Thursday, October 22, 2009

A word about couronne sticks



Here's a pix of a WIP that I've resurrected. I abandoned it in April but have found it inspiring again.

I've been catching up with reading my favourite blogs and on one of them, the author posted pix of her purchases at the Knitting & Stitching Show, which brought back fond memories, including a pic of a "stepped" couronne stick.

Here is a pic of the couronne stick I use, which I find works much better because you simply have to do the initial wraps further up or down the stick to get different size couronnes, and you can slip your needle underneath the wraps much easier because the "steps" don't get in the way. Also shown is my first "stepped" couronne stick.


This pic shows detail of a piece called "Sea Fans" in which you can see how I sprinkled the couronnes onto the embroidery.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your sea picture with the lace made with the couronne sticks. Where could I find one of them??? Lise Pederson email lucyped@shaw.ca

Hannah said...

Hi there. I've been trying to find out about couronne sticks after seeing someone use one at a craft show. I can't find a lot of information on how to do those (lovely!) circle designs (couronnes, I suppose?), and was wondering if you could perhaps tell me some basic information, or point me to somewhere online with info?

Thanks so much for reading.
Hannah.

Digitalgran said...

I would imagine this is easier to use that the stepped one. But I did so love the shape, and the smoothness of the beautiful wood. I knew the minute I saw it I had to have one, but I still haven't used it. Maybe I'll just sit and stroke it:)

MixPix said...

I responded to Lise in an email, but thought it might be useful to copy it here...
Hi Lise,
Thanks for leaving a comment on my last post on my blog. I got the couronne stick from a friend whose husband used to turn them on his lathe, so I can't say where you would find one in a shop for example. However, depending on the size of couronne you want to make, you could just use a knitting needle, a pen, or just sharpen a dowel with a pencil sharpener although you would probably have to smooth it afterwards with sandpaper to avoid your thread catching on splinters. My couronne sticks are made with very fine grained hardwood so they avoid that problem. Good luck, Cheers; Michele.
To Margaret R:
Yes, I know what you mean about the sculptural quality of your couronne stick - I'd have the same reaction as you on first seeing it.

MixPix said...

Hi Hannah, Thanks for your comment. Most needlelace instructions will explain how to do couronnes. Unfortunately, I don't have time just now to Google for it, but I will post something later if I find a good site explaining it or just put up a little tutorial myself.

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