"AIR LACE PAINTING CREATES PLEASURE FOR ITS PERFECT FINE"

Since its inception, lace has acquired the status of an independent type of decoration. And, as a rule, clothes and furnishings were decorated with it. Lace gave grace to the owner, tenderness and femininity to the owner, and comfort and sophistication to the house. The laboriousness of the execution of these silk and gold, braided and woven "cobwebs" raised their cost to astronomical heights, but the desire to possess them swept away all barriers and devastated the wallets of individuals and the treasury of states.

The history of the most beautiful and expensive lace is the history of passion, debt and even suicide! Aristocrats for their sake parted with estates and purebred horses, merchants - with capital, etc.

The thing is that before lace was considered an elite, incredibly status thing, a sign of not only wealth, but also belonging to high society, a direct indication that truly blue blood flows through the veins of the owner of such a masterpiece.

Of course, an impractical item like lace was difficult to keep in perfect condition, so it was common practice to clean and mend it. The initiative was expensive, but ten times cheaper than a newly purchased item.

Today, lace has become a generally available type of fabric, so there are practically no problems with the acquisition.

"RELIABLE LACE"

You want to introduce lace into the interior, but you don't want it to be real and material (as well as getting dirty, tearing and collecting dust), then think about lace painting.

This does not necessarily mean, take paper and draw the lace you like, use a carbon copy to transfer it to the furniture and for a long, long time, with a thin brush from diligence, slightly sticking out your tongue, circle your drawing with paint, so that later you lament that everything turned out not quite perfect " ... Instead of paper and carbon paper, you can take a piece of wide machine lace, instead of diligence and a thin brush, you can take a can of acrylic paint.

The main thing is before you start lace painting, you need to know exactly what you want: exquisite white lace over ivory ?; graphic black on a white background ?; exotic gold on black? Have you chosen? Then everything is very simple.

Lace painting process

1 - first of all, you need to prepare the surface for painting: if it is glossy, you need to sand it, if unpainted wood, prime it with acrylic primer or tint with matte acrylic paint. Also think and decide for yourself what kind of background you want, drawing on this background. It all depends on you!

2 - when choosing lace for a stencil, keep in mind that it should be quite openwork, with a pronounced plot, and inexpensive, since it will be spoiled. Stretch the selected lace fragment over the surface to be decorated and secure with tape. If the furniture is not afraid of moisture, then you can wet the stencil with soapy water and let it "dry" to the surface. Cover with paper those parts of the furniture where the spray paint should not get.

3 - from a distance of 20 - 30 cm, spray the paint onto the lace. For even drying, the paint should lay down thinly, if you want a dense pattern, apply later one or two more coats of paint (keeping at least 15 minutes between coats).

4 - carefully remove the lace and let the pattern dry. Acrylic paints "set" very quickly, but it is better to wash off traces of soapy water and varnish the painting not earlier than after 8 -12 hours.

5 - dried painting can be covered with a thin layer of acrylic varnish (you can use varnish - aerosol - it lays down more evenly). If you want the finished item to look "vintage", go through the painting with very fine, almost velvet sandpaper to the varnish

An elegant lace manicure is created for special occasions: special occasions, High school prom, anniversary, wedding. Luxurious patterns on the nails are best suited to evening dress, an openwork blouse or a delicate bridal outfit.

Lace patterns are always associated with a romantic feminine... They contain grace, mystery, sophistication, temptation. A thin mesh on your nails will cause a storm of admiration!

There are four ways to create lace on your nails at home.

Method one. We use lace for manicure. Performing a manicure from a lace mesh step by step is not as difficult as it might seem:

  • Choose lace or fine mesh fabric. A mesh that is used in sewing clothes or a simple tulle will do. Thin materials will look better. Always pre-apply lace to your nails to make sure it looks harmonious.
  • Cut out pieces of lace to match the size of the nail plates.
  • Apply base coat to the strip. Let it dry for a few seconds.
  • Apply lace to the semi-dry base coat. Gently flatten it with a toothpick over the entire area, press down with your finger.
  • Apply the fixer in two coats.
  • Once dry, trim the ends of the fabric with nail scissors.

If desired, lace can be applied not only to a transparent base, but also to a colored one. It is necessary to cover the nail with two layers of bright varnish and wait until it dries. Use a special manicure glue to attach the lace.

You can transfer patterns to your nail using a special stamp. The drawings on the nails look like they were created by a real master. In fact, a brush is not needed at all in this process.

The step-by-step instructions are simple:

  • prepare nails for spumping, apply a colored background;
  • cover the stencil with varnish of a different shade;
  • run along the stencil plate with a scraper so that the varnish remains only in the recesses;
  • roll on a metal plate with a stamp, the drawing will be imprinted on it;
  • immediately transfer the patterns to the nail, rolling the stamp over the surface;
  • secure everything with topcoat.

Method four. Draw lace patterns with a brush.

This is a rather complicated and time-consuming process. Lace is drawn on the nails with a thin brush. Only the confident hand of an artist can make flawless lines. But it is worth trying this method and your artistic ability... For a flawless result, you need to cover your nails with gel polish. And the drawings are best applied with gel paint. It fits perfectly on the surface.

Lace wedding manicure

Openwork manicure seems to be created for the bride! It looks incredibly harmonious with snow-white wedding dress... For such a case, a particularly thin lace is chosen. Manicure is performed in light pink, white, beige colors... Sometimes they add a little golden sand, silvery pollen, a few shiny stones.

Read also: Manicure with St. George ribbon: thematic design for Victory Day

French lace manicure

It is not necessary to cover the entire surface of your nails with lace. The expressive mesh can slightly overlap the nails. The lace line of the smile is very original version... The versatile openwork jacket will suit any clothes and for any occasion.

There are a lot of options, the most popular of them are shown in the photo!

  • The smile line can have a traditional semicircular shape. But then it is better to draw the mesh with a brush.
  • If you are using fabric lace, then a quick and beautiful way- glue the strips obliquely.
  • You can create an ordinary traditional jacket, and then decorate it with pieces of lace.
  • White smile lines and snow based patterns are equally popular.

Most often, to form a holistic feminine image, patterns are made in white on a pink or transparent base. It's incredibly romantic!

Black openwork drawings in French design create an expressive contrast.

Secrets of lace manicure

  • The patterns will look great if the colors are right. Use contrasts! A proven option is black or white mesh on a colored background.
  • Lace manicure takes a lot of time. This is probably why it is done on special occasions. After all, not every woman can devote so much time to a manicure. Everyday life... The technique requires processing each nail separately.
  • You can make a lace manicure even more attractive by decorating it with stasis and sparkles.
  • A graceful mesh can decorate one or two fingernails or tear all the plates. Both options look very sophisticated.


I will braid fate Into my lace pattern, Into intertwine I will start That blue evening.

Vologda, Yelets, Mikhailovsky lace (lace). How beautiful, how unique is their pattern! How they harmonize with the fabric, with the canvas of tablecloths and towels, how graceful the lace paths and napkins are! These days, lace is used to decorate the most fancy dresses, they are sewn to the Russian national costume, they give a special charm to clothes, linen, decorate the interior.

"The Lacemaker". V. Tropinin

Lace-making in Russia appeared later than embroidery, although it is difficult to pinpoint the time when Russian women began to weave lace, since no ancient monuments have survived. The earliest examples of lace that have come down to us are made of metal threads, gold and silver, they date back to the 17th century. Such lace was sewn to the royal clothes and the clothes of the boyars, * they were used to decorate household articles: the royal throne (tsar "s throne), armchairs, saddles (saddles), church decorations (religious articles). In Moscow, at the royal court, there was a workshop where lacemakers worked, and in the city of Solvychegodsk **, the famous merchants Stroganovs also wove lace in the 17th century.

* (Boyars are the largest feudal lords in Russia in the 9th-17th centuries. Members of the Boyar Duma held the most important government positions. The title "boyar" was abolished by Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century.)

** (Solvychegodsk - a city on the Vychegda river in the Arkhangelsk region in the north-west Russian Federation, was founded in the XIV century as a military fortress.)

At the end of the 18th century - in the first half of the 19th century, they began to weave lace from linen and silk threads.

The first half of the 18th century in Russia is associated with the state and military reforms of Tsar Peter I, which significantly changed the life of Russian society. There were also changes in the clothes of the Russian nobility. Now the nobles had to dress according to the Western European pattern, and in the West, thread lace, mostly tulle, was in fashion. Weaving of such lace began to be practiced in manor-houses, where serf girls were taught this craft from childhood. Many landowners in different parts of Russia had small workshops and even manufactories, in which, from early morning until night, often in the dim light of a torch, girls wove and wove lace.

Lace products were used very widely in these years: they were sewn to clothes, they were used to decorate linen, residential interiors. Therefore, the production of lace became very profitable, and the serf lacemakers were cruelly exploited. Many of them suffered from tuberculosis, lost their sight (were going blind).

The lace makers had hard work, but they loved their work very much, and each of them felt like an artist. She created her own patterns, developed the weaving technique herself. Under quick hands lace-makers were born true works of art, surprising with beauty, imagination, jewelry clarity and purity of work. This is how the original traditions of Russian lace gradually appeared, their local originality arose.

In our time, lace craft is concentrated mainly in four geographical centers: in the city of Vologda (Vologda lace), in Yelets (Yelets lace), in the city of Kirov (Kirov, or Vyatka, lace), in the city of Mikhailov, Ryazan region (Ryazan, or Mikhailovskoe , lace). Lace is also woven in other places, for example, in the village of Kirishi in the Leningrad region, in the city of Mtsonsk, in the Oryol region. Each fishing center produces its own type of lace, unique, different from all others. Vologda lace is especially popular. They have received gold medals and top prizes at international exhibitions many times, but the Yelets and Kirov laces are hardly inferior to them in terms of elegance and craftsmanship. You yourself can easily see this if you look at these laces.

Lace is usually woven using small wooden bobbins, pins and a special lace-pillow.

The craftswoman throws the bobbins with threads wound on them (on which threads are wound) from one hand to the other, while she twines the threads around the pins that are stuck into the pillow-roller. By gradually rearranging the pins along the points of the pattern or by count, she creates a complex system of weaving. This is lace.

Lace can be woven according to the pattern. Such a pattern is called a splinter, lace is called a splinter. Lace, which is woven without a pattern, according to the number of weaves, is called numerical.

Look at Vologda lace. Their main pattern is formed by the twists of an endless braid, which is called a linen, or fork. This is a hook-on lace. Its pattern is round in shape. In paired lace, individual parts are torn off from each other, and the image in it has rectangular outlines.

The lacemaker is sitting. In front of her is a roller with bobbins. And like an endless stream, an openwork lace ribbon flows from the roller. Bobbins are tapping in her hands. Women

They talk quietly, sometimes they sing. If a simple lace is woven by a craftswoman, her. 6 pairs of bobbins are enough, but for a complex one, 300 pairs are not enough. The woman's fingers quickly touch the bobbins, a complex lace pattern appears in front of her eyes, in some places thick and dense, in others - a thin, transparent lattice (net).

It’s hard to believe, but the lace maker remembers each of the three hundred pairs of threads, won’t be mistaken, won’t mix up.

The patterns of Russian lace are very original, and it differs significantly from the laces of other peoples.

The development of the ornament of Russian lace was significantly influenced folk embroidery and weaving. Therefore, in lace products you can find the same motifs that we have already seen in northern and Vologda embroidery, on woven towels and rugs. These are the beloved birds, peahens, horses, snow leopards, winged animals, the tree of life. And a floral ornament made up of multi-petal flowers, stylized garlands, wreaths, branches.

Vologda lace

This lace is woven in the city of Vologda, in the villages and towns around it. Vologda is an old Russian city on the Vologda River, known since 1147, located among vast dense northern forests rich in mushrooms and berries. Many birds and various animals live in these forests. For a long time, the life of local residents has been closely associated with the forest. The forest provided a tree for building houses, fed and clothed people. In small fields among the forests, flax was grown here, Russian northern silk, as it is popularly called. In winter, everything around was covered with fluffy snow. Frost frozen the rivers, decorating the windows of houses with a thin white pattern. Local residents at this time took on all kinds of work that gave additional income: they carved birches from wood, spun flax, weaved canvas, embroidered, and then began to weave lace. Moreover, the excellent linen threads were of their own, from Vologda. This is how lace-making arose.

The Vologda lace craft is one of the oldest in Russia and has long been known worldwide. It arose around 1820, when the serfs of local landowners began to weave linen lace for dress and linen. These laces were distinguished by a peculiar pattern, delicate original workmanship and great durability.

Every year the craft grew and soon lace-making became one of the main sources of livelihood for local residents. In 1912, 40 thousand lacemakers were already engaged in it.

Under Soviet rule, in 1928, a vocational school was built in Vologda. Here experienced craftswomen began to train young lace-makers, passing them on the secrets of their craft. In 1930, the Vologda Lace Union was created. He united all the female workers in the field and took over all the worries associated with the production and sale finished products... After some time, an art laboratory was organized at the Vologda Lace Union. In it, they began to study and generalize the experience of individual artists of the craft, to solve the problems of the further development of this art.


Suit "Vologda". T. Bugrova

Nowadays, Vologda lace makers weave a variety of lace products. These are both measured lace of various widths with a diverse and expressive pattern, and individual things: tracks ((table) runners), napkins, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, scarves, kerchiefs (kerchiefs (usu. Triangular)). Craftswomen make and decorate clothes: collars, cuffs, frills, ties, decorative souvenir items and much more. All these things are very beautiful and elegant. They can decorate

any suit, any housing.

Rich and generous imagination at lace makers. They use over 400 different designs in their products. Now Vologda lace products are made from cotton and linen threads, occasionally they use silk, synthetic and even wool yarn(yarn).

Previously, only two colors prevailed in Vologda lace - snow-white and stern (brown), now they began to make lace using threads of many colors: black, gray, blue, cream.

Creating lace products, Vologda craftswomen transfer the world around them to lace: winter forests covered with deep snow, frosty patterns that decorated the windows of houses, a dim northern sky, discreet colors of the Vologda region.

Vologda lace differs significantly from other Russian lace. Basically it is lace with a sharp division into a large, expressive pattern and a transparent background. Its pattern is executed with a dense, uniform continuous linen cloth. It wriggles smoothly, creating the desired image. This image is clearly visible against the background of stars (starry and floral design) and rosettes that make up the openwork lattice.

Vologda lace is distinguished by its special severity and tradition in the choice of the pattern. The motives of his drawing sometimes seem even somewhat archaic (archaic). These are various animals, people, objects of the world around us (trees, houses). Each such image is of a conditionally real nature, often includes elements of traditional fantasy images. For example, a lacemaker creates the image of a peacock bird, which resembles an ordinary peacock bird, but at the same time this is a fantastic creature - the fantasy of a folk craftswoman. She also depicts the tree of life, the sun ...

Vologda lacemakers willingly use floral ornament, which is also conditional. Vegetable, floral patterns in Vologda laces are very diverse and numerous, most often they consist of spreading branches of trees with luxuriant branches and with several circles of petals. Such patterns are characterized by rounded, soft lines, a calm rhythm and generalized forms of the image and a symmetrical arrangement of elements.

Vologda lace craftsmen carefully preserve the traditions of their art. However, this does not prevent them from keeping up with the times and creating works closely related to the present. Such are the curtains and panels of the honored artist of the RSFSR AA Korableva "Russian motives", "Sputnik", "Aurora" and many others.

The glory of Vologda lace has long crossed (spread beyond) the borders of the Soviet Union. They have enjoyed consistent success at international exhibitions in Paris and Montreal, Brussels and Osaka.

The Soviet country highly appreciates the wonderful craftsmanship of the Vologda lace-makers; many of them received awards and prizes.

1. When did Vologda lace making appear?

2. How can you explain the popularity of Vologda laces?

3. What features distinguish Vologda lace from other laces? What do Vologda lace makers most often depict on their products?

Elets lace

The second well-known center of lace-making is located in the old Russian city of Yeltso, in the Lipetsk region. This is a fertile land, it is called the black-earth center of Russia. The town of Yelets has been known since 1146 and has a glorious history. It is located on the picturesque Pine River, surrounded by endless fields, meadows and copses. For a long time, Russian people lived here, they were engaged in agriculture and various crafts.

The lace craft originated in this place at the beginning of the 19th century, when a privately-owned factory by Protasova appeared here. Later, from the middle of the 19th century, lace began to be woven in many villages and villages near Yelets. Yelets lace quickly gained popularity because it was beautiful and well made. Often they repeated to some extent the patterns of Western European fine lace, which were then in vogue. In the first years of Soviet power, the Yelets craftswomen united in a partnership (1921), and in 1930 the Yelets Union of Lacemakers was organized. The craft began to quickly gain strength, revive old traditions, and develop new product samples.

But in 1941 the Great Patriotic War began, the city of Yelets was occupied by the troops of Nazi Germany and destroyed. In 1945, the war ended, the inhabitants of Yelets began to restore the city from the ruins (ruins), build housing, and establish production. The lace makers also returned to Yelets, again began to revive their business, to bring the art of Yelets lace back to life.

The restoration of the Yelets lace craft lasted for several years. Many lace makers have invested all their talent, all their soul and skill in this business. And the day came when the craft was revived. Yelets lace was not only no worse than the pre-war lace, but also became even more beautiful, thinner and more elegant. Craftswomen brought many creative finds into them. Has received further development and his own, Yelets style of lace products.

Yelets lace is woven from linen and cotton threads. They are thinner and lighter than Vologda lace. Lots of Yelets lace constantly changes its width and density, often it even becomes openwork, which never happens in Vologda lace.

In Yelets lace, there is no that sharp contrast between the lattice (background) and the main pattern made by a linen cloth, which we see in Vologda lace. The Yelets lace-makers fill the grid of the background with a rather dense thin pattern... In this pattern, the main motif is clearly visible, composed of repeating elements, which are made with different densities.

Different weaving density, not too contrasting transitions from one element to another create an impression volumetric pattern... This is also a feature of Yelets lace. Yelets lace makers weave a wide variety of products: from measured lace, collars and cuffs to large curtains.

However, their favorite works are large napkins, tablecloths, panels. They have a special Yelets composition. The central part of such a tablecloth is built from separate elements. On the edge of the tablecloth there is a very beautiful border, in which the drawing of the central part of the pattern is repeated. Yelets laces have various lattices even in one product - this is also a typical feature of these laces. The local lace makers love embossed patterns and therefore often use thick contour thread that sets off the main pattern on a thin tulle or lattice background (tulle (net) background). However, Yelets lace in this case remains thin and light.

The main motives, which are especially often used by the Yelets craftswomen, are frosty patterns, snowflakes, a starry sky and floral ornament: flowers of a sunflower (sunflower), chamomile (daisy), viburnum (guelder rose), other flowers and plants.

When you look at the delicate ornament of Yelets lace, it seems that they reflect the free beauty of the surrounding nature: the high starry sky over meadows at night, and wild and forest flowers on a hot summer day, and trees covered with hoar-frost over a frozen river in winter. Native nature- this is the natural source of beauty from which the imagination of lacemakers draws new themes.

The popularity of Yelets lace is growing every year. Products of the "Yeletsky Lace" association, which arose in the post-war years, received recognition both in the Soviet Union and abroad. The craft has more than one generation of the highest class lace-makers. Among them there are also artists who develop new models of products and performers who have a virtuoso technique of weaving lace.

1. When did the lace craft appear in Yelets?

2. What features distinguish Yelets lace from Vologda lace?

Kirov lace

Kirov is a large regional center with factories and factories, institutes and theaters. Before the revolution, it was a small provincial town, a place where the tsarist government exiled revolutionaries. It is a harsh land with long and cold winters. Endless forests stretch around the city for many hundreds of kilometers. For a long time in these places people began to engage in various crafts: they cut and sawed (decorated with fretwork) wood products, pottery developed here, and, following the example of Vologda lacemakers, local craftswomen began to weave lace.

Previously, the city of Kirov was called Vyatka, hence the second name of laces - Vyatka.

The center of the Kirov lace craft is not located in Kirov itself, but nearby, in the city of Sovetsk. the former Kukar settlement of the Vyatka province. This center is smaller than Vologda and Yelets, but it has been known to Russia for almost 200 years, that is, from the beginning of the 18th century.

In the second half of the 19th century, the craft of Vyatka lace was already developed to such an extent that lace makers received numerous orders from St. Petersburg, and around 1890 a special school was even opened for them to further grow and expand the lace craft.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Vyatka lace was already known in America and Western Europe.

After the victory of the October Revolution, in the twenties, an artel was created, uniting lacemakers, most of whom worked at home (homeworkers). Nowadays lace makers work in the city of Kirov, at the 8th March factory and in its branch in Sovetsk.

It is no coincidence that Kirov lace has become widely known: they are beautiful, their patterns are varied, complex and expressive, and the technique of execution speaks of the high skill of the local lacemakers.

In the city of Kirov, measured laces are woven with rhombic and zigzag patterns in the form of a strip that runs along the entire lace. Kirov lace is lighter and more airy than Vologda lace. They differ from the Vologda ones in that the linen in them changes its density and width (like in Yelets), and the background lattice in them is simpler and sparser (in the Yelets lace a lattice with a complex pattern).

The lattice of Kirov lace contrasts sharply with the dense parts of the pattern. In this way, they are similar to Vologda lace. Kirov lace makers are very fond of creating ragged shapes, stars, and they often make the central part of the lattice denser than the edge ornament.

In large products of the Kirov craft, a complex plant and floral ornament prevails. It seems that the lace maker has collected all the beauty of the short northern summer and captured it in her work. It changes the density of weaving, and flowers and leaves seem to come to life in snow-white lace. The pattern of Kirov lace is complex, dynamic and very decorative. You look, and you can't see enough.

However, the Kirov craftswomen often use geometric patterns as well. Sometimes they create unique, completely unexpected pieces.

Kirov lace-makers often turn to various multi-figured compositions, to the complex technique of weaving products. In their quest, they strive to reveal new decorative possibilities of lace. To this end, they take for lace not only white, but harsh, colored threads of dull colors, set off the pattern with fabric, create voluminous patterns using two-layer (double) weaving.

1. When and how did the lace craft emerge in the Kirov (Vyatka) region?

2. What distinctive features Kirov lace?

Mikhailovskoe lace

The city of Mikhailov of the Ryazan Region became famous as the center of the special Ryazan embroidery, with which you are already familiar, and the Ryazan "Mikhailovsky" lace. Such lace was sewn to brightly embroidered towels, tablecloths, paths and clothes, and it served as a continuation of the embroidery that adorned the product. Mikhailovskoe lace is always woven from colored threads, red, blue, green, yellow in combination with white and harsh ones. If you remember Ryazan embroidery, then you can easily make sure that Mikhailovsky lace is performed in the same range as the embroidery, while also taking into account the color of the fabric from which the product is made.


Towel. Ryazan. 3. Zaitseva

Mikhailovskoe lace is dimensional, very dense, massive (thick), even voluminous. Its pattern is based on a peculiar motif in which triangular meshes alternate with dense parts of the pattern. When such lace is sewn to a dress, it seems to merge with the fabric and form scalloped or scalloped edges of napkins and tablecloths, towels.

Bright, cheerful colors of this finish immediately create a great mood, delight people.

The color scheme of Mikhailovsky lace is always based on the contrast of red with white, the rest of the colors, which are also quite bright, saturated (blue or green, black, yellow), complement the juicy color of the lace and the entire product as a whole.

After World War II, it turned out that the lace craft in the city of Mikhailov disappeared and its secrets were forgotten. Many craftswomen have been restoring the best examples of this lace for many years, developing new ones. Among them was DA Smirnova, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, about whom you can read about in the story "In Search of Forgotten Skills".

In 1925, a small enterprise appeared in the city of Mikhailov, which united a few lace makers, and today it is a modern factory "Truzhenitsa", whose products can be found all over the world. These are bright festive curtains, gift towels, the ends of which are trimmed with dense embroidery and in tone - Mikhailovsky lace. These are small tablecloths, napkins, women's dresses, children's clothing made in the Russian national style. And all things are richly decorated, generously, colors of embroidery and lace play with bright, rich tones, but most importantly, in all Mikhailovsky products you see that harmony that is inherent only in genuine art.

1. What does lace from the city of Mikhailov look like? What does the expression mean: "Lace serves as a continuation of embroidery"?

2. Tell us what you know about Ryazan lace, about its features.

In search of forgotten mastery

It was back in the Great World War II... In the Vologda region * the girls were also mobilized to work in the timber industry **. They taught us how to make barrels. And nothing, no worse than the guys got the barrels - white, steep. And on these new barrels, multicolored patterns of flowers and leaves suddenly began to appear - now on the lids, now on the sides (barrels). According to the rules, such a product had to be discarded, but the recipients took it with pleasure, and therefore they did not look for the author of the "paintings".

* (Vologda Oblast is the colloquial name for the Vologda Oblast in the north-west of the Russian Federation, with its center in the city of Vologda.)

** (Lespromkhoz is a forestry industry that deals with the harvesting and removal of timber and sometimes the manufacture of simple wooden products.)

And suddenly the director, a haggard, ill-tempered person, summoned Diana Smirnova to him. Long, sullenly looked at her tall, skinny figure, her elongated face with prominent cheekbones (cheekbones) and reddish, slightly tousled (tousled) hair. Then he said abruptly:

Two months later, entrance exams at the Kalinin Moscow Art School. You will go there. You have the talent. Don't paint on new barrels.

How he found out that she painted the barrels, how he made inquiries about the school from that forest wilderness (backwoods), Diana Alekseevna still does not understand ...

A true Vologda woman, Smirnova studied, of course, at the lace department, but after graduating from college she went not to her place, but to the Ryazan town of Mikhailov. She was very fond of color, paints, and there they wove the only colored lace in our country.

Smirnova was appointed as an artist at the Mikhailovsky factory "Worker", which produces dresses, blouses, shirts and linen, trimmed with embroidery and lace, narrow, white.

"Where is your colored lace ?!" - Diana Alekseevna was surprised. And in response I heard that the craftswomen no longer remember how they looked, these once famous laces. It turned out that in 1953 in Mikhailov they did not even know how the famous colored lace was woven before.

Smirnova began to look for old lace. I visited all the city craftswomen, the village ones. Having walked around dozens of villages, Smirnova found what she was looking for - old colored lace. She understood well the nature of Mikhailovsky lace and tried to draw similar ones, but already as a decoration for today's things: for tablecloths, for elegant women's and children's dresses, for ceremonial towels under bread and salt *. Together with the oldest Mikhailovskaya lacemaker Matryona Ivanovna Ignatieva, Diana Alekseevna Smirnova restored the famous Mikhailovsky lace, taught other craftswomen to weave it. And red waves, shaded with black, yellow threads, flowed from the pillows of rare beauty, and shimmered, fascinate with the rhythmic play of colored lines.

* (Bread and salt - according to Russian custom, a dear guest is presented with round bread on which there is a salt shaker - the most essential products for life. This gift at the meeting symbolizes hospitality, love and attention to the guest.)

According to A. Rogov. Fragments from the book "Pantry of Joy"

1. How were the colored Mikhailovsky laces restored?

2. Tell us about the fate of Diana Alekseevna Smirnova. What kind of person do you see her as?

3. Read these verses and notice how festive mood the folk poet depicts a troika on a winter road and people who went to visit distant Vologda on a sleigh, decorated with scarlet carpets, with painted arcs. And here, too, are handicrafts: the carpets are probably woven on a home loom, and roses are painted on an arc by a craftsman from Gorodets ...

On powder On powder (newly-fallen snow), on powder, On winter, in the cold Sleds run from Kazan, From Kazan to Vologda. Themselves with scarlet carpets Painted, Arcs with scarlet flowers Painted, Black horses have rings in rings, Horses race, jingle Bells. Who is driving this sleigh Through the snow, through the cold? These are ours from Kazan. They are going to yours in Vologda!

Lacemaker Nastya

At night in the Alatau mountains * a thunderstorm rumbled dully (peels of thunder were heard). Frightened by the thunder, a large green grasshopper jumped through the hospital window and sat on the lace curtain.

* (Alatau - "variegated mountains", on which areas covered with vegetation alternate with patches of snow and stone. The Trans-Ili Alatau is located in Central Asia in the Kazakh SSR.)

The wounded Lieutenant Rudnev got up on the bed and looked for a long time at the grasshopper and at the curtain. On it flashed from blue lightning complex pattern- lush roses and small roosters.

Morning has come. The thunderous yellow palate was still smoking outside the window. The wet flowers of wild peonies burned like red-hot coals on the window-sill. It was stuffy. Steam rose above the damp cliffs. In the gorge, a brook roared and rolled stones.

Here it is, Asia! - Rudnev sighed. - And the lace on the curtain is ours, northern. And some beautiful Nastya wove it.

Why do you think so?

Rudnev smiled.

I remembered, "he said," a story that happened on my battery near Leningrad.

He told me this story.

In the summer of 1940, the Leningrad artist Balashov left to hunt and work in our deserted North.

In the very first village he liked, Balashov got off an old river steamer and settled in the house of a village teacher.

In this village lived with her father, a forester, the girl Nastya, a famous lacemaker and beauty in those places. Nastya was silent and gray-eyed, like all girls from the North.

Once, while hunting, Nastya's father wounded Balashov in the chest with a careless shot. The wounded man was brought to the house of the village teacher. Dejected (upset) by misfortune, the old man sent Nastya to look after the wounded man.

Nastya left Balashova, and out of pity (from pity) for the wounded, her first girlish love was born. But the manifestations of this love were so shy that Balashov did not notice anything.

Balashov had a wife in Leningrad, but he never once told anyone about her, not even Nastya. Everyone in the village was convinced that Balashov was a lonely man.

As soon as the wound healed, Balashov left for Leningrad. Before leaving, he came without a call (uninvited) to the hut to Nastya to thank her for her concern and brought her gifts. Nastya accepted them.

Balashov first came to the North. He did not know local customs. They are very stable in the North, hold on for a long time and do not immediately give up under the onslaught (do not change with) of the new time (time). Balashov did not know that a man who came without a call to a girl's hut and brought her a gift was considered, if the gift was accepted, by her fiance. This is how they talk about love in the North.

Nastya timidly asked Balashov when he would return from Leningrad to her village. Balashov, suspecting nothing, jokingly replied that he would return very soon.

Balashov left. Nastya was waiting for him. A bright summer passed, a damp and bitter autumn passed, but Balashov did not return. Nastya's impatient joyful anticipation was replaced by anxiety, despair (despair), shame (shame). It was already whispering in the village that the groom had deceived her (had deceived). But Nastya did not believe it. She was convinced that misfortune had happened to Balashov.

Spring brought new sufferings. She came late, dragged on for a very long time. The rivers spread widely and still did not want to enter the banks. Only at the beginning of June did the first steamer pass by the village without stopping.

Nastya decided secretly from her father to flee to Leningrad and find Balashov there. She left the village at night. Two days later, she reached the railway and learned at the station that the war had begun that morning.

Through a huge formidable country, a peasant girl who had never seen a train reached Leningrad and found Balashov's apartment.

Balashov's wife, a thin woman in pajamas with a cigarette in her teeth, opened the door to Nastya. She looked puzzled over Nastya and said that Balashov was not at home. He is at the front near Leningrad.

Nastya found out the truth - Balashov was married. So he deceived her, had ridiculed at her love. Nastya was scared to talk to Balashov's wife. She was scared in a city apartment, among silk dusty sofas, scattered powder, persistent phone calls.

Nastya ran away. She walked in despair through the majestic city, turned into an armed camp.

She did not notice anti-aircraft guns in the squares, or monuments heaped up with bags of earth, or centuries-old cool gardens, or ceremonial buildings.

She went out to the Neva. The river carried black water. Here, in this water, there must be the only deliverance from both unbearable resentment and love.

Nastya took an old scarf from her head, a gift from her mother, and hung it on the railing (handrailing). Then she straightened her heavy braids and put her foot on the railing. Someone grabbed her hand. Nastya turned around. A thin man with floor-polishing brushes under his arm stood behind. His work suit was smeared with yellow paint.

The floor-polisher just shook his head and said:

At a time like this, you fool!

This man, the floor polisher Trofimov, took Nastya to his place and handed her over to his wife, a lift-operator, a woman who was not noisy, decisive, despising (despising) men.

The Trofimovs gave (her) shelter to Nastya. She was ill for a long time. From the elevator lady Nastya first heard that Balashov was not guilty of anything, that no one was obliged to know their northern customs and that only such "aunts" * like her, Nastya, could fall in love with the first comer without memory.

* ("Aunt" - in this case, about a stupid country girl who does not understand the real state of affairs, does not know life.)

The elevator girl reprimanded Nastya, and Nastya was happy. She was glad that she was not deceived, and still hoped to see Balashov.

The polishers were soon taken into the army, and the elevator girl and Nastya were left alone.

When Nastya recovered, the elevator girl took her to nursing courses. The doctors - Nastya's teachers - were amazed (were suprised) by her ability to bandage wounds, the dexterity of her thin strong fingers. "Why, I'm a lace maker," she answered them, as if trying to justify herself.

The siege (blockade) Leningrad winter has passed. Nastya graduated from the courses, waited to be sent to the front and at night thought about Balashov, about her old father - until the end of her life, he probably won’t understand why she had left home secretly. She will not scold her, she will forgive everything, but she will not understand.

In the spring, Nastya was finally sent to the front near Leningrad. Everywhere - in ruined palace parks, among ruins, fire-ravaged remains, in dug-outs, on batteries, in coppices and in the fields, she looked for Balashov, asked about him ...

At the front, Nastya met a floor polisher, and this talkative man told the soldiers from his unit about a northerner girl looking for a loved one at the front. The rumor about this girl began to grow rapidly, spread like a legend. He passed from part to part, from one battery to another. It was carried by motorcyclists, car drivers, orderlies, signalmen.

The fighters envied the unknown person whom the girl was looking for, and remembered their loved ones. Each had them in a peaceful life, and each cherished the memory of them in his soul. Telling each other about the northerner girl, the fighters changed the details of this story.

Everyone swore (swore) that Nastya was a girl from his native place.

The Ukrainians considered her theirs, the Siberians also theirs, the Ryazan people assured that Nastya was, of course, Ryazan, and even Kazakhs from the distant Asian steppes said that this girl must have come to the front from Kazakhstan.

The rumor about Nastya reached the coastal battery, where Balashov served. The artist, just like the fighters, was thrilled by the story of an unknown girl looking for a loved one, was struck by the power of her love. He often thought about this girl and began to envy the person she loved. How could he know that he was jealous of himself?

Personal life did not work out for Balashov. Nothing good came of it. Others were lucky! All his life he dreamed of great love, but now it was too late to think about it. Gray at the temples (he was turning gray at the temples).

It so happened that Nastya finally found the battery where Balashov served, but did not find Balashov - he was killed two days before and was buried in a pine forest.

Rudnev fell silent.

And Nastya?

What is Nastya! She gives all her care to the wounded. The best nurse on our front section.

Based on the story of K. Paustovsky


1. Where and when did the story of the wounded lieutenant Rudnev take place?

3. Why did Nastya have to look after the wounded Balashov?

4. What old custom existed in the village during those years?

5. Why did Nastya decide to go to Leningrad?

6. What happened in Leningrad?

7. Who saved Nastya and helped her?

8. Did Nastya Balashova fall out of love when she found out the whole truth about him?

9. What legend originated at the front? How did the fighters tell it?

10. What is the fate of Balashov and Nastya?

11. Explain why the writer K. Paustovsky named his story "The Lacemaker Nastya". What does he see in common between strict and durable northern lace and the story that happened to the northerner Nastya?

A cheerful disposition (temper), lightness of character, pride in their ability to weave lace distinguish the girls-lacemakers, about whom they sing in ditties.

I have a white lace "snowflake" on my sweater. As I go down the street - Admire, yagodinochka! * * (Yagodinochka, milyonok - affectionate names that a girl gives to her beloved in folk songs.) It would be nice to go to a sundress Lace sleeves, Yes, I'm afraid - laces will burst near the stove. We met with milenko * Near the forest on the bridge. About the woods, about the little bridges Today I will weave lace.

* (Yagodinochka, milyonok are affectionate names that a girl gives to her beloved in folk songs.)


Have you ever heard Russian folk songs and ditties? What impression did their performance make on you?