Lenka's Way of LaceOne Ocean – Many Waves
Posted on September 25, 2026
September 25, 2026
Every summer I like to design a small project that that doesn’t need many pairs and fits comfortably on my travel pillow, so I can carry it around and work outdoors. This year I played with waves, and it was a lot of fun. Just one simple outline, four spools of wire, ten pairs of bobbins and a few pins and I was set for some lovely summer days on the beach.
I started by working the first wave pattern in a plain half stitch, which filled the shape with flowing lines in aqua, teal, pale aqua and blue. The colours blended beautifully and gave the simple pattern more interest and depth. In the following waves I changed the work slightly – a different foot side, two workers instead of one, cloth stitch instead of half – and so on, without a real plan, just playing with the bobbins and colours, and watching the lace to take shape. It felt as effortless as witnessing the gentle ocean waves that were coming and going one by one in a steady rhythm, not two being exactly the same.
Flowing water, flowing bobbins, forgetting the rest of the world, lost in time…
The pattern slowly evolved towards a basket weave that is often found in Milanese tape lace. It is was not easy to tension because wire offers more resistance to the weave than fibre. But the forgiving wave design alowed the threads to flow unevenly, in accord with their nature.
Seeing the completed waves side by side, I relished the wonder of bobbin lace, the technique of unlimited creative potential even in its simplest form.
Suddenly, a picture of a beautifull seashell resurfaced from the depths of my memory. It was from the book “Special Effects in Bobbin Lace” by Sandi Woods. Published in 2003, Sandi’s highly original work introduced colour shading to fibre lace, which together with application of traditional Milanese tape lace pattern to a modern form, created wonderful effects and thus greatly contributed to the evolution of bobbin lace art. I admired the book and would loved to explore Sandi’s techniques, but colours of wire were limited then. More than twenty years later, enabled by four shades of blue-green colour, the pattern asserted itself, as if it was waiting just for this moment.
I couldn’t help thinking that our beloved craft, with its five hundred years long history, is like a big ocean that manifests in waves. Each unique ripple, shaped by contemporaneous circumstances, rises from the body of water and after it runs its course, returns back to the ocean. That’s how the knowledge is preserved, that’s what connects the past and the future… what a liberating idea!
For a long time I believed that contemporary lacemakers have a possibility, and a duty, to protect the craft and pass it on to the next generation. As it has become more difficult over time to preserve lacemaking from decline, our efforts seemed to be heading for failure. But if the lace is an ocean, and each lacemaker is a wave, all we need to do is to surrender and humbly offer our life’s work to the boundless, limitless space. The energy preserved within the original source will be there to inspire and sustain any creative mind open and willing to carry on as a new wave into the future…
Back home at my work bench, the wire ends were finished off and the water received quartz beads to curl around in an embrace with the earth element. I envisioned the waves as bookmarks, a bit unusual, but fun for summer vacation reading.
Full of enthusiasm, I offered the bookmarks to a local museum gift shop which sits right on the beach, to share the waves and support the neighbourhood organization. They did not accept them, as the waves didn’t fit their needs. This contact with the real world made me realize how detached I am – still making lace by hand, reading physical books and contemplating the ocean of art – from the society that is rushing towards unexplored cyber space horizons. I am at peace with it, everything changes and everybody is free to choose their paths.
And I am content surfing on my lace wave to wherever it takes me until it merges with the ocean 🙂
Cheers to summer that was! And happy lacemaking to all ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Old Wise Tree from the Netherlands
Posted on April 1, 2026
March 31, 2026
In the last days of winter an email from the Netherlands delivered a special news: there is a new Old Wise Tree, and it is made from copper wire! What a welcome addition to the Old Wise Tree Gallery; until now, only eight trees out of forty-one have been made in metal – seven in copper and one in bronze. With the new tree from Ephrem Muskee, the wire grove is now covering more than twenty percent of the gallery space. That is fantastic!
Wire is my favourite material for lacemaking, and I love to see its potential emerge and expand in hands of other lacemakers. Ephrem’s Old Wise Tree does just that and presents wire lace art at its best. The work shows a sound technique of an experienced lacemaker. Precise tensioning of the ground and the fan worker reveals that Ephrem mastered the wire medium, which is not an easy task, especially for a lacemaker used to work with fine threads. The tree’s branches, trunk and roots, too, are perfectly formed. Braiding and twisting 300+ strands of lively wires is a challenge, and it requires a lot of patience and practice to succeed.
Ephrem’s original work brings forth two most important assets of the wire medium – its strength and its response to light.
In this work, copper wire gives sufficient support for lace to be mounted in an open frame. A robust root system, simply anchored to the frame, creates strong foundation for the burly tree trunk. The airy, yet sturdy, crown is secured to the outline by only a few invisible nylon strings.
Two photographs of the tree, one against black and the other against white background, demonstrate the unique quality of wire lace to reflect light. In natural light a minute detail is revealed, so it looks very much like fibre lace. In a spotlight the lace bursts out with brilliant shine, like fine metalwork, and bright colours, like glass. The enamelled copper wire is essentially a combination of both materials, pure metal coated with a glass-like polymers. And light loves to play with them.
I envision this Old Wise Tree suspended in an open space, where it is transformed by light, natural and artificial, during the course of the day. With its shadow echoing the intricate pattern around, the Old Wise Tree fills the room with a delicate charm that only handmade lace can achieve.
As long as the character of the technique is respected, bobbin lace readily adapts to new materials without losing her beauty.
What an amazing interpretation of the Old Wise Tree theme. Congratulation, Ephrem ! Thank you for sharing your original lace art 🙂
Please find the new tree in a company of others in the Old Wise Tree Gallery
The online gallery is always open and welcomes all visitors!
It is a wonderful spring in Vancouver now. Cherry trees, magnolias and big maples are in bloom and all plants are sending new shoots. Air is filled with youthful energy and the sun, when it comes out of the clouds, is nice and warm. I think it is the best time to find inspiration in nature’s fertile creativity and perhaps think about planting a seed of another Old Wise Tree…
The Free Old Wise Tree Pattern, with a full tutorial, was published on this website on January 16th, 2021.
As of March 30th, 2026, the Old Wise Tree page has been viewed 15,629 times; 4018 visitors downloaded the pricking; 42 artworks from 9 countries have been submitted to the Old Wise Tree Gallery.
Everybody is welcome to use the free pattern and create an original interpretation of the theme!
If you do, please consider sharing your creation with us :
Send a photo (or more) of your tree with following information to this email address:
Your Name + City / Country + Materials used + Pricking size (if different than the original 100%)
+ Optional: Notes (any specific information you would like to add)
Happy lacemaking to all,
Lenka
Year of the Fire Horse
Posted on February 26, 2026
February 2026
First time I heard about the Year of the Fire Horse was twenty years ago. In one of the chance encounters that make artistic life so interesting, I met a writer and a film director Julia Kwan, who was then promoting her new feature film “Eve and the Fire Horse”. A sweet and gentle story about a gifted nine-year-old girl growing up in a Chinese immigrant family in Vancouver opened hearts of local audiences, because it allowed us to see the challenges of our mixed multicultural society through the eyes of an innocent child. Eve used her wild imagination to process influences coming from all sides and make sense of the world around her. She was born in the year of the Fire Horse, which happens only once in sixty years, and according to the old Chinese superstition brings misfortune and troubles to girls. Eve’s vivid dreams blend with reality as she creates her own world of wonder, acceptance and love.
This introduction prompted me to look at the Chinese Lunar Calendar and I was surprised by its long tradition. For millenia, before it got corrupted into a mere superficial fortune telling, the calendar offered a very complex guide based on a Taoist view of the world and the Universe. The system was devised to help people understand and balance their existence in harmony with the planetary cycles. Twelve archetypes symbolized by the animals interacting with five earthly elements explain a multitude of possible energy manifestation in material and spiritual realms. The calendar still holds the ancient wisdom for seekers of today. In comparison, our modern calendar seems rather soulless, as the time is now being kept by exceedingly precise machines that have absoulutely no interest in human life.
The second encounter with the Fire Horse came years later, when I was working on the third panel for the Venus Triptych, dedicated to the Divine Feminine manifestation through the fire element. In the ancient European mythology, the fire horse represented destruction and at the same time purification that prepares grounds for renewal. It was a very interesting project. Wire in multiple colours blended in a simple half stitch pattern, creating a fiery surge against the dark negative space. I still remember the intensity of the work so focused that it at times felt like being consumed by the flames. Interestingly, when the viewers look at the picture, they often see the flames, without noticing the horse. Once they realize it is there, they can’t take their eyes away from the fiery creature.
The third rendezvous is happening now: the Year of the Fire Horse just started and it will undoubtedly bring a lot of raw energy and many passionate moments. While the sheer power of the fire element in high speed motion might seem frightening, with the right intention and focus it can be harnessed to deliver profound transformations.
We are in for a wild ride !
Happy Birthday, Julia !!
And a happy, visionary and fertile year to all fearlessly creative artists, including the gentle but high-spirited lacemakers !!!
Winter Solstice 2025
Posted on December 21, 2025
May the long nights of winter inspire enough lace projects for the entire year!
Wishing everybody a happy and creative time,
Lenka
In photo above:
Plaited lace Star Pendant in gold plated copper with fresh water pearls
Wire Lace Supplies Update
Posted on December 8, 2025
December 8, 2025
If you visited my Wire Lace Supplies on Etsy lately, you might have noticed that things are not as they used to be. Medium bobbins and kits are sold out, and wire stock is thinning. I am not replenishing the supplies, because it’s really hard to predict what is going to happen next.
The shop stock count is accurate, and when the remaining bobbins and wires are gone, they are gone. I decided to take winter vacation and leave all business decisions until next year. Future will be perhaps a little bit clearer by then.
My lace studio is in Canada, a country that has been hard hit by the USA import tariffs. Canadian businesses depend heavily on US trade, and my craft studio is no exception. We live, work and create in a huge country that is sparsely populated, so our ability to sell to much bigger and stronger American market is very valuable. Unfortunately, this favourable condition no longer exists for small businesses in Canada.
Current paperwork requirements imposed on shipments from Canada to the USA far exceed the capacity of one-person operations. Besides that, 35-45% tariffs plus additional processing fees would likely double the prices for American customers. I had no choice but to suspend sales of tangible items (wires, bobbins and kits) to the USA. Sales decreased sharply even before the tariffs came into effect, which made my decision somewhat easier, knowing that with soft demand, not that many customers would be adversely affected.
Luckily, sales of digital downloads are exempted, so the Patters & Tutorials are available for everybody and at the same old price.
I don’t have anything against our southern neighbours doing what they need to do to protect and grow their domestic production. Canada would perhaps benefit from doing the same. Of course, specialty items like lacemaking bobbins can be imported from the traditional producers in Europe. But it would be nice to have a reliable source of basic stuff, like crochet hooks, pins, threads, wires, various tools, packaging materials etc, well-made right on this continent. And it would help a lot of small workshops like mine to keep traditional crafts alive. I find it quite alarming that from all supplies that I need to assemble and dispatch a simple beginner’s lacemaking kit, only one item – a cardboard box for shipping – is made in Canada! Everything else is sourced from many countries around the world. I think it would be nice to reach some sensible balance. Of course, this will take time, thirty years of globalization can’t be reversed overnight.
I have been running my lace studio in Canada for about the same time, and if I had learned anything, it’s a fact that nothing stays the same and change is the only constant in lacemaker’s life. At first, I created original works and exhibited them in places in Canada and around the world. Then I started to give instruction in wire lace. When teaching took over, I needed to provide tools and materials to my students, so I sourced the best wires, designed dedicated wire lace bobbins and made sure they were manufactured by the best bobbin maker in the world. Then came the lockdowns and shattered the teaching part of my business. Now the tariffs are about to shut down the Wire Lace Supplies. I guess, I will go with the flow and return to creating original lace works… let the new cycle begin!
I can’t really complain about that, because I love to design and make lace!
Reading the latest prediction by Elon Musk that “in 10 to 20 years, work will be optional and money will be irrelevant thanks to AI and robotics”, I am determined more than ever to preserve the fine craft of handmade bobbin lace.
Time will come when we will need to do something with our hands, otherwise we will go crazy.
Let’s keep lacing and creating!
Summer Solstice 2025
Posted on June 20, 2025
May the warm light of summer brighten our lacemaking pillows and illuminate all new lace projects!
Wishing everybody a happy and creative summer,
Lenka
Spring Chickens and Eggs
Posted on April 2, 2025
April 2, 2025
Spring has arrived and I feel like celebrating… sprouting, growing and blooming with plants, chirping and singing with birds, building nests and taking care of eggs… Chicken eggs in particular!
It must be my Slavic roots drawing me back to spring festivals of pagan tribes. In their spring rites, the eggs symbolized fertility, new life and abundance. Tradition of decorating eggs survived from ancient times through successive generations of girls who learned the delicate art from their mothers and grandmothers. Every region has a specific method – wax painting or resist dying, scratching, straw applications, perforating, and even wire wrapping – and there are as many original patterns as there are girls. Each saves the best egg for a boy that is close to her heart.
I think that’s one of the reason why this tradition is still alive. Love is perpetual!
Of course, I couldn’t resist the idea of decorating eggs with wire lace, bobbin and needle, and both techniques worked out beautifully. The small scale designs are fun to make for beginners and experienced lacemakers alike. I believe that Spring and Easter decorations are more meaningful when they are made by hand, especially when they are intended for special gift giving.
My favourite pattern is the Chicken Egg Stand because it holds a lot of creative potential for egg variations. While the stand remains the same, its content changes the overall decorative effect.
Every year my lace chickens are curious how their eggs will look like as we search in the garden to see what we find. This year it’s violas! So many self seeded all over the place and the tiny plants fit perfectly into hollow egg shells. Carefully transplanted, they look very cute in their miniature pots, sitting in the Chicken bases. It is fun to water them daily and wait for the flowers to open. What colours are they going to be?
One Chicken, a dark brown Buckeye, carries an oregano seedling for my friend’s new herb patch. For good luck!
When the plants outgrow their temporary home they will be transferred to the outside pots or beds. The egg shells crushed to small pieces will released calcium carbonate and enrich the soil with essential elements. The plants will grow and blossom all summer long. Seedlings that won’t get transplanted will be composted, so there will be no waste. Mother Nature will be pleased.
The lace chickens will then return to their envelope to rest until next year. Unlike my other Spring/Easter decorations they store flat, taking up hardly any space.
I am so glad to have them, we enjoy each other’s company during all lovely festivities, spring after spring!
Over the years, I designed more lace egg decorations, mostly as workshop projects, and I see potential for many more.
But sometimes I feel that my “eggthusiasm” is a bit displaced. After all, I have lived in a different part of the world for a long time. Maybe I should start to think about lacy Easter Bunnies 🙂
Cheers to all creative spring ideas, wherever and however they manifest!
Lenka
Year of the Snake
Posted on January 28, 2025
January 29, 2025
Snake in enamelled copper with labradorite stones – tape lace with torchon ground filling.
Serendipitous Wire Test
Posted on November 19, 2024
November 19, 2024
I like to say that wire lace is forever. It is true, because wire is much stronger than threads and deteriorates slowly. But when some of my metal lace creation changed colour over time I realized that longevity of wire coating might be uncertain.
Craft copper wire is coated with a layer of material that protects the raw metal and gives wire its colour. When the coating is not completely sealed the air reaches wire beneath and reacts with it in a natural chemical process. In case of outside copper and bronze sculptures, it is expected and accepted that the tarnish will eventually deposit and permanently colour the artwork. But it is much harder to surrender our delicate lace art to natural forces. We know what happened to antique metallic laces when they lost their lustre…
The first copper wires I used for making lace were from magnet coils found in old electrical appliances. They were durable, made to withstand harsh conditions of various environments. Despite being fifty-sixty years old the spools of wire looked like new. Old enamelled wires were of excellent quality, made to last, but the choice of colours was limited. Many of my works were created in the typical colour range of reds, yellows and browns, with occasionally green. It was fine at the beginning, when I welcomed any wire for my lace, but then of course I started to dream about blues, turquoise and purples…
Luckily, I was not alone searching for coloured copper. There was a growing demand from other artisans and artists – knitters, weavers and crochetiers (and zealous fly tyers). Right at that time some manufacturers, looking to find alternative markets, started to produce wire for craft field. It was not an easy task to satisfy the needs of creative people who wanted soft, pliable wire in lots of colours. New products were tested with mixed outcomes. The coating was posing the biggest challenge; often it was weak and chipped or peeled off during work. Sometimes the wires worked fine, but the colours were unstable and turned dull and grey really quickly. It was time of trial and error but finally a handful of manufacturers were able to produce reasonably stable coloured copper wire. I still have some works from those times, still in good condition, aging gracefully as their colours are slowly fading. And now, many years later, I have a better understanding of the process.
Eventually, I found good quality wires for lacemaking, and I consider myself lucky to be able to work with material that is worthy of such time-consuming and labour-intensive craft as bobbin lace. Over time, “my” manufacturer produced many beautiful colours while keeping or exceeding the quality standard.
About two years ago, I noticed the wire changed. Being too small a customer, I do not get informed about product modifications, but I could see and feel the difference in the new spools. The colours were richer and brighter and the wire felt just a tiny bit harder, springier. Based on my experience, I deduced that the coating technique changed to produce brighter hues, and I trusted that the surface quality improved as well. I tried a few simple chemical tests with satisfactory results, and left it at that. Time will tell.
And soon enough, it did. This year, when I was working in my front yard, trimming back a pachysandra border, I noticed bright sparkle in the depth of the bundled stems. I reached in and pulled out two spools of wire, silver plated and bright pink colour. They looked like they have been there for a while, because the spools were all dirty. and wet. But the colours were still brilliant!
How did the copper wire spools end up in the vegetation?
With each new product I need photos for my online shop. Because the shiny wires are difficult to photograph in artificial light, I have the best chance to capture true-to-colour images in muted natural daylight on a cloudy day. So I usually set up the photo station on a landing in front of the house. After a photoshoot on one of those perfect grey days, two runaway spools did not make it back home. They must have slipped over the edge of the landing and descended into pachysandra’s embrace. I did not notice them missing and they stayed there… for a very long time. The wire was exposed to outside elements – a lot of moisture during rainy season, followed by dry summer heat (but not direct sunlight), steady ocean air breeze, rain again, and cold, including extreme freeze (for the West Coast of Canada anyway) of minus fifteen degrees Celsius for almost a week. Even the pachysandra, a tough plant that normally tolerates our weather without complaining, showed some frost damage after the winter.
Surprisingly, the two spools of enamelled copper wire survived intact. I cleaned them and they look like new. A very impressive result of the unplanned test, and a proof that the quality of these wires is indeed excellent! Their coating’s ability to protect the colour is especially significant in the case of the silver plated wire. Silver readily tarnishes when exposed to moisture, and would turn black quickly if the surface was not perfectly sealed.
Now I have a proof that the silver-plated copper wire is truly non-tarnishing! And I am very happy to know that with this material our wire laceworks have a real chance to be forever 🙂
Remember to treat the wire gently to keep the surface whole and prevent scratches by pins, sewing hooks and nudge tools. With proper care your wire lace will shine and sparkle for years to come.
Both lost and found spools are now back in my studio. I will not sell them, of course, they stay in my wire box for future observation. They join other spools in my collection of miss-shaped, mislabeled and miss-wound spools. Eventually the wire will complete its uncommon journey and become a piece of unique lace.
Just in time for a merry crafting season, WireLaceSupplies shop is stocked with wire in every colour for all your creative needs 🙂
Happy lacemaking, and lacemaking with wire especially!
Lenka
PS: Before I finished writing this post, I already started working on a new project with the mentioned silver wire. Next post is coming soon!
Wire Lace Supplies Restocked
Posted on October 28, 2024
October 28, 2024
After a short wait, the wire lace kits are back.
I am happy that I was able to restock them just in time for a busy crafting season.
Since the supply chain disruption it has been more difficult to bring all parts for the kits together. Notions that used to be a haberdashery staple now disappear without warning, and those still available can become prohibitively expensive. “Dynamic Pricing Algorithms”, I am told, is the reason: if a product is scarce its price goes up.
I think that’s not the best news for lacemakers in North America. Fine craft of lace has always been rare in the New World. Limited demand from a small dedicated group did not give grounds for mass production of tools and materials on the continent. Yet lacemakers in Canada and USA were always able to find what they needed for their craft, through imports and by sourcing from local cottage industry. If what I see now indicates the future development, the unique lacemaking kits will reach such prices that only the richest people will be able to afford them. And maybe one day, a successful cyber space entrepreneur who made fortune selling the algorithms, will buy the last kit and take it to Mars to save bobbin lace, together with human consciousness, from obliteration… or maybe not?
I hope that these new business models will eventually deliver a positive change. I don’t know, I have never invested enough time to understand the market forces and the science of selling. Rather I have perceived my small lace supplies business as a service to the lacemaking community. In thirty years I taught the craft to many people and supplied the equipment and materials to many more with the goal of keeping the craft alive, thriving and evolving. I believe that tools for beginners should be of good quality and reasonable price to make the craft widely accessible and open to newcomers from every walk of life. Because lacemaking belongs to us, on this Earth, and we don’t know where the next brilliant lace designers or artists might come from.
Till today, I pack each lacemaking kit with care and send it off with a sincere wish to serve well and bring joy to another creative lacemaker in our small but dedicated group 🙂
Happy lacemaking to everyone!
Please visit my Wire Lace Supplies on Etsy to see all tools, materials and patterns!
