The samples shown here are of the famous butterflies but Halas lace is not exclusively these small white creatures. Early Halas lace even incorporated color into the designs which included doilies, fans and border lace. Over the decades the lace evolved and by 1935 color was almost never seen. As with most lace in the past, the techniques began to be copied but never with the quality or success of the original. To keep their standard high and to help distinguish between the true Halas lace and copies, the incorporation of a logo comprised of three fishes is now incorporated into each piece of Halas lace. (see picture)
The fame of Halas lace continued to grew until the disaster of World War II when the Lace house and all its records, and patterns were destroyed. But not to be defeated the lacemakers rebuilt the lace haouse and lacemaking was restored in Hungary. But unlike the rich times of the 17th century the demand for high quality lace had suffered and lacemaking was not restored to its status of supporting a living. Lacemakers are few and poorly paid for the labor intensive lace. But the government of Hungary saw the value of their unique lace and supported the cause. A large number of stamps were even created to promote this beautiful and rare art form. Hungary has the largest number of postage stamps depicting lace in the whole world, despite the small number of lacemakers.
(see http://www.sewdoll.com/Lace/LaceStamps/L... for the collection of lace stamps of Hungary and other countries)
Rarely seen outside of Hungary, Halas lace shows up in lace collections here in the US at times. It is highly prized and often requires a friend who travels to Hungary to obtain. Even then it is hard to obtain due to the very time consuming process and low numbers of lacemakers today. I was lucky to obtain an exquisite piece as a gift from a dear friend, who knows a native of Hungary who returns to visit occasionally.
The following books are the only ones I know of about this lace:
The Art of Lacemaking in Hungary by Maria Csernyansky
Outlines and Stitches by Pat Earnshaw
Halas Lace by Szakal Aurel
Hungarian Needlepoint -Halas Lace an Australian Interpretation by Marie Laurie
New Awakening world of famous Halas Lace by Anatal Koncz,
The following website is from the American Hungarian Folklore Museum in Passaic, NJ. The top of the webpage is written in Hungarian but the tranlation is included at the second half of the page.
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