ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Lacemaking Pins, lace maker's pins.

Updated on December 28, 2012

Pins, small insignificant items, which I am sure many of us take for granted, but they are an essential tool for many craft workers, particularly lace makers. When lace making began in the 16th century, pins were very expensive and people had to improvise because of this. In Devon, because of the local fishing industry, the workers used good strong, slender fish bones as pins. This was one of the reasons for lace to be referred to as 'bone lace'. In the midlands long thorns were used, the name pin is derived from the Latin 'spina' meaning a thorn. However, as the lace industry grew it became worthwhile producing the bass pins in this country instead of importing them from France and so the price dropped.

The term 'pin money' is thought to have originated in the time of Henry VIII when pins could only be bought in London on two days in January, thus necessitating the need to save throughout the year to buy the pins.

Craft workers would often like to make their pins distinctive, both to look good whilst being used and as decoration. One method was to mould Sealing wax round the head. Another was to push the seeds of goose grass over the pinheads; the seeds then dried hard and then rubbed with a rough cloth to remove the 'burrs', making them smooth and shiny, these were called 'herriff' pins, the original berry pin.

The first commercially produced pins came from Gloucester in the early 17th century this rapidly became the centre of the pin making industry. The pins were made manually with many of the tasks being performed by children. the wire was first cleaned and then drawn into the thickness required, cut to length and the ends sharpened. A fine wire was twisted onto the pin shank to form the head, which was stamped by machine. The pins were then scoured to remove rust and dirt. They were then put onto paper to be sold.

Because the pins were made in two separate parts it was possible to make some very distinctive pins called 'King Pins'. These were produced by threading a few small, brightly coloured glass beads onto the pin and then using another head to keep the beads in place. In the lace schools these were called ‘strivers’ because each pupil set in a decorated pin and then strove to see how quickly she could work through all the other pins till she was able to move the striver again.

The next big step in pin history was at the beginning of the 19th century with the advent of a machine that made a pin from a single piece of wire. By this time the centre of pin manufacture had moved to Birmingham, where by 1845 20 million pins were made each day. Newey continue to make brass pins in Birmingham and despite having a large product range, brass pins still account for 5-10% of their turnover.

The picture shows – from the left – a pair of thorns, plain pins with sealing wax, ‘herriff’ pins, King Pins or strivers and two very large pins used to fasten the pricking to the pillow.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)