Tools and materials Rauman Museum Exhibition The basic exhibition at Rauma Museum The lace types

Rauma bobbin lace is made using a lace pillow as a base. The same semicircular slightly rounded type has obviously been used as long as lace has been made in the town. The material used to stuff the pillow varies, but seaweed has been used widely. Nowadays this has been replaced by plastic foam. Other types of lace pillows have been experimented with recently, but the traditional one is still the most popular.
The bobbins The bobbins that have been used at Rauma have always been turned from wood. Nowadays they are mostly made of birch but other types of wood have also been used. The Museum's collections even include bobbins made of bone. Even plastic has been tried, but production was stopped due to low demand. Earlier the bobbins were coarser or finer according to the type of lace, but have now become more standardised

The patterns The patterns are pierced patterns where the holes have been punched with a sewing needle and the pattern drawn onto it. Earlier the prickings were made of the inner skin of an untanned cowhide. Later cardboard was used to replace this, but as all types of cardboard were not suitable, the patterns changed due to poor quality and brittleness.
The pins The pins used in lace making today are common glass headed sewing pins made of stainless steel. In some very dense old patterns it is often necessary to use all metal pins.
The thread Thin linen thread is usually used as the top thread. At present both white,half bleached or natural colour thread is used. The thread used for the pattern is usually thicker, and may also deviate from the quality of the base thread. In the old lace samples the thickness and the quality of the thread vary, in some samples there may be even blue or green threads. The collections also include some black lace made of silk or woollen thread. Cotton thread is used nowadays particularly in handkerchief lace.