The name of the world-famous Vologda lace came from the county, the craftswomen of which formed a special type of weaving and characteristic, easily recognizable motifs. Initially, lace was woven as decorative elements and trims for dresses and bed linen, after which they began to make individual items of clothing and home textiles for fashionistas in the capital. During the war, the craftswomen of the Vologda region wove lace for the English nobility. Repeatedly, the products of Russian craftswomen received the highest praise, recognition and awards. This was facilitated by unique drawings, techniques and the quality of the products themselves.
History of Vologda lace
("Anther" for weaving)
For the first time, lace was woven in Europe. The representatives of the European nobility who wore it set a fashionable tone for other countries. This fashion has also reached Russia. Lace was most actively woven in the territory of the Vologda Oblast. At first, it was an imitation of European motifs, which were preferred by the owners of the estates, but gradually the craftswomen began to develop their own motifs of lace fabric.
A special technique appeared, which, due to the resulting expressive and textured drawing, became known to the whole world. New way weaving was invented by Anfia Bryantseva, who later taught this craft to several hundred craftswomen.
At the beginning of the 19th century, a lace weaving factory was founded on the territory of the same Vologda district. Actively engaged in this type of fishing and at home. By the middle of the century, the number of craftswomen weaving Vologda lace amounted to about 40 thousand people.
Production expanded, and craftsmen appeared in other counties, but the motives of the products were slightly different. Only professionals can notice such subtle nuances.
Fishing elements
Traditional products that are woven using the Vologda lace technique are:
- kerchiefs;
- scarves;
- handkerchiefs;
- sweatshirts;
- collars;
- napkins;
- gloves, etc.
The first samples of Vologda lace were woven from linen threads, bleached or harsh. Subsequently, they were replaced with thinner, cotton ones. Today, impurities from synthetic threads can be added to them, which give elasticity to the lace.
For elegant and festive lace, threads of golden or silver color were woven into openwork ribbons.
Execution technique
Vologda lace weaves the same way as classic lace elements. For their manufacture, a lot of bobbins are taken with threads wound around them. The number of wooden tools can reach 60 units.
A working drawing with a life-size pattern is attached to a rotating kuftyr. Needles are pricked on a stuffed fabric drum and after the craftswoman they begin to directly weave motifs.
A distinctive feature of Vologda lace is the presence of a woven background and a ribbon pattern. The latter looks like one wide line and is the main image on the lace. Products woven using this technique are textured and resemble guipure canvases, only of the best quality.
When the word "Vologda" is pronounced, most often there is an association with lace. And it's not a coincidence at all. Vologda lace for true connoisseurs of luxury means grace and beauty, and all thanks to the openwork airy pattern that is born in the hands of real needlewomen.
What is Vologda lace
Vologda is a kind of Russian lace woven on bobbin. The finished lace can be clearly divided into the main pattern and background. The main ornament (contour) is made large, making it a smooth shape. The line is continuously even in width throughout the lace.
Vologda lace product
For manufacturing you will need:
- pillow-roller;
- bobbins (juniper or birch);
- pins;
- chip.
weaving process Note! The origin of the word "lace" is due to the verbs "surround" and "decorate". They decorated the edges of clothing (for example, round collars) or other products with an elegant ornament. Used for weaving a large number of threads, sometimes up to 100 at a time. Most often it is linen, cotton, but there are also unique products in which silk gold and silver threads are intertwined.
They decorate not only clothes, but also bed and table linen, handbags, as well as scarves, brooches and scarves. Modern fashionistas even decorate boots with them.
art history
There is a version that the centers of lace art were Italy and Flanders, and it was from there that it came to other countries. Weaving in Rus' has long been practiced by women of all classes: noble ladies and commoners weaved openwork patterns. The first mention of lace-making in Russia dates back to the 16-17th century, but only after 1820 did it acquire the character of an artistic craft.
Why was it in Vologda that the emergence of this folk craft was noted? Most likely, the reason was the developed linen economy in these places, so local craftswomen did not experience difficulties in the availability of material. In addition, trade routes passed through these areas, thanks to which the craft from Europe received such fame.
It was near Vologda in 1820 that the first factory producing lace appeared. Thousands of workers - serf girls - worked on it. Later, factories began to appear in every county of the province. These factories became the main suppliers of lace to the capital of the country, St. Petersburg and Moscow.
At the same time, each county had its own special patterns and methods of weaving. In the middle of the 19th century A. F. Bryantseva with her daughter Sophia created their own special Vologda lace pattern, unique in ornament and pattern. Subsequently, they taught this craft to several hundred people.
Note! The heyday of the industry coincided with the abolition of serfdom. Lacemakers bought the necessary tools for their work, it was relatively inexpensive. They earned up to 20 pre-revolutionary rubles. per year, but also worked without raising their heads, up to 16 hours a day. The training of girls began at the age of five. Whole dynasties of lacemakers appeared.
Vologda laces received international awards:
- gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of Decorative Arts in 1925;
- Grand Prix in Paris in 1937;
- gold medal in Brussels in 1958
In 1960, the Vologda lace association "Snezhinka" was founded, the leading artists of which in 1968 were awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR. I. Repin.
In 2010, the Museum of Lace was founded in the homeland of lace in Vologda, which is housed in a historic building of the 19th century. The exposition includes exhibition halls, a lace cafe, and a classroom that teaches the art of lace weaving. On the second floor there are eight halls, in which the history of the appearance of the famous lace is presented in chronological order.
Museum in Vologda Types of chipped lace
To create Vologda lace, you need to develop a chip - a pattern or stencil of a pattern, which is called a chip. According to the technology of creation, there are two types:
- pairing is the hardest part. For him, the main pattern and the background are woven together, in pairs, allowing you to get long strips of lace, which are then measured and cut. When creating lace of this type, the number of bobbins reaches up to 300 pairs;
- coupling - the main elements of the pattern are made in the form of a ribbon, called a "vilyushka", and then connected to each other with a crochet hook, forming a lattice. The number of pairs of bobbins varies on average from 6 to 12.
Coupling lace Weaving technique
To create a quality product, you need to carefully and responsibly go through all the stages of creating lace. Brief list of steps:
- The very first stage is the creation of a chip - a drawing of the future product. This is a very responsible process, which is trusted only by proven masters of their craft, professional artists. The drawing is applied to cardboard or thick paper dotted with drawing dashes - zigzags. The paper is fixed on the roller. The roller must be tight so that the pattern fits snugly, and the product turns out to be even and beautiful. On the chipping points, places for pricking pins are marked.
- Winding threads (linen, cotton) on bobbins, while they are also connected in pairs.
- In the places marked on the chip, pins are pricked. They are located at the characteristic points of the pattern, serve as a frame.
- When the pins and threads are ready, the craftswoman begins to throw the bobbins with threads in her hands, thereby braiding the pins.
- As the drawing progresses, the pins are rearranged to another place.
Skol for lace Important! The qualification of the master should be such that when looking at the drawing (splinter) as a plan for future work, she immediately understands how many bobbins are needed, what weaving techniques need to be applied, whether there will be a local thickening of the thread. Such an engineering approach is necessary to create a unique pattern.
Lace weaving Pattern elements
The most important pattern of Vologda lace is a snowflake. It is possible that these symbols of the Vologda winter formed the basis of the lace painting, which is reproduced by the masters.
Very often, natural, vegetable patterns are used in the work. When lace was made to order, the lace maker tried to make the product meaningful, using the appropriate pattern.
Napkin with oak leaf pattern The pattern with oak leaves meant protection, strengthened health. The pattern in the form of a spikelet attracted wealth and success to the owner of the lace.
Lace swan princess The plumage of birds also serves as an excellent model for decoration: the swan means chastity, purity; the phoenix brings good luck; the peacock often appeared on lace commissioned by noble people.
lacy cat Geometric patterns, sacred temples, figures of horsemen and girls in kokoshniks, animals (cats, dogs, deer) - everything that surrounds a person becomes a pattern.
lace tractor AT Soviet time planes, tractors, spacecraft appeared on lace. Even such elegant things were used to promote the Soviet system. A very good decision, since Vologda laces were popular all over the world.
How to draw a chip yourself
Lace can not only be woven, but also drawn. Even a child can draw a simple pattern for a chip, most importantly, explain the basic principles.
For independent work better start with a simple product, for example, to make a chip for a square napkin. For the drawing, you need to take cardboard, preferably white, not very dense. It is better for a beginner to draw with a simple pencil, then circle with a black helium pen or ink. The chip is made in full size of the future product. For beginner lace craftsmen, it will not be superfluous to use millimetric paper, on which the pattern can be drawn in more detail.
First, a line should be applied to the sheet, which forms a continuous pattern without intersections. Then a second line is applied, which repeats all the bends of the original one. Broken lines are drawn between them, repeating the movement of the bobbins, and points into which the pins will stick.
Butterfly chip, made by hand Lace is called the frozen song. Graceful weaves of threads form lyrical and tender images that reflect the soul of the creators. It takes skill and years of experience to create a unique pattern, and it's never too late to start weaving!
Vologda lace is a special phenomenon in the folk art of the Russian North. Wealth and variety of patterns, purity of lines, dimensional rhythms of ornaments, high skill - such is his artistic originality. Poems and songs have been written about Vologda lace, films have been made, and colorful booklets have been published. Vologda lace is known all over the world, for a long time it personified the glory of Russian lace.
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The word "lace" comes from "to surround", to decorate the edges of clothes and other items made of fabrics with an elegant finish. Lace weaving has been known in Rus' for a long time. It was practiced by women of all classes. The dress of kings, princes and boyars was decorated with lace made of gold, silver and silk threads; in folk clothes lace was used from linen yarn, and from the end of the 19th century - from cotton threads.
The artistic features of Vologda lace were already formed in the 17th-18th centuries. Until the 19th century, lace-making had the character of a domestic art craft. In the 20s of the 19th century, a lace factory was founded in the vicinity of Vologda, where dozens of serf lace-makers worked. In the middle of the 19th century, lace-making on the Vologda land turned into a craft, which was practiced by thousands of craftswomen in different counties. Especially this craft was developed on the territory of the Vologda, Kadnikovsky and Gryazovets districts. Each of them has developed local features of patterns and weaving techniques, its own range of lace products, but only a fine connoisseur of this art can distinguish them. Lace craft in the Vologda province flourished in the second half of the 19th century. If in 1893 four thousand craftswomen were engaged in weaving, then in 1912 there were almost forty thousand of them. The fame of Vologda lace has crossed the borders of the country. Fashion for him swept many countries of Europe.
A distinctive feature of the traditional Vologda paired lace is a clear division of the “structure” of lace into a pattern and a background. As a result, the large and smooth forms of the ornament are very expressively distinguished by a continuous line, even in width along the entire length of the pattern. In the early Vologda lace, stylized images of birds, the tree of life and other ancient motifs, characteristic of more ancient embroidery, varied as the leading ornament. Today, Vologda lace is distinguished by a variety of ornaments, monumentality of forms and the predominance of floral motifs.
The Vologda fishery has received wide recognition both in Russia and abroad. The talent and skill of Vologda artists and lacemakers have been repeatedly noted at many international and domestic exhibitions. In 1937, at the international exhibition in Paris, the Vologda Lace Union for the novelty and artistic performance of lace products was awarded the highest award - the Grand Prix, at the Brussels Exhibition in 1958, Vologda lace was awarded a gold medal. And in 1968, the leading artists of the production association "Snezhinka" were awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR named after I.E. Repin. A lot of imagination, creative work, high skill were put into their work by the oldest lace maker K.V. Isakova, well-known masters of their craft E.Ya. Khumala, V.V. Sibirtseva, Honored Artists of the RSFSR V.D. Veselov and V.N. Elfina. Many of their works are kept in the largest museums of the country.
Features common to all Vologda lace in the work of each master acquire an individual color. So, the works of K.V. Isakova develop a chamber lyrical direction. Tenderness and warmth of images distinguish her panel "Deers", created in 1968. It depicts firs and galloping deer. Dimensional repetitions of the figures, their arrangement in rows, a clear pattern with a relief contour against the background of a light through lattice, like flying snowflakes and the white color of linen threads - all this gives rise to the image of a winter forest immersed in silence.
The work of V.D. Veselova. A hereditary lace maker, she perfectly knows all the secrets of lace making, which allows her to create both small household items and decorative panels at an equally high artistic level. One of Veselova's unique works is the Ladya tablecloth. It combines all the best features of the artist's work: the poetry of images, the nobility of the drawing, the richness of developments in details, the refinement of the technical execution of lace, its indispensable conditionality by the content and nature of the ornament.
The Vologda association got its name in 1964 after the tablecloth "Snowflake" of another outstanding lace maker - V.N. Elfina. Her work gravitates towards monumental compositions, large forms of ornamentation. In 1978, Elfina executed the Singing Tree panel. It symbolizes spring and the flowering of nature associated with its arrival, the awakening of life, the many-voiced singing of birds. The magnificent Tree of Life is dotted with flowers and birds sitting on it. The dense pattern is opposed to a light openwork background. The combination of harsh and white threads gives the panel a silvery hue.
Vologda lace today is primarily the Snezhinka lace company, where professional lace makers and experienced artists work; this is a vocational school where future lacemakers are trained, as well as institutions additional education, where young Vologda residents get acquainted with the history of lace making and learn the basics of this skill. Vologda lace firm "Snezhinka" is a permanent participant of international and Russian exhibitions. The firm cooperates with domestic and foreign partners. The most important side of the creativity of craftsmen is the creation of works for museums and exhibitions. These are mainly panels, curtains, tablecloths. Today, it can be rightly asserted that Vologda lace is worthy of being included in the world treasury of lace making.
Russian lace is original, diverse in terms of subjects and execution techniques. But there are some of them that are special. More often, it is the products of Vologda lacemakers that we strongly associate with the word "lace". And this is no accident - the history of this craft in the Vologda region is rooted in the distant past and has been striking us with its elegance for several centuries. So - let's get acquainted: Vologda lace!
And Vologda lace production began at the end of the 18th century, when Russian lace-making centers formed and began to develop in various regions of Russia: Galich, Rostov, Balakhna, Kalyazin, Torzhok, Ryazan. And - Vologda!
The first lace factory here was established in 1820 by the landowner V.A. Zasetskaya in the village of Kovyrino near Vologda, from where in the second half of the 19th century. lace-making quickly spread throughout all the central districts of the Vologda province. And this was facilitated by ... the abolition of serfdom: peasant women became more free in choosing their occupation, more engaged in needlework and weaving lace for sale. This production brought additional income to the peasant family. Moreover, lace-making does not require any special investments: both threads for lace and equipment were inexpensive and anyone could buy or make them. There was no need for a special room - in the summer, lace was woven right on the street. Yes, and you can engage in this craft in fits and starts, in your free time on earth.
Gradually, lace-making became very popular: in 1893, 4 thousand lace-makers were engaged in lace-making in the Vologda province, and in 1912 - already about 40 thousand. According to the statistics of those years, a significant part of them were teenage girls. They usually started learning the craft at the age of 5-7 and by the age of 12-14 they became very experienced craftswomen. But often men also wove lace.
But how highly valued Vologda lace in the capital's stores! Cunning merchants at first passed them off as foreign in order to increase their profits. But this was unnecessary - in terms of their characteristics, the products of the Vologda craftswomen were not at all inferior to European ones. In 1876, Vologda lace deservedly received high praise at the international exhibition in Philadelphia. They were demonstrated with no less success in 1893 in Chicago.
The October Revolution undermined the lace trade. But very soon, in 1920, the handicraft section of the Northern Union was founded in Vologda, the purpose of which was to develop the crafts of the peoples of the North in the new socialist conditions. All lacemakers, and by that time there were already about 70 thousand of them, were united in artels, a vocational school was founded, which trained craftswomen and lace instructors. It was in those years that many new patterns and weaving techniques were developed, plots for lace products were created, which embodied the dreams of a new country.
At exhibitions in Paris (1925) and Brussels (1958), Vologda laces were awarded gold medals. The highest award, the Grand Prix, was awarded to them at the Paris Exhibition in 1937.
What is the secret of the success of Vologda lace? From time immemorial, lace-makers wove it by hand, using wooden bobbins, a chip with a pattern and a special pillow on a stand. Skolok (the scheme by which the pattern is woven) is the embodiment of the skill of a lace maker.
According to the technique of execution, modern Vologda lace belongs to "coupling" lace. In this type of lace, the main elements of the pattern are woven with a long braid, and then interconnected by special "couplings" and "lattices", performed separately, using crochet hook. This technique is used in the manufacture of scarves, collars, capes, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, panels.
But there were also craftswomen - "mernitsa" who wove the so-called. "paired" or "measured" lace, in which the pattern was woven simultaneously with the background, which made it possible to obtain arbitrarily long strips of lace, from which cuts of the required length were measured (hence the name).
It is clear that the patterns in the coupling lace are more diverse than in the double lace. This may also be geometric figures, and motifs of the plant and animal world (Christmas trees, flowers, fish, birds, deer, lions, peacocks), and fantastic creatures (Sirin birds, unicorns), and natural phenomena (Northern Lights), and human figures (ladies, gentlemen, horsemen , peasant women in kokoshniks and sundresses), and architectural structures (churches, towers, bridges, pavilions, palaces), and technological achievements (tower cranes, aircraft, spacecraft). Yes, yes, there were even tractors and airplanes on the products of the Vologda lacemakers of the 1930s - after all, just like their great-grandmothers, they wanted to embody the world that surrounded them in lace.
For a long time, paired lace prevailed in Vologda, it accounted for approximately 2/3 of the total output. A great contribution to the development of coupling lace was made by the masters of the lace school (VKSh) that opened in Vologda in 1928. So in the 1930s, the artist Anna Alexandrovna Perova-Nikitina and the industrial training instructor Kapitolina Vasilievna Isakova developed more than 100 lattices for coupling lace. This invention changed appearance coupling lace: it became openwork, since the lattice could now play a leading role in the pattern. In addition, it was in this way that it was possible to create products combined with fabric, large large objects sewn from many parts.
In 1936, under the "Volkruzhevosoyuz" (there was such an organization!) an art laboratory was created, where numerous lace makers and artists worked on the assortment, quality, and technology of weaving lace products. Techniques common to all Vologda lace acquire an individual coloring in the work of each master. So, the work of K.V. Isakova develop a chamber lyrical direction. Tenderness and warmth of images distinguish her panel "Deer", created in 1968.
A.A. Korableva, an employee of the Research Institute of Art Industry (NIIKhP), made a great contribution to the development of the craft. She created large stitched works that became a milestone in the development of the industry: the panel "House in Gori" (1949, on the anniversary of I.V. Stalin), the curtain "Jubilee" (1954, on the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine and Russia ), curtain "Russian motives" (1958, at the World Exhibition in Brussels, he rightfully received the highest award "Grand Prix"), panel "Sputnik" (1959), panel "Aurora" (1970), panel "Buildings of Moscow" (1970), etc.
Another well-known name in Vologda is V.D. Veselova, who was born into a family of hereditary lacemakers. Her mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmother, and, possibly, distant ancestors were engaged in this craft. A family tradition has been preserved that Vera Dmitrievna's grandmother wove stockings and umbrellas for the royal court by special order. And the most famous work of the granddaughter is the tablecloth "Rook", in which the craftswoman embodied both the poetry of the image, the completeness of the drawing and her skill as a lace-maker.
But the most famous product of the Vologda lacemakers is undoubtedly the "Snowflake" tablecloth (author V.N. Elfina), which has become calling card the entire lace industry. And it is no coincidence that the Snezhinka lace association, founded in Vologda in 1964 and remaining the center of lace production to this day, owes its name to it. Now hundreds of lacemakers work here, continuing to create exquisite lace patterns from the finest threads. After all, lace, even in our computer age, is still in demand.
The works of these craftswomen, as well as dozens of others, are presented in the Lace Museum that has opened in Vologda. If you are lucky enough to visit these parts - be sure to look there. You will not regret. After all, Vologda can rightly be called the lacy capital of Russia.
In preparation, photographic materials of the site "Vologda folk crafts" were used.
History of lace
It's called lace textile product with a through mesh pattern formed by the interlacing of threads.
The Russian name of this product is related to the word "circle". By the way, once the word "lace" was written as "circle". Perhaps this is how its purpose was indicated: to “surround” clothing and household items made of fabric with elegant decoration. Perhaps they meant the "whirling" of a repeating pattern. Or maybe the connection with the idea of a snowy “lace” of a blizzard, which is so well known to Russian people, played a role. In any case, the association underlying the Russian name is not the same as in other languages (the French la dentell is associated with the concept of teeth, the German die Spitze also has such meanings as “top”, “point”, “tip” ).
Lace is a very ancient type of arts and crafts. The data of archeology, history of art and writing suggest that lace-making was known to the Egyptians and Greeks before our era. However, it became widespread in Europe later, only from the end of the 15th-beginning of the 16th century. It was produced in many countries. For a long time leading place Italy occupied this industry, then she had to cede the leadership of Flanders (the duchy in the territory of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands) and France.
The first information about lace in Russia dates back to the 13th century. The Ipatiev Chronicle tells how in 1252 Prince Daniel of Galicia received foreign ambassadors in rich clothes with trim resembling lace. But a noticeable phenomenon Everyday life They became Russia in the 17th century. Moreover, lace products were common both at the royal court, and among the merchants, and among the peasants. Only their quality, of course, was different.
Since the beginning of the XIX century. along with handmade lace, machine-made lace began to be produced. This speeded up and reduced the cost of the production process, but did not lead to the extinction old tradition. Handmade is valued more because the artistic principle is manifested in it more strongly. The touch of human hands gives the product a special expressiveness and warmth.
Types of lace, tools and materials
There are two main types of handmade lace: sewn with a needle and woven on bobbins. In addition, there were laces made in other ways: knitted (crocheted, on knitting needles or tambour - a loop in a loop), pearl (from pearls sewn on a linen base or strung on a thread), velvet (cut from silk fabric), forged ( from gold and silver threads). But all of them were an imitation of embroidered and woven lace.
The most widespread was woven lace. It is not as laborious as sewn, and has retained its popularity to this day. The right to be considered his homeland is contested by Italy and Belgium.
Lace is woven from threads, most often linen, silk and cotton. Usually these are threads of white or pearl gray, the color natural for linen fiber. But there are also black laces. Craftswomen and colored threads are used.
Bobbins are the main weaving tool. Each of them is a chiseled or carved stick, one end of which is thickened, and the other has a neck with a button for winding threads. Depending on how complex the weaved pattern is, a different number of bobbins are used - sometimes several hundred.
Bobbins are made from different breeds wood: maple, apple, honeysuckle, viburnum, juniper, spruce. When the lace maker quickly sorts them out during work, they emit a melodic chime. The most sonorous, according to many craftswomen, are heather bobbins.
In addition to bobbins, the lace maker also needs a roller - an oblong pillow densely stuffed with straw or oatmeal husks. This roller can be called differently: “boob”, “tambourine”, “kutuz”, “puga”. It is placed on the “footboard” (small goats). In some places, such a roller stand is called a "hoop". Pins are stuck into the roller, the purpose of which is to hold and fasten the thread during the transplant. The craftswoman weaves lace, throwing threads through these pins that hang down on bobbins.
Numerical and chipped lace
Depending on the methods of weaving, numerical and chipped lace are distinguished. Numerical is considered the most ancient and simplest. To work on it, a pre-prepared drawing is not needed. It is woven, repeating the same pattern according to the number of interlaced threads. The patterns in such lace are simple: these are geometric figures or likened to such figures, schematized silhouettes of plants, birds, animals. In the old days, numerical lace was most often entrusted to children to weave.
For chipped lace, in contrast to numerical, a "splinter" is needed - a contour drawing along which the pattern will be woven. Master artists who prepare such drawings were once called "signmen". The drawing is applied to thick smooth paper in the form of dots. This paper is attached to the roller. Pins are stuck into the points marking the outline of the pattern. During work, the craftswoman moves them along the contour of the drawing.
There are two types of chipped lace: paired and coupled.
In the pair, both the pattern and the background for it are woven at the same time. This is a labor intensive technique. The ornament here is geometric, consisting of several repeating elements. Paired lace was widespread in folk life. It was also called measured, since it was woven in the form of a strip, from which, during the sale, pieces of the length needed by the buyer were cut off. Such lace was used to decorate dresses, festive shirts, towels, wedding bedding.
In coupling lace, the main elements of the pattern are braided and connected to each other by separately made "couplings" and "lattices" using a crochet hook. This technique is used in the manufacture of scarves, collars, capes, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, panels. Patterns in coupling lace are more varied than in paired lace. These can be geometric shapes, and motifs of the plant and animal world (Christmas trees, flowers, fish, birds, deer, lions, peacocks), and fantastic creatures (Sirin birds, unicorns), and natural phenomena (Northern Lights), and human figures (ladies, gentlemen, horsemen, peasant women in kokoshniks and sundresses), and architectural structures (churches, towers, bridges, pavilions, palaces), and creations of technology (tower cranes, spacecraft).
Vologda lace
But no matter how complex images are, they all consist of several elements. In Vologda lace, the contours of the pattern are woven with braid, which has the form of a strip resembling matting. The craftswomen themselves call it "polotnyanka" or "vilyushka". The braid winds in a smooth continuous line that does not cross anywhere. (True, recently this principle is no longer maintained as strictly as before.) “Film”, a thickened thread that gives relief to the lace, is often woven into the linen. "Nasnovki" - elements in the form of dense ovals or squares - fill the space limited by the braid. The background for the pattern created in this way is an openwork lattice of “plaits” (thin cords of two pairs of threads). Loop loops (twisted threads on braids) give the lace airiness.
The characteristic features of any lace are transparency, openwork, airiness, thinness, elasticity, patterning. Vologda lace is distinguished by a special smoothness of the lines of the pattern, the rhythmic repetition of ornamental elements, and rich patterning. Lace evokes emotions similar to the impression of a sounding melody. That is probably why Vologda lace is considered "musical". And it is also called "non-melting hoarfrost." Snow-white patterns of light transparent lace often contain elements that look like snowflakes and prickly Christmas trees covered with white trim. In one of the fairy tales of S. G. Pisakhov, it is called the “frozen song”.
Lace making in the Vologda region
It is difficult to say exactly when lace-making became known in the Russian North. It can be assumed that its appearance in the Vologda Territory was associated with the discovery in the 16th century. Northern Sea Route. If this is so, then the lace came to Vologda through the White Sea, the Northern Dvina and the Sukhona along with goods imported from Western Europe. Be that as it may, the earliest examples of local lace weaving, preserved in museum collections, date back to the 17th century. These are the so-called "golden" laces made of gold and silver threads. They were sold by weight, taking into account primarily the value of precious metals, and not the craftsmanship. Such lace was used to decorate outfits made of dense expensive fabrics - brocade, velvet, and patterned silk. They were also used to decorate church utensils.
Under Peter I, lace-makers began to be sent to Russia from abroad. The fashion for this craft led to the fact that some wives of Russian nobles not only began to master the techniques of working with bobbins themselves, but also started workshops in their estates, where serfs wove lace. Women's monasteries were also famous for their skill in this matter. By the end of the XVIII century. artistic features of the centers of Russian lace-making were formed. Galich, Rostov, Vologda, Balakhna, Kalyazin, Torzhok, Ryazan became such centers.
In 1820, the first lace factory was started by the landowner V. A. Zasetskaya in the village of Kovyrino near Vologda. In the second half of the XIX century. lace-making quickly spread in the central districts of the Vologda province: in Gryazovetsky, Kadnikovsky and Vologda. Several factors contributed to this. After the abolition of serfdom, the peasants became more free to choose their occupation. Increased demand for lace. Their production brought additional income to the peasant family. It was also important that the materials and devices needed for weaving lace are inexpensive. Craftswomen do not need a specially equipped room. In good summer weather, they can also work outdoors. If necessary, it is not difficult for them to move to another place. You can engage in this craft in fits and starts, in your free time on earth.
In 1893, 4,000 lace-makers were engaged in lace-making in the Vologda province, and in 1912 there were already about 40,000 lace-makers. According to statistics, 20% of them were teenage girls. They usually started learning the craft at the age of 5-7. There were cases when boys also wove lace.
Finished products through buyers got to Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the capital's stores, Vologda lace was highly valued. It happened that they were passed off as foreign, thereby trying to increase the cost. But tricks of this kind were unnecessary: in terms of their merits, the products of craftswomen from the Vologda province were not inferior to foreign samples.
In 1920, the handicraft section of the Northern Union was founded, and the lace-makers were united in artels. By this time there were already about 70 thousand of them. Importance for the development of the trade, it had a vocational school, established in the city of Vologda in 1928. It trained craftswomen and instructors in lace weaving. Many kinds of lace lattices have been developed here, original samples modern products. In this, Vologda favorably differed from other Russian centers of lace craft, where they cared mainly about preserving the tradition. In 1930, the Vologda Lace Union was created, which united more than 50 artels located on the territory of 8 districts: Vologda, Gryazovetsky, Lezhsky, Chebsarsky, Kubenovozersky, Ust-Kubinsky, Kharovsky, Sokolsky.
Back in 1876, Vologda lace was highly appreciated at the international exhibition in Philadelphia. With no less success they were demonstrated in 1893 in Chicago. At exhibitions in Paris (1925) and Brussels (1958), they were awarded gold medals. The highest award, the Grand Prix, was awarded to them at the Paris Exhibition in 1937.
In 1964, the Snezhinka lace association was created in Vologda. It is believed that it owes its name to the famous tablecloth "Snowflake" by V. N. Elfina. However, similar motifs were widely used in lace products before.
In 1968, the artists V. D. Veselova, V. N. Elfina, K. V. Isakova, V. V. Sibirtseva, E. Ya. I. E. Repina. So their merits in the development of the traditions of Vologda lace-making were noted. These traditions are like a living memory for them, like a link between times. Vera Dmitrievna Veselova, for example, was born into a family of hereditary lacemakers. Her mother, and grandmother, and great-grandmother, and, possibly, distant ancestors were engaged in this craft. A family tradition has been preserved that Vera Dmitrievna's grandmother wove stockings and umbrellas for the royal court by special order.
Today, the center of lace-making in the Vologda region is the Snezhinka company, where such famous artists, as N. V. Veselova, G. N. Mamrovskaya, M. Yu. Palnikova, A. N. Rakcheeva and T. N. Smirnova. Hundreds of lace-makers work under their guidance.
Lace is also in demand in our computer age. And Vologda can rightfully be called the lacy capital of Russia.
Appendix, F. A. Arseniev
Lacemaking
Lace weaving is very common in the Vologda province. The main center of this industry is the city of Vologda, then the Vologda and Gryazovets districts. AT last years Lacemaking began to be practiced in the peasant families of the Totemsky, Ustyugsky, Velsky and even Ust-Sysolsky counties - between the Zyryans.
There are up to 500 lace makers in Vologda; Of these, 137 earn their livelihood solely by lace, 19 individuals, provided with other sources, weave lace between chores, and for the rest, lace making is a help in the economy. Of the lacemakers, about 20% are teenagers under the age of sixteen. A five-year-old girl is already being put here for bobbins and they are starting to prepare a future craftswoman from her.
Lacemakers usually work from 8 o'clock in the morning to 12 o'clock at night, or 16 hours a day. An average worker can earn 20 kopecks a day. Earnings of 25 or 30 kopecks are already considered large, and 40 or 45 kopecks are an occasional rarity. Lace making is very physically tiring. Of course, the habit of sitting from the age of five greatly reduces the harmful effects of the lace trade, but a sixteen-hour sitting should greatly shorten the life of a lacemaker.
Funds needed for self-study fishing, very small ones are required: the best pillow with bobbins costs about 70 kopecks, bobbins 50 kopecks and the machine on which the pillow is placed, about 30 kopecks - only 1 ruble 50 kopecks.
In recent years, all Vologda lace-makers, due to the rise in prices for the necessities of life and the developed industry beyond the demand, live in extreme poverty and hopeless poverty. They, not having a direct market for their products, are in constant dependence on the fences, who grow rich at the expense of poor toilers who work to exhaustion. Direct relations between the gentlemen of the metropolitan lace merchants for the purchase of lace with local craftswomen could have a very beneficial effect on improving their life and restore more definite boundaries between supply and demand.
