even forbade his subjects to wear lace at all, so that people would no longer go broke on addiction to this decoration.

Light, transparent, golden-yellow and black lace with delicate patterns and various small “flies” on tulle backgrounds are still being produced at those old manufactories, and, like all lace, they are called by the names of the cities that gave birth to them. French alencons, valenciennes and chantilly became very famous, but they still failed to outshine the glory of Flemish lace.

In Flanders, they generally believed and still believe that lace-making was born precisely from them. Like it or not, but in any case, the most common weaving - on bobbins - was really invented there. The main feature of Flemish lace is its unusual, almost airy subtlety and always a very elegant pattern on the so-called snowy backgrounds twinkling with stars.

But why did people stop at nothing because of these decorations? And you look at any women's dress trimmed with lace. Even if there are very few of them, some narrow trim - and then this dress looks elegant. And if there is more lace - a collar, jabot or cuffs, for example - the style of the dress is no longer important, in any case it is very solemn, beautiful and festive. And the more of them, the more the feeling of a holiday.

Yes, remember the Musketeers and their outfits in abundant lace. After all, really, they are perceived as participants in some grandiose and endless masquerade ball, although they were just soldiers. And the characters of the famous paintings by Rubens, Velasquez, Frans Hals, Van Dyck ... Kings, maids, generals, doctors, merchants, housewives, jesters, drunkards ... Different classes, different faces and furnishings, but the impression is as if the life of everyone of them also looked like a solid beautiful holiday. But this is not so.

Life in those days was distinguished by medieval rudeness, it was full of poverty, violence and cruelty ... But people did not want to notice this. They, like at all times, wanted joy, wanted to feel happy, and so they found jewelry that was the best fit for any clothes and made everyone extraordinarily beautiful, brought a feeling of eternal holiday. That is, everyone, as it were, began to wear holidays on himself. Everyone began to wear ... And not just beauty and elegance, but precisely festive beauty and elegance - these are the main properties of any lace, its essence. And while people are looking for joy, they will be fond of lace ...

Now only a few dozen lacemakers work at the Vologda lace factory. Moreover, several artists - the golden fund of the enterprise - come up with drawings and patterns. This is all that is left of the artel of Vologda craftswomen, which used to be many thousands. The local school graduates 30 young lacemakers every year, but for obvious reasons, almost all of them go to the side.

Over the past few years, half of the workers have left the enterprise - they have gone into trade, into conductors. The most persistent and creative remained. “Comfortable in their craft...” When things really took their toll, women weave their patterns until their death. “If I die, then take a piece to the factory, finish it,” the grandmother asks her granddaughter. The oldest home-made lace maker is 87 years old.

So does Russia need Vologda lace? Is one of the few industries left in the country still unwilling to succumb to the onslaught of gross impersonality? Think it's needed. Because no self-respecting country abandons folk art. Just like Van Gogh and Velazquez paintings are not thrown into the landfill.
This is a national treasure. Otherwise, such a country loses its glory, prestige, and the ability to create is washed out of the genetic memory of the people, and the people become mediocre.