hymning

 

The class I’ve been taking is giving me all kinds of ideas for designs. Remember this bookmark?

Using the tune called Joy, I create a way to represent the melody in beads. We classify these tunes in meter – 8888 – eight notes per line.

Well, how about creating a way to represent the poetry? Meter in poetry is a little more complicated. But, it could work, right????

Joy in orange

😀

I’ve been working on this sample for months. Not steadily, but whenever the deadlines clear enough to pick up a pattern I can work in small sections. And because the center section has beads added as you go, not loaded onto thread prior to tatting, I didn’t work on this in the car but rather just sitting around the house. OK, those of you who know me can stop laughing! I rarely just sit. I’m usually doing two things at once: tatting and …… watching TV, talking to friends, reading a book on the computer, listening to music that I want to analyze/perform, ….. you get the idea.

Anyway…..

This sample is in vintage thread using size 15 blue beads. I rather like it. Orange is associated with joy and happiness, so this makes me smile. Or perhaps that is because I’m looking forward to teaching in April and May. Join me!

Gift idea!

Treat your favorite tatter to a workshop!

I offer these two possibilities:

 Adapting Tatting Patterns using Sonata in Sunnyvale, CA at the Lace Museum. I’ll be guiding students through looking at vintage tatting patterns, taking inspiration from music for tatting designs, and step by step guidance through my pattern Sonata. Side trips to area museums and local attractions will be encouraged! I plan to visit San Francisco while I’m there.

Celebrating in the woods close to Spokane, Washington with Shuttlebirds. The theme is Mardi Gras. I’ll be teaching my Joy bookmark pattern, a snazzy way to decorate candle sticks, and guiding students through my motif inspired by a Bach Cantata. I hope to get lots of ideas for ways to use tatting in costumes for Laissez les bon temps!

Both of my classes at these workshops will be taught using needle and shuttle techniques. So, rest assured, the lace maker in your life will be creating wonderful lace! You can find the registration form on the LaceMuseum website to use as a gift registration for the Sonata workshop, or create a coupon to be redeemed for the weekend in the mountains. Registration will open beginning late January on the Shuttlebirds website.

We’ll see you there as we have tatting good fun!

Orange is happy

Orange is not a color I have gravitated to. I grew up when orange was usually used in psychedelic prints. I also grew up stopping on the way home from school to practice in churches. I didn’t have time to change, so I had to wear “church appropriate” clothes those days. Given my pale Germanic skin and dirty-blond hair, orange wasn’t in my closet much.

As I’ve gotten more familiar with color theory, I’ve dipped my toe into orange. Blue works nicely with orange, there’s lots of blue around here (sky, ocean), so my shuttles have been wound with different orange thread. Taking inspiration from my surroundings has led me to work with all those colors.

I’m getting used to it. It does make me happy to sit down with my shuttles wound in cheery thread!

I’ll snap a picture of Joy in orange after I snack on an orange from our tree. Promise!

Two Hearts in One completed

Two Hearts as One by Martha Ess (front)

Here is the version in olive and deep red:

I’m glad I tatted this beauty. Thank you Martha Ess for giving us a great design to tat!

For my next version…..

Two Hearts as One by Martha Ess (back)

I considered tatting the pattern with picots only where necessary. Using beads, of course, and joining. But then I realized that it would be that much harder to tell which side is the front. And it would complicate the pattern just enough my brain might short-circuit. No explosion, but too many mistakes that would need to be dealt with. Not worth it.

I’ve had ideas for my Bach Fest piece. Last year was so much fun. And the bookmark continues to bring Joy. I’m seeing where a fugue subject takes me this year!