The Lacemakers Project (Work in Progress)
Visit The Lacemakers R&D Website: lacemakersproject.com
The Lacemakers is an Arts Council funded puppetry Research and Development project, inspired by lacemaking lore and history. The R&D phase took place in 2021, and entailed research about the history of lacemaking (particularly when it was handmade, as a cottage industry), the folklore surrounding it and engagement with modern day lacemakers and lace historians. The gallery below shows various experiments that took place during our R&D - paper prototype puppets, and some explorations of character, scene ideas and thoughts about how the show may eventually be staged. I am planning to develop these ideas into an original puppet play with the working title, The Secret of the Lost Stitch later in 2025.
Photos from R&D, 2021:
The Night Tangler - A Piece of Fictional Folklore
The Night Tangler is a fictional folkloric entity invented by Daisy Jordan and Ulysses Black, as a result of this research into lacemaking history and mythology as part of The Lacemakers R&D.
Who is The Night Tangler? Old Bob; Old Smudge; Old Jack; The Lace Man, Hombre Nudo, The Lace Devil, The stitch-stealer; the ‘one who passes through’. These are the (by no means extensive) variations of names for this slippery entity - this Lace Devil of sorts. He is an ever present - though just out of sight - antagonist, awaiting the dropping-of-the-guard of lace making women. If they are untidy in their workspace, leave pins lying around, untidy with their threads, etc, the Night Tangler will steal into the workspace at night and variously unravel the lace, tangle the threads, steal, bend - even eat - the pins.
We have built an extensive mythology around this character, and have collected much of this mythology in a booklet, which can be bought from my shop.
The Night Tangler - Artifacts
Below are some photos of some “found” artifacts related to The Night Tangler, including a lacemaker’s tin of pins with Old Bob’s haunting visage scratched into it, perhaps as a desperate attempt to appease him; drawings of the Night Tangler found in a young lace maker’s school notebook; a pin cushion of Old Bob; pin talismans; ritual dolls of the Night Tangler bound to The Virgin Mary. Information about these objects can be found in the booklet.
The Night Tangler - scratch performance presentation
In August 2024, after a few years of various ideas percolating and evolving, myself and Ulysses Black did a short (20 mins) scratch performance presentation about our lace devil character, The Night Tangler, performed at The Court - a collective night of Folklore themed performance. Here are some photos, taken by Hattie Snooks, who also hosted the event.
Blurb for the performance: "A mysterious entity stalked the lives of the 18thC lace makers… boogeyman, trickster and devil… But what happens to such monsters when this way of life fades… do they fade? Or do they adapt to a new reality?
Using puppetry and artefacts, this behind the scenes presentation by artists Daisy Jordan and Ulysses Black sheds light on how such mischievous meddling still stalks the lives of artists, confounding, disrupting and maybe even enlightening those with whose threads it tangles…"
The Aims of the Project
The long term aim is to produce an hour long, puppetry-led piece inspired by the research I collected during the R&D phase of the project, and by the short ‘performance presentation’ we did in 2024. I hope to create this show in 2025 and make it accessible to both adults and children 10+.
Please check this page for updates as the project evolves!
