Ancient Greek Pottery Lace

No the lace isn't ancient or Greek

Back in November of 2023, I started planning out my now current project. Here is a quick overview of my inspo and progress so far.

The idea:

An adaptation of black figure palmette-lotus chain from amphora neck designs. I specifically liked the chain design by the Antimenes Painter (and his circle).

pic 1 | pic 2 | pic 3

I felt the design could be easily adapted into a needle lace design. The symmetry and use of circular shapes feel similar to a variety of needle lace pieces I have run across. I had a variety of ideas like making a collar (you can see those here), but settled on a doily.

I drew the pattern and attached it to the backing fabric,

and then started the looooong process of couching the cordonnet.

there are 5 months of (on and off) work between these two photos

From there, the even longer process of adding the filling stitches started,

and this is where I am currently. Any subsequent posts will assume this background knowledge :D