Straw Ornaments, c.1850-1870

"Many [straw bonnets] are trimmed entirely with a fancy ornament in straw. A row of straw rosettes ornaments the front and a thick cord with tassels à l'Imperatrice is twisted round the crown."

    --Frank Leslie's 1859

 

So, I finally started playing around with the rest of my straw-work tools. Which may have lead to trying to copy some of the mid-19th century straw hat ornaments in the VAM. As one does.

Not a bad, until I compare them with the originals...

It's been an educational first attempt. Observations in no particular order:

• Identifying the different techniques on the originals was much easier than I feared.
• The actual tools and techniques are pretty straightforward. Most of the beauty and interest comes from combining many techniques to make intricate, precise decorations.
• Wrapped beads are THE WORST. It's exactly like making thread-covered buttons with no control over the tension, and despite being straightforward and technically easy, I hate it.
• I need a lot more practice on most of these techniques to get the repetition right.
• Downloading the pictures allows for much closer views than the "zoom in" function in the web browser.
• Relatedly, I'm pretty sure the straw-thread "petals" should actually be a three-end ring plait. Also smaller, and seven in number instead of six. I seriously counted them three times.
• Also the watch-spring rosette should have small flower-shaped straw sequins with beads at the center, not quilled rolls.
• Most of my favorite designs include at least some die-cut straws, nearly all of them too fiddly to cut out by hand. No idea where to source a 1/4" flower-shaped punch, so it'll be an adventure.
• I also need to source a straw spinner or figure out how to hack my spindles for straw thread. The hand-twisted versions are just too slow and rough, and I'm not sure how long my source for pre-made will be available. I really like using it, so I need a reliable source for it, especially if I want to start trying the fun lace-work "fancy braids" for hatbands and trims.

And of course, I couldn't resist trying my hand at the best part of everyone's favorite bonnet veil: 

Prototype bees!

The bees on the VAM veil are two toned: they have a black-and-yellow striped body, with yellow die-cut straw wings, black straw thread outlines, and black glass bead eyes (with a clear bead between). The yellow stripes on the body appear to be smooth and whole, over a more complicated black underlayer. Some of them appear to have black antenna and/or legs, but that might just be the net design fooling my eye. There are also multiple un-dyed straw bees in the technique book I'm using (Swiss Straw Work by Veronica Main), which are implied to be examples in a Swiss museum. They aren't broken down as a project, or even given close-up images, but they follow the VAM bees' two-layer wings and bead eyes. The bodies on these bees are also more clearly textured as knotted straw thread. 

I experimented with two body techniques: a straw thread figure-8 (left and center) and thread wrapped around a whole straw (right). I'm not entirely satisfied with either: the figure-8 is more fun, but it's a little too flat, while the wrapped straw is just a bit too narrow (and also was deceptively difficult to neaten up). I dyed the colorful bee with turmeric (a period receipt) and with RIT dye (not period, because period black dyes are on a whole other level). I have a lot of dyed straw left over, so I plan to keep tweaking the construction until I get a design I like. 

These will probably find their way into my straw-plaiting program on Saturday (time permitting), so please drop in with any questions or comments.