26 | THE COLONY NEWS | JULY 2021 |
CLUB NEWS
By Sylvia Maxwell, 818-667-1766
Janice Blair is a self-taught bobbin lace,
tatting and needle lace maker. She has been
designing and making lace for over 20 years,
and her work has been published in lace
magazines in several countries worldwide.
Janice has received many awards, including
Best of Division at the San Diego County
Fair. A gallery of her prize-winning designs
is on her web page, www.jblace.com. Simple
designs for beginners are available there free
of charge.
Activity on Facebook shows that there are
many new lacemakers starting to do bobbin
lace, which is a good indication that the craft
is not a dying art. Some of Janice's pieces
have taken well over 400 hours to complete.
This is Janice's third time presenting her
work in The Colony News; the first time
was in May 2018. This month Janice is also
exhibiting several of her other pieces in the
Clubhouse lobby.
Thank you, Janice! We are very pleased that
you are sharing your beautiful art with us.
Artist of the Month
Top right: Cake is Russian bobbin lace.
Above: The collar is all needlelace.
Bottom right: Starry Night purse. The grey
top is the faucet part, done in needlelace.
The bottom is made of Milanese bobbin lace
with beads for water droplets. Milanese is a
style of lace which was invented in Italy. The
needlelace was done over plumbing parts and
beads. I called the piece "The Faucet" in a
national lace competition where it took first
place. I remember seeing this style of water
fountain where the water was recycled back
up to the faucet.
Janice Blair with her ribbon at
the National Lace Convention
