The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1901-09-13
BURANO LACE WORKERS.
More Than Six Hundred Women of
the Island Engaged in the
Industry.

AT almost every cottage door In
Burano, about four miles from Ven
ice, may be seen a woman, old or
young, her lace cushion on her lap,
and her fingers busy with needle and
the finest fax thread, making the eX-
quisite lace for which the little island
is famous. More than 600 women, all
pupils of the royal lace school, sit
uated in the municipal buildings of the
place, receive steady employment
either in the school or their own
homes making the delicate needle
point lace, which has had a remark
able revival in the last 25 years, says
the New York Tribune.
Of old the lace makers of Burano
depended largely for their existence
upon their craft; but as the demand
lessened, the workers became fewer,
until, with the decay of the lace in
dustry all over the world, in the first
half of the nineteenth century, lace
making on the island became almost u
thing of the past, and the poverty of
the fisher folk was deplorable. The
hard winter of 1872 reduced the pop
ulation to a state of semi-starvation,
and as a means of relief a fund was
created, headed by Queen Margherita,
for resuscitating the lace industry.
A difficulty arose, however, for, al
though superb specimens of Blu
rano lace were in existence, so small
had been the demand that all the old
workers had died out, and the only old
woman who remembered the BuranO
point stitches was unable to teach
them. But, by watching old Cencia
Scarpariola work, Nine. Anna Bellorio
d'Este, present mistress of the school.
cunningly learned the secret, trained
herself thoroughly and then taught to
eight pupils what she herself had ac-
quired. Two years of instruction at
the school are required of each work
er.
The chief characteristic of Burano
point is the exquisite handmade net
with which all the motifs of the de-
signs are surrounded, although it
would be misleading to say that the
design is worked on a net ground, for
the motifs are made first and the net
is worked afterward.
Burano point is of most durable
quality, because the stitches are so
fine and so closely set. Rare speci-
mems are seen so closely worked that
they are as stiff as thin cardboard, but
the usual kinds are exquisitely soft
and flexible, although having always
more substance than Point Bruxelles
and laces similar to it.
The color of Burano point is deep
cream, the color of unbleached flax
slightly yellowed by human contact.
One of the most beautiful pieces of
this lace is now in the possession of
the dowager queen of Italy, and has
been lent by her to the school that the
old pattern may be reproduced. 1t
is an alb made for Pope Clement XIII.
about 100, the designs for it having
been suggested by the richly orna-
mented ceiling of the Palazzo Recon
icus. The same design was adapted to
a parasol cover, made at the BuranO
school, for presentation by the wom-
en- of Venice to the queen of Italy, then
princess of Naples. The queen is a
great lover of fine lace.
Beside the Burano point, other fine
needle point laces are made in the is
land. Among them are Point de Ven
Use, tagliato fogliami, Point de Ven
Use la rose, Point d'Argentan, Point
d'Alencon and Point de BruXelles, but
the chief product is that named after
tho island