Bookmark

This is a bobbin lace bookmark made with a technique called Bedfordshire Lace.
What is Bedfordshire Lace?
Lace making was one of Bedfordshire's main industries, being mentioned as early as 1596. By 1768, 500 women and girls - about a seventh of the town's population - were making lace in Bedford alone. By the 1830's the industry was in decline. A leading Bedford lace dealer called Thomas (or Thomazin) Lester and his sons did much to revive it. During the 1850's they introduced a new type of lace which became known as Bedfordshire Maltese lace.
It descends from Bucks Point and ... The thread is coarser and it can be quicker to work. Lace makers were struggling to compete with machine lace. The patterns were created to be difficult to copy by machine. Picots were made very frequently. They were called head pins and purl pins and could not be produced by machine.
Bedfordshire Lace is related to Cluny Lace, Maltese Lace, and Beds-Maltese. It was traditionally worked in linen thread but now is often worked with cotton thread.
Bedfordshire Features
* Plaits
* Leaves
* Picots
* Floral Elements
* Flowing Curves

Interesting Facts:
Bobbin lace dates back to the first quarter of the 16th Century (~1540)
It originated in Italy & Flanders at the same time.
Bobbin lace is believed to have descended from braiding or plaiting.
Young Girls would be apprenticed as early as five years old to learn to make lace.
There were laws about who could wear lace and at what time of day.
Lace makers would learn one pattern only for speed. They would work under the apprenticeship of a master lace maker for many years.
Another person typically a man would make the prickings (pattern). They would be given to the master lace maker to test before they were given to other lace makers. 
Some countries outlawed lace from other countries to protect their local lace industry.
The lace collars of the 16th Century that give the "head on a platter look" were supported by a ring of metal to get the lace to stand up.
By the End of the 19th Century machine lace was perfected and bobbin  lace was no longer an industry but an art form.
Lace is most commonly made from cotton, linen & silk.
Lace is not a lost art!