Most lace is displayed behind glass or mounted on a wall. Copper Dreams of Rain was designed to become part of a fountain, where water flows across the lace before returning to a reservoir below. Rather than protecting the lace from the elements, this project embraces them, allowing moving water to become part of the artwork.
A friend from my local lace guild brought her copper fountain frame to our lace retreat. She wondered if it could become part of a new lace art piece. She saw pictures of Suspended Noise, so she knew I had already worked with speaker wire that could survive outdoors. I was excited for a new way to use a well-tested material.
Designing for the Fountain
Since the lace needed to fit inside the existing copper frame, I carefully measured the opening before designing the pattern. The finished lace would be suspended from the original brackets that once held glass. This made it feel like the fountain was always supposed to have lace.
To ensure I liked my design, I worked a sample in cotton thread. This is part of my normal design process. Testing a pattern with a familiar thread lets me focus on the composition and save my often limited unique materials for the final piece.
Why Speaker Wire?
Although it may seem like an unusual choice, speaker wire has become one of my favorite unconventional materials.
The copper strands inside the clear nylon coating are beautiful and, thankfully, flexible enough for bobbin lace. Since the coating protects the copper, it also makes the material perfect for a fountain where water is constantly flowing over the finished lace.
Since I already completed Suspended Noise in speaker wire, I knew the material was easy enough to work with. Unlike many experimental fibers, it was comfortable to handle, held tension, and the stitches looked great.
Water Finds Its Own Path
The most rewarding moment came after the lace was installed in the fountain frame. I expected the water to flow along the thread paths, but I couldn’t predict exactly how it would move. As the fountain began running, the water naturally found its own way through the openings in the Flanders lace.
Watching the streams weave through the pattern was fascinating, creating movement that no design could have fully planned.
Copper Dreams of Rain
The title brings together the three elements that define this piece: the copper fountain, the copper wire beneath the nylon coating, and the water cascading over the lace like rain.
This piece explores another use for lace. Instead of being displayed on its own, the lace becomes part of a working fountain. As water flows across the speaker wire, the appearance of the pattern changes with the movement of the water, making the piece as much about the experience as the lace itself.
What Comes Next
Every project teaches me something new about combining traditional lace techniques with unconventional materials. Of course, I already have more ideas waiting to be tested.
Want to see where my next lace experiment leads? Follow me on Instagram (@BobbinLaceNet) and TikTok (@CajahYupMe) for works in progress, behind-the-scenes videos, and updates on future projects.