Saint Nicholas #2 - $79

Svätý Mikuláš

The size of the art is almost 8 inches.

This piece took me about 2 days to make.

Saint Nicholas (Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος , Agios Nikolaos, "victory of the people") (270 - 6 December 346) is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra (in Lycia, part of modern-day Turkey). Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose English name comes from the German Sankt Niklaus. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as is common for early Christian saints.^[2] In 1087, his relics were furtively translated to Bari, in southern Italy; for this reason, he is also known as Nicholas of Bari.

The historical Saint Nicholas is remembered and revered among Catholic and Orthodox Christians. He is also honoured by various Anglican and Lutheran churches. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, and children, and students in Greece, Belgium, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, the Republic of Macedonia, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro. He is also the patron saint of Barranquilla, Bari, Amsterdam, Beit Jala, and Liverpool. In 1809, the New-York Historical Society convened and retroactively named Sancte Claus the patron saint of Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch name for New York City.^[3] He was also a patron of the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors, who protected his relics in Bari.

Saint Nicholas #2 - just the art with postage = $79
Saint Nicholas #2 - framed art 8x10 with postage = $150

These are examples of frames I was able to get in the past. I would be framing in similar frames like the ones in the picture below.

When you buy the art with the frame, you can tell me whether you want a black one or a brown one and I will see what I can find.

It's a very detailed type of lace-work that takes
hours upon hours to complete each piece:

Click here to see a demonstration video clip

A Short History

The oldest information about this type of lacework is from the 16th century from Italy, and from there this lacework spread to the whole of Europe. Dalmatian, Flemish and Spanish laces became well-known and were a means to make a living. There were lace-producing centers in the past supported by the state (i.e. Maria Terézia established the school of lacework in the year 1761) and also by the Slovak nationalists from various clubs (unions).

Lace-making also spread into Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England and to the area which later became Yugoslavia, from where it probably spread to Slovakia.

Slovak lace registered success at the different world exhibitions, i.e. in Moskva (Moscow) in 1867, in Paris in 1892, in Vienna in 1897, and in Brugge, Belgium in 1956 where it inspired great interest.

The oldest records in Slovakia are the records of miner lacework from the poor miner women from the Banská Štiavnica, Banská Bystrica and Kremnica mining districts.

During the long winter evenings, peasant women were also making laces which then were used for decoration of bonnets, folk costumes, and various parts of clothes. They were also brought to market for supplemental income.

The women who were making the lacework used different materials such as flax, hemp, cotton, silk, gold, and silver threads. They used a contrast of thin and thick threads.

The laces differ by technique and color according to the region (i.e. in the district of Piešťany it's the color of white, yellow and red). White laces were favorites with the women in the mining regions, but also in the Bratislava district.

In Eastern Slovakia they often used black-colored laces. The laces from Slovenský Grob, Vajnory, Pezinok, and Topoľčany are very colorful.

By the first half of the 20th century, Slovak lacework had already been replaced by machine and crochet lace. It is a dying art but not because of its lack of beauty. It is very time-consuming work and machines can do the job in a fraction of the time, so like so many other hand-made items of the past, there are fewer and fewer people willing to do this type of work.