The game is on

Here’s my version of Day 2: 

And Day 3:

I have also added to my design sketch book. I attended a lovely chamber concert last weekend in Carmel Valley. The musicianship was superb, the room pleasant, and the selections enjoyable. Being chamber music, the venue felt quite intimate. I could almost hear the rustle of silk and smell a bit of powder or snuff on the air. Almost. I really have very little desire to relive that era. I’m very happy living today in this age. There’s much wrong with the world, and much right.

One of the selections was Terzetto by Gustav Holst. The piece is in 2 short movements scored for flute, oboe, and viola. Written later in Holst’s career, the piece was interesting and well executed. Through spoken “Conductor’s Notes” given before the concert by the Artistic Director of Ensemble Monterey, John Anderson, and also through written program notes, we learned that the score of this piece is written using 3 different key signatures. Each of the instruments plays in a different key. Sure enough, I could hear the difference. I could also recognize when the instruments ended up playing a chord in one or another of the keys. It made for some rather nerdy listening. The true artistry of the composition is how the music sounds positively melodious.

I immediately dreamed up a tatted motif. Each instrumental line would be in a color assigned to represent that instruments tonal character. Mostly chains, the thread will weave in and out creating a design. Even the negative space will play a part. Just as my ear filled in the missing pitches to recognize tonality, my eye must fill in the holes to recognize shapes. 

There are a few projects I must finish before I work on this. Whenever I have trouble motivating myself to finish a project, I’ll just need to look at this sketch!

Workbasket Tablecloth motif

Tablecloth square

I took a break from the house cleaning/organization the other day and found a copy of a Workbasket tatting pattern. I remember who gave it to me (I know surprise, surprise!) and need to remember to thank her the next time I see her. 

Anyway, it intrigued me because the center is so tight. Trefoils of smaller rings all join to each other. It’s another “fabric” pattern with not much negative space in the center. I think it would make a nice tablecloth.

Now, back to our regular schedule housework!

Thinking outside the round

Perhaps it’s because music is typically printed in square or rectangular format, but I’ve always been drawn to square shapes in tatting. No, I guess that can’t be the reason. Could be I’m just all angles and points. Regardless, when a friend showed me a copy of Workbasket from the 70’s, I had to try this from the tatting page:

Tatted Scarf Square from Workbasket

I thought that the onion ring corners might turn out better than my previous attempts at onion rings. The picots joining to the chains help. I rather like the negative space with the long picots from the center ring. I have a list of possibilities to dress that area up: beads, twisting, complex chains, maybe even daisy picot style wrapping. I left the square unblocked so that I could remember the issues working through the pattern easier. The center ring was a bit difficult to keep from twisting around as I tat the DS separated by so many picots. The chains forming the onion layers tended to wander away from where they were supposed to be due to the picots joining. Overall, I do like the basic structure. I’ll be writing up my notes and practicing making diagrams with this little bit.