Lace patterns. Lace painting, lace patterns on furniture

An elegant lace manicure is created for special occasions: special occasions, proms, anniversaries, weddings. Luxurious patterns on nails are most suitable for an evening dress, an openwork blouse or a delicate bridal outfit.

Lace patterns are always associated with a romantic feminine image. They contain grace, mystery, sophistication, temptation. The thin mesh on your nails will cause a storm of admiration!

There are four ways to create lace on your nails at home.

Method one. We use lace for manicure. Performing a step-by-step manicure using lace mesh is not as difficult as it might seem:

  • Choose lace or fine mesh fabric. Mesh, which is used in tailoring, or simple tulle will do. Thin materials will look better. Always apply lace to your nails first to make sure it will look harmonious.
  • Prepare other necessary materials: base coat, fixative, nail scissors.
  • Cut pieces of lace according to the size of the nail plates.
  • Apply base coat to record. Let it dry for a few seconds.
  • Apply the lace to the semi-dry base coat. Carefully level it over the entire area with a toothpick and press with your finger.
  • Apply sealer in two layers.
  • Once dry, trim the ends of the fabric using nail scissors.

If desired, lace can be applied not only to a transparent base, but also to a colored one. It is necessary to cover the nail with two layers of bright varnish and wait for it to dry. Use special nail glue to attach the lace.

You can transfer patterns to your nails using a special stamp. The designs on the nails look as if they were created by a real master. In fact, a brush is not needed at all in this process.

The step-by-step instructions are simple:

  • prepare your nails for spamming, apply a colored background;
  • Cover the stencil with varnish of a different shade;
  • run a scraper along the stencil plate so that the varnish remains only in the recesses;
  • roll a stamp over a metal plate, the design will be imprinted on it;
  • immediately transfer the patterns to the nail, rolling the stamp over the surface;
  • secure everything with a finishing coat.

Method four. We draw lace patterns with a brush.

This is a rather complex and time-consuming process. Lace is painted on the nails with a thin brush. Only the confident hand of an artist can make impeccable lines. But it’s worth trying this method and your artistic abilities. For a perfect result, you need to cover your nails with gel polish. It is better to apply drawings with gel paint. It fits perfectly on the surface.

Lace wedding manicure

Openwork manicure seems to be created for the bride! It looks incredibly harmonious with a snow-white wedding dress. For such an occasion, especially thin lace is chosen. Manicure is performed in light pink, white, beige tones. Sometimes they add a little golden sand, silver pollen, and a few shiny stones.

Read also: Manicure with St. George's ribbon: themed design for Victory Day

French lace manicure

It is not necessary to cover the entire surface of the nails with lace. The expressive mesh may extend slightly onto the nails. The lace smile line is a very original option. A universal openwork jacket will suit any clothes and for any occasion.

There are a lot of options, the most popular ones are shown in the photo!

  • The smile line can have a traditional semicircular shape. But then it is better to draw the grid with a brush.
  • If you are using fabric lace, a quick and beautiful way is to glue the strips diagonally.
  • You can create an ordinary traditional jacket, and then decorate it with pieces of lace.
  • A white smile line and snow patterns on the base are an equally popular option.

Most often, to create a holistic feminine image, patterns are made in white on a pink or transparent base. It's incredibly romantic!

Black openwork patterns in French design create an expressive contrast.

Secrets of lace manicure

  • The patterns will look great if you choose the right colors. Use contrasts! A proven option is black or white mesh on a colored background.
  • Lace manicure takes a lot of time. This is probably why it is made on special occasions. After all, not every woman can devote so much time to manicure in everyday life. The technique requires treating each nail separately.
  • You can make a lace manicure even more attractive by decorating it with stasis and sparkles.
  • An elegant mesh can decorate one or two fingernails or tear up all the plates. Both options look very elegant.

The beauty of lace is mesmerizing. Delicate curves, soft patterns, delicate work of the master - all this is aimed at making the world more beautiful, more spontaneous and graceful. Of course, lace weaving is a woman’s prerogative, and the craftswomen who create masterpieces worth their weight in gold make their models exclusive and extraordinary.

Girls and women who include openwork shawls, boleros, dresses or even swimsuits in their wardrobe will never look boring, their image will certainly be feminine and a little magical, because each work made using the “crochet lace” technique, the pattern of which was drawn up individually - this is a fairytale.

Types of lace

Tatting, Bruges ribbon, Yelets or Irish - the variety of types and weaving techniques allows you to choose a special style for yourself. And every needlewoman who weaves (the pattern of such lace can even be chosen for a wedding dress!) chooses something new for herself every time. After all, this is an incomprehensible secret - to create a whole world to express your feelings, thoughts, talent, to convey mood and emotions in a pattern.

Bruges lace

A very special type that came to us from abroad is somewhat similar to our Vologda lace. This is Bruges crochet lace, the pattern of which may even be taken from Vologda. The secret of weaving Vologda lace has been in the hands of craftswomen since ancient times; there is even a legend about how the eastern (Persian kings) tried to lure craftswomen for large kalyms, but the ancient tradition and love for the homeland made this technique unique.

To weave it, you need a large pillow stuffed with sawdust or cotton wool so tightly that the lace fabric sticks to it very tightly. The cheerful chime of bobbins and bright emotions made not only the lace unique, but the process of its creation itself a kind of ritual.

It is woven in a more accessible form and does not require a pillow or bobbin to create it. Visually it is very similar to the Vologda one. The only difference will be in the technique of weaving it. If Vologda lace is crocheted (its pattern is called “split”) only connected, and the hook plays an auxiliary role, then Bruges lace is only crocheted. Another feature of Bruges lace is that you can use thick thread for it (warm wool, acrylic, mohair), the main thing is to choose the appropriate hook size so that the loops are the right size and the thread lies neatly. Creating Bruges lace by crochet, the pattern of which consists of double crochets to create a “will”, and branches to connect the “will” into a pattern of ordinary air loops, is absolutely not difficult even for a beginner in needlework. With the most modest skills, you can master even a large model.

Crochet Pattern: Ribbon Lace

The ribbon lace technique of knitting patterns occupies a special place and has a completely different look from the usual options. For the base they are taken from ribbons (depending on the pattern and thickness of the ribbon, its width is also selected), the length is chosen depending on the same parameters, in addition, it is important to take into account the length of the product itself. Floral, rounded motifs, which certainly form an openwork - the basic principle of weaving products that use the technique of “ribbon lace” (crocheted), its pattern is quite simple, it is very reminiscent of ordinary lace.

How are the finished lace ribbons connected?

The peculiarity of ribbon lace is that the elements of the pattern are repeated in repeats, forming identical lace ribbons. The process of connecting them requires attention and imagination. A crochet pattern (ribbon lace) explains how pairs of branches are connected. As a rule, repeating motifs are crocheted to already knitted similar ribbons in several places using air loops or stitched with a picot needle. The ribbons themselves form a general pattern in vertically arranged ribbons, but the patterns can be adapted for horizontal and even oblique weaving. The ribbon lace border is very beautiful: it is used where it decorates the edge of the product.

Irish lace

One of the most beautiful options for creating wardrobe items and accessories (women's clothing, bags, sweaters and blouses) is Irish lace. The canvas of the finished product is assembled from elements (petals, leaves, geometric shapes) separately connected. The single composition looks symmetrical or asymmetrical, thick or openwork at will.

(Irish lace) is simple. To create lace, it is enough to know how to make basic crochet loops - air stitches and single crochets. Irish lace is formed by creating a track of air loops, which are knitted in the second row with single crochets, and then the process is repeated according to the pattern. Joints in elements knitted with Irish lace are also crocheted using air loops or stitching.

There is another very original technique that gives something knitted with Irish lace tenderness and softness - these are brids, stitches made from threads of the main color or a contrasting one (depending on the idea), which are trimmed manually with a needle, the seam is made in the cutwork style. You can make an openwork product on a mesh, pre-knitted in any way, and sew on the elements knitted using the Irish lace technique after completing the main “frame” of the work. This method is optimal for beginners. It happens that the mesh is made of needle lace; such a product will require skill and patience.

How to choose a thread for crocheting lace?

Depending on whether you are planning to knit an openwork decoration for a wedding or a warm shawl, the thread will be cotton or wool, its thickness will also affect the choice of hook, the size of which should ideally match it so that working on a handmade masterpiece is enjoyable and looks beautiful. When creating crocheted lace (the pattern will consist of air loops, single crochets, double crochets), draw inspiration from your work and enjoy the process of creating a fairy tale.

“AIRY LACE PAINTING CAUSES DELIGHT WITH THEIR PERFECT GRACE”

Since its appearance, lace has acquired the status of an independent type of decoration. And, as a rule, clothes and furnishings were decorated with it. Lace added elegance to the outfit, tenderness and femininity to the owner, and comfort and sophistication to the home. The laboriousness of making these silk and gold, woven and woven “webs” raised their cost to astronomical heights, but the desire to possess them swept away all barriers and emptied the wallets of individuals and the coffers of states.

The history of the most beautiful and expensive lace is a story of passions, debts and even suicides! For their sake, aristocrats parted with estates and purebred horses, merchants with capital, etc.

The thing is that lace was previously considered an elite, incredibly status item, a sign not only of wealth, but also of belonging to high society, a direct indication that truly blue blood flows through the veins of the owner of such a masterpiece.

Of course, such an impractical item as lace was difficult to maintain in perfect condition, so the practice of cleaning and mending it was quite common. The initiative was expensive, but tens of times cheaper than a newly purchased item.

Today, lace has become a generally available type of fabric, so there are practically no problems with purchasing.

"RELIABLE LACE"

You want to introduce lace into the interior, but you don’t want it to be real and material (and also get dirty, tear and collect dust), then think about lace painting.

This doesn’t necessarily mean, take paper and sketch the lace you like, use carbon paper to transfer it to the furniture and for a long, long time, with a thin brush out of diligence, slightly sticking out your tongue, outline your drawing with paint, so that later you will lament that everything turned out not quite perfect.” . Instead of paper and carbon paper, you can take a piece of wide machine-made lace; instead of diligence and a thin brush, you can take a can of acrylic paint.

The main thing is before you start lace painting, you need to know exactly what you want: exquisite white lace over ivory?; graphic black on white background?; exotic gold, on black? Have you chosen? Then everything is very simple.

Lace painting process

1 - first of all, you need to prepare the surface for painting: if it is glossy, you need to sand it, if it is unpainted wood, prime it with acrylic primer or tint it with matte acrylic paint. Also think and decide for yourself what kind of background you want, a drawing on this background. Everything depends on you!

2 – when choosing lace for a stencil, keep in mind that it should be quite openwork, with a clearly defined plot, and inexpensive, as it will be spoiled. Stretch the selected lace fragment over the surface to be decorated and secure with tape. If the furniture is not afraid of moisture, then you can wet the stencil with soapy water and let it “dry” to the surface. Cover with paper those parts of the furniture that you do not want spray paint to get into.

3 – from a distance of 20 – 30 cm, spray paint onto the lace. For uniform drying, the paint should apply thinly; if you want a dense pattern, apply one or two more layers of paint later (allowing at least 15 minutes between layers).

4 – carefully remove the lace and let the design dry. Acrylic paints “set” very quickly, but it is better to wash off traces of soap solution and varnish the painting no sooner than after 8-12 hours.

5 – the dried painting can be covered with a thin layer of acrylic varnish (you can use aerosol varnish - it lays down more evenly). If you want the finished item to look “vintage”, go over the painting with very fine, almost velvet sandpaper before varnishing


I will braid fate In my lace pattern, I will entwine that blue evening.

Vologda, Yelets, Mikhailovsky lace (lace). How beautiful, how unique their pattern is! How they harmonize with the fabric, with the canvas of tablecloths and towels, how elegant the lace runners and napkins are! Nowadays, the most elegant dresses are decorated with lace, they are sewn onto the Russian national costume, they add a special charm to clothes, linen, and decorate the interior.

"Lacemaker". V. Tropinin

Lace-making in Rus' arose later than embroidery, although it is difficult to determine exactly the time when Russian women began to weave lace, since no ancient monuments have survived. The earliest examples of lace that have come down to us are made of metal threads, gold and silver, and date back to the 17th century. Such lace was sewn onto the royal clothes and the clothes of the boyars, * they were used to decorate household items (household articles): the royal throne (tsar's throne), armchairs, saddles, church furniture (religious articles). It is known that already in 1654 in Moscow at the royal court there was a workshop where lacemakers worked; in the city of Solvychegodsk ** from the famous merchants Stroganov, also in the 17th century, samples of lace from an earlier period have not reached us.

* (Boyars are the largest feudal lords in Russia in the 9th-17th centuries. Members of the Boyar Duma occupied the most important government positions. The title of "boyar" was abolished by Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century.)

** (Solvychegodsk - a city on the Vychegda River in the Arkhangelsk region in the north-west of the Russian Federation, was founded in the 14th century as a military fortress.)

At the end of the 18th century - in the first half of the 19th century, they began to weave lace from linen and silk threads.

The first half of the 18th century in Russia is associated with the state and military reforms of Tsar Peter I, which significantly changed the life of Russian society. Changes also occurred in the clothing of the Russian nobility. Now the nobles had to dress according to Western European standards, and in the West, thread lace, mainly tulle, was in fashion. The weaving of such lace began to be practiced in manor-houses, where serf girls were taught this craft from childhood. Many landowners in different parts of Russia had small workshops and even manufactories, in which from early morning until night, often in the dim light of a torch, girls wove and wove lace.

Lace products were used very widely in these years: they were sewn onto clothes, they were used to decorate linen and residential interiors. Therefore, the production of lace became a very profitable business, and serf lacemakers were exploited mercilessly (cruelly). Many of them suffered from tuberculosis and lost their sight (were going blind).

The lacemakers had hard work, but they loved their work very much, and each of them felt like an artist. She created her own patterns and developed the weaving technique herself. Under the quick hands of lacemakers, true works of art were born, surprising with beauty, imagination, jewelry clarity and purity of work. Thus, distinctive traditions of Russian lace gradually emerged, and their local identity arose.

Nowadays, lace craft is concentrated mainly in four geographical centers: in the city of Vologda (Vologda lace), in Yelets (Eletsk lace), in the city of Kirov (Kirov, or Vyatka, lace), in the city of Mikhailov, Ryazan region (Ryazan, or Mikhailovskoe , lace). Lace is also woven in other places, for example in the village of Kirishi, Leningrad Region, and in the city of Mtsensk, Oryol Region. Each fishing center produces its own type of lace, unique and different from all others. Vologda lace has become especially popular. They have received gold medals and top prizes at international exhibitions many times, but Yelets and Kirov laces are hardly inferior to them in grace and craftsmanship. You can easily see this for yourself if you look at these laces.

Lace is usually woven using small wooden bobbins, pins and a special lace-pillow.

The craftswoman throws the bobbins with threads wound on them (on which threads are wound) from one hand to the other, while she wraps the threads around pins that are vertically stuck (stuck into) into the bolster cushion. By gradually rearranging the pins at the points of the pattern or by counting, she creates a complex weaving system. This is lace.

Lace can be woven according to the pattern. Such a pattern is called skolok, lace is called skolok. Lace that is woven without a pattern, according to the number of weaves, is called numerical.

Look at Vologda lace. Their main pattern is formed by turns of an endless braid, which is called polotnyanka, or vilyushka. This is traction lace. Its pattern has rounded shapes (round in shape). In paired lace, the individual parts are torn from each other, and the image in it has a rectangular outline.

The lacemaker is sitting. In front of her is a roller with bobbins. And like an endless stream, an openwork lace ribbon flows from the roller. The bobbins are tapping in her hands. Women

They talk quietly and sometimes sing. If a simple lace is woven by a craftswoman, she... 6 pairs of bobbins are enough, but for a complex one 300 pairs is not enough. The woman’s fingers quickly finger the bobbins, a complex lace pattern appears before her eyes, thick and dense in some places, and a thin, transparent lattice in others (net).

It’s hard to believe, but the lacemaker remembers each of the three hundred pairs of threads, she won’t make mistakes, she won’t mix up.

The patterns of Russian lace are very original, and it differs significantly from the lace of other nations.

The development of Russian lace ornaments was significantly influenced by folk embroidery and weaving. Therefore, in lace products you can find the same motifs that we have already seen in northern and Vologda embroideries, on woven towels and rugs. These are people's favorite birds, peahens, horses, snow leopards, winged animals, and the tree of life. And a floral ornament made up of multi-petal flowers, stylized garlands, wreaths, and branches.

Vologda lace

This lace is woven in the city of Vologda, in the villages and towns around it. Vologda is an old Russian city on the Vologda River, known since 1147, located among vast, dense northern forests rich in mushrooms and berries. Many birds and various animals live in these forests. For a long time, the life of local residents has been closely connected with the forest. The forest provided wood for building houses, fed and clothed people. In small fields among the forests, flax, Russian northern silk, as it is popularly called, was grown here. In winter, everything around was covered with fluffy snow. Frost froze the rivers, decorating the windows of houses with a thin white pattern. Local residents at this time took on all sorts of work that provided additional income: they carved wood and birch bark, spun flax, wove canvas, embroidered, and then began to weave lace. Moreover, the beautiful linen threads were from Vologda. This is how lace making arose.

The Vologda lace craft is one of the oldest in Russia and has long gained worldwide fame. It originated around 1820, when serfs of local landowners began weaving linen lace for dresses and linen. These laces were distinguished by their unique design, fine original work and great strength.

Every year the fishery grew and soon lace weaving became one of the main sources of livelihood for local residents. In 1912, 40 thousand lacemakers were already engaged in it.

Under Soviet rule, in 1928, a vocational school was built in Vologda. Here, experienced craftswomen began to train young lacemakers, passing on to them the secrets of their craft. In 1930, the Vologda Lace Union was created. He united all the workers in the industry and took upon himself all the concerns associated with the production and sale of finished products. After some time, an art laboratory was organized at the Vologda Lace Union. It began to study and generalize the experience of individual craft artists and solve problems of the further development of this art.


Suit "Vologda". T. Bugrova

Nowadays, Vologda lacemakers weave a wide variety of lace products. This includes measured lace of various widths with a varied and expressive pattern, and individual items: table runners, napkins, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, scarves, kerchiefs (kerchiefs (usu. triangular)). Craftswomen also make trim for clothing: collars, cuffs, frills, ties, decorative souvenir items and much more. All these things are very beautiful and elegant. They can decorate

any suit, any home.

Lacemakers have a rich and generous imagination. They use more than 400 different designs in their products. Now Vologda lace products are made from cotton and linen threads, and occasionally silk, synthetic and even wool yarn (yarn) are used.

Previously, only two colors predominated in Vologda lace - snow-white and brown; now they began to make lace using threads of many colors: black, gray, blue, cream.

When creating lace products, Vologda craftswomen transfer the world around them into lace: winter forests covered with deep snow, frosty patterns decorating the windows of houses, the dim northern sky, the discreet colors of the Vologda region.

Vologda lace is significantly different from other Russian lace. Basically it is lace with a sharp division into a large, expressive pattern and a transparent background. Its pattern is made of dense, uniform width continuous fabric. It wriggles smoothly, creating the desired image. This image is clearly visible against the background of stars (starry and floral design) and rosettes that make up the openwork lattice.

Vologda lace is particularly strict and traditional in the choice of patterns. The motifs of his drawings sometimes even seem somewhat archaic. These are various animals, people, objects of the world around us (trees, houses). Each such image is conditionally real in nature and often includes elements of traditional fantastic images. For example, a lacemaker creates the image of a peahen bird, which resembles an ordinary peacock bird, but at the same time this fantastic creature is the fantasy of a folk craftswoman. She also depicts the tree of life, the sun...

Vologda lacemakers also willingly use floral patterns, which are also conventional. Plant and floral patterns in Vologda lace are very diverse and numerous; most often they consist of spreading trees with luxuriant branches and with several circles of petals. Such patterns are characterized by rounded, soft lines, a calm rhythm, generalized image shapes and a symmetrical arrangement of elements.

Vologda lace craftsmen carefully preserve the traditions of their art. However, this does not prevent them from keeping up with the times and creating works that are closely related to modernity. Such are the curtains and panels of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR A.A. Korableva “Russian Motives”, “Sputnik”, “Aurora” and many others.

The glory of Vologda lace has long since spread beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. They enjoy constant success at international exhibitions in Paris and Montreal, Brussels and Osaka.

The Soviet country highly values ​​the remarkable skill of Vologda lacemakers, many of them have received awards and prizes.

1. When did Vologda lace making originate?

2. How can you explain the popularity of Vologda lace?

3. What features distinguish Vologda lace from other lace? What do Vologda lacemakers most often depict on their products?

Yelets lace

The second widely known lace-making center is located in the old Russian city of Yeltsio, in the Lipetsk region. This is a fertile region, it is called the black-earth center of Russia. The city of Yelets has been known since 1146 and has a glorious history. It is located on the picturesque Sosna River, surrounded by endless fields, meadows and copses. Russian people have long lived here, engaged in agriculture and various crafts.

The lace industry arose in this place at the beginning of the 19th century, when Protasova’s privately-owned factory appeared here. Later, from the middle of the 19th century, lace began to be woven in many villages and hamlets near Yelets. Yelets lace quickly gained popularity because it was beautiful and well made. They often repeated to some extent the patterns of Western European fine lace that were then in fashion. In the first years of Soviet power, Yelets craftswomen united in a partnership (1921), and in 1930 the Yelets Union of Lacemakers was organized. The craft began to quickly gain strength, revive old traditions, and develop new types of products.

But in 1941, the Great Patriotic War began, the city of Yelets was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany and destroyed. In 1945, the war ended, the residents of Yelets began to restore the city from ruins, build housing, and establish production. The lacemakers also returned to Yelets, began to revive their business again, and bring the art of Yelets lace back to life.

The restoration of the Yelets lace industry lasted several years. Many lacemakers put all their talent, all their soul and skill into this business. And the day came when the fishery was revived. Yelets lace turned out to be not only no worse than the pre-war ones, but also became even more beautiful, thinner and more elegant. The craftswomen contributed many creative discoveries to them. His own Yelets style of lace products also received further development.

Yelets lace is woven from linen and cotton threads. They are thinner and lighter than Vologda lace. The linen of Yelets lace constantly changes its width and density, often it even becomes openwork, which never happens in Vologda lace.

In Yelets lace there is not that sharp contrast between the lattice (background) and the main pattern made with plain weave, which we see in Vologda lace. Yelets lacemakers fill the background lattice with a rather dense, thin pattern. In this pattern, the main motif is clearly visible, composed of repeating elements that are made with different densities.

Different weaving densities and not too contrasting transitions from one element to another create the impression of a three-dimensional pattern. This is also a feature of Yelets lace. Yelets lacemakers weave a wide variety of products: from measured lace, collars and cuffs to large curtains.

However, their most favorite works are large napkins, tablecloths, and panels. They have a special Yelets composition. The central part of such a tablecloth is built from individual elements. Along the edge of the tablecloth there is a very beautiful border, in which the pattern of the central part of the pattern is repeated. Yelets lace even has various lattices in one product - this is also a typical feature of this lace. Local lacemakers love a raised pattern and therefore often use a thick contour thread, which sets off the main pattern on a thin tulle, or lattice background (tulle (net) background). However, Yelets lace in this case remains thin and light.

The main motifs that Elets craftswomen especially often use are frosty patterns, snowflakes, starry skies and floral patterns: sunflowers, daisies, guelder roses, and other flowers and plants.

When you look at the delicate ornament of Yelets lace, it seems that they reflect the free beauty of the surrounding nature: the high starry sky over the meadows at night, and wildflowers and forest flowers on a hot summer day, and trees covered with hoar-frost over a frozen river in winter. Native nature is that natural source of beauty from which the imagination of lacemakers draws new themes.

The popularity of Yelets lace is growing every year. The products of the Yelets Lace association, which arose in the post-war years, received recognition both in the Soviet Union and abroad. The trade has more than one generation of lacemakers of the highest class. Among them there are artists who develop new models of products and performers who have masterful lace weaving techniques.

1. When did the lace industry begin in Yelets?

2. What features distinguish Yelets lace from Vologda lace?

Kirov lace

Kirov is a large regional center with factories, institutes and theaters. Before the revolution, it was a small provincial town, a place where the tsarist government exiled revolutionaries. This is a harsh region, with long and cold winters. Endless forests stretch for many hundreds of kilometers around the city. Since ancient times, people in these places began to engage in various crafts: they carved and sawed (decorated with fretwork) wood products, pottery developed here, and, following the example of Vologda lacemakers, local craftswomen began to weave lace.

Previously, the city of Kirov was called Vyatka, hence the second name for lace - Vyatka.

The center of the Kirov lace industry is located not in Kirov itself, but nearby, in the city of Sovetsk. former Kukarskaya settlement of Vyatka province. This center is smaller than Vologda and Yelets, but it has been known in Russia for almost 200 years, that is, since the beginning of the 18th century.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Vyatka lace craft was already developed so much that lacemakers received numerous orders from St. Petersburg, and around 1890, a special school was even opened for them so that the lace craft would further grow and expand.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Vyatka lace was already known in America and Western Europe.

After the victory of the October Revolution, in the twenties, an artel was created that united lacemakers, most of whom worked at home (homeworkers). Nowadays, lacemakers work in the city of Kirov, at the factory named after the 8th of March and in its branch in Sovetsk.

It is no coincidence that Kirov lace has become widely known: it is beautiful, its patterns are varied, complex and expressive, and the technique of making it speaks of the high skill of the local lacemakers.

In the city of Kirov, measured lace is woven with a rhombic and zigzag pattern in the form of a stripe that runs along the entire lace. Kirov lace is lighter and airier than Vologda lace. They differ from Vologda ones in that the linen in them changes its density and width (like in Yelets lace), and the background lattice in them is simpler and sparser (in Yelets lace there is a lattice with a complex pattern).

The lattice of Kirov lace contrasts sharply with the dense parts of the design. In this way they are similar to Vologda lace. Kirov lacemakers love to create ragged shapes, stars, and they often make the central part of the lattice denser than the edge ornament.

Large items of Kirov crafts are dominated by complex plant and floral designs. It seems that the lacemaker has collected all the beauty of the short northern summer and captured it in her work. It changes the density of the weaving, and flowers and leaves seem to come to life in snow-white lace. The pattern of Kirov lace is complex, dynamic and very decorative. You look and you can’t get enough of it.

However, Kirov craftswomen often use geometric patterns. Sometimes they create unique, completely unexpected works.

Kirov lacemakers often turn to various multi-figure compositions and complex weaving techniques. In their search, they strive to identify new decorative possibilities of lace. For this purpose, they use not only white, but harsh, colored threads of soft colors for lace, shade the pattern with fabric, and create three-dimensional patterns using double-layer weaving.

1. When and how did the lace industry arise in the Kirov (Vyatka) region?

2. What are the distinctive features of Kirov lace?

Mikhailovskoe lace

The city of Mikhailov in the Ryazan region has become famous as the center of special Ryazan embroidery, which you are already familiar with, and Ryazan “Mikhailovsky” lace. Such lace was sewn onto bright embroidered towels, tablecloths, table runners and clothes, and it served as a continuation of the embroidery that decorated the product. Mikhailovsky lace is always woven from colored threads, red, blue, green, yellow in combination with white and gray. If you remember Ryazan embroidery, you can easily see that Mikhailovsky lace is made in the same range as embroidery, and the color of the fabric from which the product is made is also taken into account.


Towel. "Ryazan". 3. Zaitseva

Mikhailovskoe lace is measured, very dense, massive (thick), even voluminous. Its pattern is based on a peculiar motif in which triangular mesh alternates with dense parts of the pattern. When such lace is sewn to a dress, it seems to merge with the fabric and form scalloped or jagged edges on napkins, tablecloths, and towels.

The bright, cheerful colors of such decoration immediately create a great mood and make people happy.

The color scheme of Mikhailovsky lace is always based on the contrast of red and white; other colors, also quite bright and saturated (blue or green, black, yellow), complement the rich color of the lace and the entire product as a whole.

After the Patriotic War, it turned out that the lace industry in the city of Mikhailov disappeared and its secrets were forgotten. Many craftswomen have been restoring the best examples of this lace for many years and developing new ones. Among them was D. A. Smirnova, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, about whom you can read in the story “In Search of a Forgotten Skill.”

In 1925, a small enterprise arose in the city of Mikhailov, uniting a few lacemakers, and today it is the modern Truzhenitsa factory, whose products can be found all over the world. These are bright holiday curtains, gift towels, the ends of which are trimmed with dense embroidery and matching Mikhailovsky lace. These are small tablecloths, napkins, women's dresses, children's clothing, made in the Russian national style. And all things are decorated richly, generously, the colors of embroidery and lace play with bright, rich tones, but what is most important is that in all Mikhailovsky products you see the harmony that is inherent only in true art.

1. What does lace from the city of Mikhailov look like? What does the expression mean: “Lace serves as a continuation of embroidery”?

2. Tell us what you know about Ryazan lace and its features.

In search of a forgotten skill

This was back during the Great Patriotic War. In the Vologda region * girls were also mobilized to work in timber industry enterprises **. They taught us how to make barrels. And nothing, no worse than the guys made the barrels - white, steep-sided. And on these brand new barrels, multi-colored patterns of flowers and leaves suddenly began to appear - either on the lids or on the sides (barrels). According to the rules, such goods had to be rejected, but the recipients took them with pleasure, and therefore they did not look for the author of the “paintings”.

* (Vologda region is the colloquial name for the Vologda region in the north-west of the Russian Federation with its center in the city of Vologda.)

** (Lespromkhoz is a forestry industrial enterprise that is engaged in the procurement and removal of timber and sometimes the manufacture of simple wooden products.)

And suddenly the director, a haggard, ill-tempered person, summoned Diana Smirnova. For a long time, he looked gloomily at her tall, skinny figure, her elongated face with prominent cheekbones and reddish, slightly tousled hair. Then he said abruptly:

In two months there are entrance exams at the Kalinin Moscow Art School. You'll go there. You have talent. Don't draw on new barrels.

How he found out that she painted the barrels, how he made inquiries about the school in those backwoods, Diana Alekseevna still won’t understand...

A true Vologda resident, Smirnova studied, of course, at the lace department, but after graduating from college she went not to her place, but to the Ryazan town of Mikhailov. She loved color and paint very much, and they wove the only colored lace in our country.

Smirnova was appointed as an artist at the Mikhailovsky Truzhenitsa factory, which produced dresses, blouses, shirts and lingerie, trimmed with embroidery and narrow, white lace.

"Where is your colored lace?!" - Diana Alekseevna was surprised. And in response I heard that the craftswomen no longer remember what these once famous laces looked like. It turned out that in 1953 in Mikhailov they didn’t even know how the famous colored lace was woven before.

Smirnova began looking for antique lace. I visited all the city craftswomen and the village ones. Having walked around dozens of villages, Smirnova found what she was looking for - old colored lace. She understood well the character of Mikhailovsky lace and tried to draw similar ones, but as decoration for today’s things: for tablecloths, for elegant women’s and children’s dresses, for formal towels under bread and salt *. Together with the oldest Mikhailovsky lacemaker Matryona Ivanovna Ignatieva, Diana Alekseevna Smirnova restored the famous Mikhailovsky lace and taught other craftswomen to weave it. And red waves, shaded with black and yellow threads, flowed from the pillows of rare beauty, shimmering and captivating with the rhythmic play of colored lines.

* (Bread and salt - according to Russian custom, a dear guest is presented with round bread on which stands a salt shaker with salt - the most necessary products for life. This gift upon meeting symbolizes hospitality, love and attention to the guest.)

According to A. Rogov. Excerpts from the book "The Pantry of Joy"

1. How were the colored Michaelmas laces restored?

2. Tell us about the fate of Diana Alekseevna Smirnova. What kind of person do you think she is?

3. Read these poems and pay attention to the festive mood with which the national poet depicts the troika on the winter road and the people who went to visit distant Vologda on sleighs decorated with scarlet carpets and painted arcs. And here, too, there are handicrafts: the carpets were probably woven on a home loom, and the roses on the bow were painted by a craftsman from Gorodets...

On the powder On the powder (newly-fallen snow), on the powder, In winter, in the cold Sleighs run from Kazan, From Kazan to Vologda.

They themselves are decorated with scarlet carpets, The arcs are painted with scarlet flowers, The horses have black manes with rings, The horses rush, jingle with bells.

Who drives this sleigh through the snow and cold?

* (These are our people from Kazan coming to yours in Vologda!)

Lacemaker Nastya

At night in the Alatau mountains * a thunderstorm thundered dully (peels of thunder were heard). Frightened by thunder, a large green grasshopper jumped out of the hospital window and sat on the lace curtain.

Alatau - “variegated mountains”, on which areas covered with vegetation alternate with patches of snow and stone. In Central Asia in the Kazakh SSR there is the Trans-Ili Alatau.

The wounded Lieutenant Rudnev stood up on his bed and looked at the grasshopper and the curtain for a long time. A complex pattern flashed on it from blue lightning - lush roses and small roosters.

Morning has come. The stormy yellow sky was still smoking outside the window. Wet flowers of wild peonies burned on the window-sill like red-hot coals. It was stuffy. Steam rose above the damp cliffs. In the abyss (gorge) a stream growled (roared) and rolled (rolled) stones.

Here it is, Asia! - Rudnev sighed. - And the lace on the curtain is ours, northern. And some beautiful Nastya wove it.

Why do you think so?

Rudnev smiled.

“I remembered,” he said, “a story that happened in my battery near Leningrad.

He told me this story.

Once while hunting, Nastya’s father wounded Balashov in the chest with a careless shot. The wounded man was brought to the house of a village teacher. Upset by misfortune, the old man sent Nastya to look after the wounded man.

Nastya left Balashova, and out of pity (from pity) for the wounded man, her first girlish love was born. But the manifestations of this love were so shy that Balashov did not notice anything.

Balashov had a wife in Leningrad, but he never told anyone about her, not even Nastya. Everyone in the village was convinced that Balashov was a lonely man.

As soon as the wound healed, Balashov left for Leningrad. Before leaving, he came uninvited to Nastya’s hut to thank her for her care and brought her gifts. Nastya accepted them.

Balashov came to the North for the first time. He did not know local customs. They are very stable in the North, hold on for a long time and do not immediately give in under the onslaught (do not change with) of the new time. Balashov did not know that a man who came to a girl’s hut without being called and brought her a gift is considered, if the gift was accepted, to be her fiancé. This is how they talk about love in the North.

Nastya timidly asked Balashov when he would return from Leningrad to her village. Balashov, suspecting nothing, jokingly replied that he would return very soon.

Balashov left. Nastya was waiting for him. A bright summer passed, a damp and bitter autumn passed, but Balashov did not return. Nastya's impatient, joyful anticipation gave way to anxiety, despair (despair), and shame (shame). There were already whispers in the village that her groom had deceived her. But Nastya didn’t believe it. She was convinced that a misfortune had happened to Balashov.

Spring has brought new sufferings. She arrived late and took a very long time. The rivers overflowed widely and still did not want to enter the banks. Only at the beginning of June did the first steamer pass by the village without stopping.

Nastya decided to escape secretly from her father to Leningrad and find Balashov there. She left the village at night. Two days later she reached the railway and learned at the station that the war had started that morning.

Through a huge, formidable country, a peasant girl who had never seen a train reached Leningrad and found Balashov’s apartment.

Balashov’s wife, a thin woman in pajamas, with a cigarette in her mouth, opened the door for Nastya. She looked at Nastya with bewilderment (puzzled) and said that Balashov was not at home. He is at the front near Leningrad.

Nastya found out the truth - Balashov was married. This means that he deceived her, laughed (had ridiculed) at her love. Nastya was scared to talk to Balashov’s wife. She was scared in the city apartment, among the dusty silk sofas, spilled powder, and persistent phone calls.

Nastya ran away. She walked in despair through the majestic city, turned into an armed camp.

She didn't notice any anti-aircraft guns in the squares, no monuments littered with bags of earth, no centuries-old cool gardens, no ceremonial buildings.

She went out to Neva. The river carried black water. Here, in this water, there must be the only deliverance from both unbearable resentment and love.

Nastya took off an old scarf from her head, a gift from her mother, and hung it on the railing (handrailing). Then she straightened her heavy braids and put her foot on the railing. Someone grabbed her hand. Nastya turned around. A thin man with floor-polishing brushes under his arm stood behind. His work suit was splashed with yellow paint.

The floor-polisher just shook his head and said:

At such a time, what did you think of, you fool!

This man - floor polisher Trofimov - took Nastya to his place and handed him over to his wife - a lift-operator, a quiet, decisive woman who despised men.

The Trofimovs gave (her) shelter to Nastya. She was sick for a long time. From the elevator operator, Nastya heard for the first time that Balashov was not to blame for anything, that no one was obliged to know their northern customs, and that only “aunts” like her, Nastya, could fall madly in love with the first person they met.

* (“Auntie” - in this case, is about a stupid village girl who does not understand the real state of things, who does not know life.)

The elevator operator scolded (reprimanded) Nastya, and Nastya was happy. She was glad that she had not been deceived, and still hoped to see Balashov.

The polisher was soon drafted into the army, and the elevator operator and Nastya were left alone.

When Nastya recovered, the elevator operator enrolled her in nursing courses. The doctors - Nastya's teachers - were amazed at her ability to bandage wounds and the dexterity of her thin, strong fingers. “But I’m a lacemaker,” she answered them, as if trying to justify herself.

The siege (blockade) Leningrad winter has passed. Nastya finished her courses, waited to be sent to the front and at night thought about Balashov, about her old father - until the end of his life he probably would never understand why she left home secretly. He will not scold her, he will forgive everything, but he will not understand.

In the spring, Nastya was finally sent to the front near Leningrad. Everywhere - in ruined palace parks, among ruins, fire-ravaged remains, in dugouts, on batteries, in coppices and in fields, she looked for Balashov, asked about him .

At the front, Nastya met a polisher, and this talkative man told the soldiers from his unit about a northern girl looking for a loved one at the front. The rumor about this girl began to grow quickly, spreading like a legend. He moved from unit to unit, from one battery to another. It was carried by motorcyclists, car drivers, orderlies, and signalmen.

The fighters were envious of the unknown man whom the girl was looking for, and remembered their loved ones. Everyone had them in their peaceful life, and everyone cherished the memory of them in their souls. Telling each other about the northern girl, the fighters changed the details of this story.

Everyone swore that Nastya was a girl from his native place.

The Ukrainians considered her theirs, the Siberians also considered her theirs, the Ryazan people assured that Nastya, of course, was from Ryazan, and even the Kazakhs from the distant Asian steppes said that this girl must have come to the front from Kazakhstan.

Rumors about Nastya also reached the coastal battery where Balashov served. The artist, just like the fighters, was excited by the story of an unknown girl looking for her beloved, and was amazed by the power of her love. He often thought about this girl and began to envy the man she loved. How could he know that he was jealous of himself?

Balashov’s personal life was not successful. Nothing good came of it. But others are lucky! All his life he dreamed of great love, but now it was too late to think about it. There is gray hair at the temples (he was turning gray at the temples).

It so happened that Nastya finally found the battery where Balashov served, but did not find Balashov - he was killed two days before and was buried in a pine forest.

Rudnev fell silent.

And Nastya?

What Nastya! She gives all her care to the wounded. The best nurse on our front line.

Based on the story by K. Paustovsky


1. Where and when did the story told by the wounded Lieutenant Rudnev take place?

3. Why did Nastya have to look after the wounded Balashov?

4. What old custom existed in the village in those years?

5. Why did Nastya decide to go to Leningrad?

6. What happened in Leningrad?

7. Who saved Nastya and helped her?

8. Did Nastya fall out of love with Balashova when she found out the whole truth about him?

9. What legend arose at the front? How did the soldiers tell it?

10. What is the fate of Balashov and Nastya?

11. Explain why the writer K. Paustovsky called his story “Nastya the Lacemaker.” What does he see in common between strict and durable northern lace and the story that happened to the northern woman Nastya?

A cheerful disposition (temper), lightness of character, and pride in their ability to weave lace distinguish the girl lacemakers who are sung about in ditties.

I have a white lace “snowflake” on my jacket.

* (As I walk down the street - Admire it, little berry! * * (Yagodinochka, honey - affectionate names that a girl gives to her loved one in folk songs.) It would be nice to have lace sleeves with a sundress, but I’m afraid that the lace will tear near the stove.)


My little one and I met * Near the little forest on the bridge.


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