Diversion continues

I’m learning a lot with this project. It’s worked with Perle size 8 on Aida 14. I’ve used Perle 8 to tat with. That project didn’t turn out as I’d hoped. After blocking, I decided it needed to be mounted on fabric. Perhaps I’ll do that next. Maybe…..

This will be the back of a biscornu using this piece as the front. I’m hoping to gain more insight on how to create such a piece. Perhaps I’ll try tatting another biscornu style piece.

More sampling

 I’ve been clearing out old projects. Mine and other people’s half finished projects. It’s not my favorite activity. I’d much rather create afresh than slog through a half-baked idea. But, there is satisfaction in getting things done and dusted and repurposed and useful. Perhaps that’s my music training showing through? Naw…. Just me.

I finished this sample of hook tatting that I learned from Taeko Takashima last year. The yarn is acrylic so it worked up OK. I have more yarn I need to play with and decide how to repurpose. It’s tempting to tat a vest or shawl.

The Center is nice!

 Here’s the center of a wonderful doily:  

I have worked the doily Renata released in 2017. The doily from 2022 captivated a new tatter I’m mentoring. She wanted to try it but didn’t have confidence she could understand the directions. I suggested we tat it together. So, a study of the diagram, a quick write up of the stitch count, and voila! I can’t wait to see her version!!

Diversions can help spark creativity

 I truly enjoy dreaming up uses for tatting. Aside from the traditional examples of passementerie and household linens, I love dreaming up jewelry and fun gifts. There is also the combining of tatting and other fiberarts. Oh, and just plain art. I’ve got several ideas for this year’s Art of Music piece. I was gifted a wood frame decorated with a laser cut rose and piano keys. Perhaps I’ll be using it this year with…..hmmm….I don’t know…..tatting of some sort!!

I find the best way to get my mind thinking of ways to branch out with tatting is to create something just a bit diverse from my normal activities. This last week I stitched a Blackwork motif using Bradley’s Balloons color of thread. I had great fun!!!

I get the concept, but haven’t yet mastered it

That’s what my sample of Helix tatting looks like. I understand the concept. I’m missing a bit of familiarity with the finer points of the technique. That will come with using it in projects, I think. I will be emailing Richard Embrey with a question or two. Including a request for his book. I can see using the technique to finish ornaments that I stitch and add tatting to. We’ll see if that idea takes off.

Developing ideas

 I don’t have a lot to show right now. I’m developing the ideas I talked about here. I’m still working on mastering Helix tatting technique. If I can get a bit quicker at the whole process, I see lots of possibilities and uses for the cord.

I’m also helping fine tune the ideas my favorite 3-D printer has come up with. She designed a caddy to wrangle multiple shuttles. Here’s a prototype with my Helix sample in progress:

Ideas Abounding

Here’s what my Helix sample looks like in a Tatting Toolbox. I needed something that didn’t NEED to be held flat to travel. Yes, I’m a klutz and drop things. The box was just too big. So, the Toolbox came to the rescue. This is the shop where you find them for sale.

Next week I’ll share a photo of the next idea for carting around your tatting projects with LOTS of shuttles…..

Progress

I gave up on big, future projects the other day. I’ll pick up on the most important, don’t worry. I just needed to feel like I was accomplishing something on the Elephant canvas. I did accomplish something. I completed the top two corners. It was quite a struggle for me. Working a lazy daisy with metallic thread with a silk satin background was just about too much for my skill level. I think I finally got things right. Now on to those other projects that are stretching me.

Happy Easter!

 As a Church musician, that greeting always sounded trite to me. By the time Easter dawned, I was usually tired. The few days before then are always very busy and exhausting. Easter day is always very demanding for producing music at the highest level you possibly can manage. Think Super Bowl at Dawn. Happy? I usually felt nervous, anxious, pressured; all on top of feeling sleep deprived and weary. Happy? I will feel happy after all the family obligations are done and I can rest for a few hours.

My body didn’t hold up to that stress. I landed on the injured bench, not the organ bench. I couldn’t push using mind over matter well enough to produce the expected excellence.

But, could I fill the world with beauty? Yes.

Could I inspire others to create beauty? Yes.

I just had to figure out a way.

I’m fortunate in that I have the means and opportunity to figure that out. I found a way to express my love of organ music without overusing my hands so much I couldn’t preform daily tasks. Happy Easter? Yes. Happy. If I stay focused and don’t let others bully me into entertaining them in THEIR desire for the perfect Easter.

Recycling

 You know I AM the Queen of Repurpose, right? If an object can be repurposed, I’ll tuck it away until I find a use for it. Boxes, Bags, Leftover thread, Abandoned tatting, Paper printed on only 1 side……

you get the idea.

One year I bought Christmas cards that came in a big, flat box. I store my doily/snowflakes in it. Another of the boxes found their way home to my stash in a later year. It now helps keep my shuttles organized between tatting session when I tat a Helix sample:

I can see many, many uses for the cord that I create. Starting with finishing this Wee Project. Maybe a lanyard for something. I like how I can do this as I listen to other things. The box isn’t as portable as my bag, but I decorated the lid to make sure people didn’t throw it out if I set it down somewhere. Or maybe they’d try to use it for pizza?

BTW, I do donate some things. Others that are past reuse are recycled if possible, at curb side. Not much goes away until someone else can treasure it or reuse it. I enjoy it all!!

Time for tea

 

I finished this sample yesterday. I’m not fond of the thread. It’s size 30 crochet cotton 3-ply. I intended this to be just a trial of the technique as I’ve several ideas for lace representing counterpoint. 

I like designs by Martha Ess. Her written patterns are clear and easy to work from. Her designs are well thought out and fun to create. Now it’s time to try out my design ideas using techniques she creates with. A very tall order!

Ready for finishing

 When the scissors come out to cut the thread after the final stitch of a project, I always sigh. What comes next depends on the project.

Most tatting projects finish with cutting, tying, hiding, and blocking. Sometimes I’ll mount the lace onto a piece of fabric, add findings so that we can wear the lace or frame the lace. Other times I just let it sit on a table or throw it into a box to enjoy later.

I have come to that decision point with the Wee Project designed by Freda Murfin. What do I want to do with it? I rather like how the colors play together. I could make it into a coaster. I could create a pillow with the square as the center of a design. I could add a hanger loop to enjoy it in a window. What to do???

I took time to experiement

 Once a month I attend a meeting of stitchers as part of the EGA (Embroiderer’s Guild of America) in the next town over the hill. I don’t stitch as much as I tat. I am keeping focused on my primary goal of creating tatting based on musical compositions. I really am. But, I like to learn from other fiber artists and this group has taught me so much!

Currently, we’re playing with Wee Project from Freda’s FancyStitching designed by Freda Murfin. It’s a small canvas work piece. I’ve enjoyed working the design. Best of all, I’ve been able to use up bits and such from my stash. I’m all about repurposing remember? Here’s a picture of my version so far:

I think I’ll add a background and some beads. I think it needs a bit more red thread too. More later…..

Christmas in March

 I’ve been sifting through boxes and bags of “stuff” that several creative people want to pass on to people learning to stitch and tat and crochet and knit. Some of the items will need some creativity to reuse. Some are past repair and thus not usable, some are just waiting for hands to get busy. I will keep some of the items. Including some of these books!

Here's to a wonderful year!

 

I finished tatting and blocked my dragon. I enjoyed tattingthe pattern. Thank you Anne!!

I hope everyone has prosperity and happiness.

I’ve made progress

Not in the dragon. Well, I have, but not enough to show you.

I’ve made progress recovery from my 2023 Lenten Journey. You remember….the one that ended with me in the hospital for Heart Failure? That one. Anyway, I’m making progress. Today I find out just how much progress with test results. While trying to stay still, I thought of this photo I took:

The flower was on a bush growing along side the trail I hiked the other day. I was drawn to the cheery color of pink and so snapped a picture. As I looked at the picture later, I noticed that 3 of the 5 petals have darker spots of color. Asymmetry that must have some reason. I’ll take this natural occurrence to give me a reason to make my tatting pattern asymmetrical on purpose. Well, I’ll probably make them asymmetrical by accident! But, that design variation (NOT a mistake mind you!) will be because nature does that sometimes too!!

Will this make sense?

 I’m halfway done with my Chinese Dragon designed by AnneBruvold. You can find the pattern here. I’m glad I chose red thread! Now to connect up all those rings in the correct order…..

Playing with color

 I’ve been working on a pair of earrings. I wanted to use a color palette a friend loves. Nothing jumped out at me when I looked over my thread options. Beads seemed to gather of their own accord as I sifted through my box ‘o shiny. But, what thread to use with all these wonderful beads????

The thread on the left I’ve used before. On the spool it seemed to coordinate with the palette. It just didn’t grab my eye though. I decided to go for contrast with the thread on the right. I like it better.

I got confused

 Here’s the completed Antiks snowflake. Thank you Muskaan for inspiring me. Also thanks to Lina Libin for the concept of lots and lots of beads. Their explanations were NOT confusing. I understood what they were doing with the stitch count, element order, and bead notation. That didn’t confuse me.

What confused me was my own fault. I chose to try to use two threads that are very close in color. Being metallic, you really can’t tell them apart in lamp light. It’s wintertime here, so I’m working with lamp light a lot. I also chose to use quite a variety of beads in specific places of the design. That means you must load the beads in a specific order on specific thread. It took days of puzzling it out, making notes, loading beads to get to the tatting stage of the project. That confused me just a bit. What confused me a lot?

I changed my mind. Partway through tatting the 2^nd round, I changed my mind. It was the right decision. It looks much better with the new plan. I just had a devil of a time puzzling out what needed changing, undoing the beads loaded on thread, and getting things set up correctly. My own fault!

Thank you again to Muskaan and Nina Libin.

The experiment was a success!

 I was asked recently why I continued to tat other people’s design when I design myself. Well, those forays have given me a lot. I love supporting other tatters. They frequently support me. I try out concepts in designing with fun patterns. Often those patterns inspire my students and my own design concepts.

I’m still working on Muskaan’s Antiks snowflake. I’m working the penultimate repeat. This is a picture of a previous repeat. I loaded up this example with lots of stuff: metallic thread, beads, rings with beads in center, multiple colors of beads, busy schedule that breaks up the tat times into short chunks. Lots of stuff that slows down the tatting and increases the probability of mistakes. I think I’ll be able to finish it this weekend.

An adventure in roses

 I like roses. The large town I grew up around is known for roses. The Rose gardens that city maintains hold many wonderful memories. My mother was a test gardener for Jackson Perkins. I love roses.

I’ve never managed to have a thriving garden. I don’t seem to have a green thumb. My roses do OK and I try not to kill them, but my efforts don’t produce the wow factor.

Tatting different. I like tatting roses. I tatted this rose many years ago. More have followed. Recently, I sat in on an embroidery discussion about a stitch that uses something like a DS. The project they were working on was a rose. Here’s how far I got before the tatting shuttles called out:

I haven’t finished the stitching. I did enjoy making a Lilliputian Rose. The pattern was shared many years ago during an Online Tatting Class chat session. I made one, but couldn’t find it. So, I happily tatted another:

One year

 

That’s how long I’ve been on this journey.

I’m a heart patient now. Curtesy of my brush with Congestive Heart Failure. We’ll never know what virus caused it. Could have been a relapse of COVID, could have been the chest cold the choir was passing around, could have been the common cold. I’ve been taking a cocktail of heart medications which take a dent out of my budget.

So, no extra travel; no Fancy Restaurant meals; no splurges on books or clothes; no new car; you get the picture. I still have a bit to go before I’m “recovered” and get my stamina back.

I can still tat. I can still play the organ. I can still teach. I can still volunteer. I can still walk by the Bay. I can still throw small parties and enjoy the company of friends. I can still create.

Overall, this journey has been significant, but not arduous. My life is good by many yardsticks. Let us celebrate life together.

Another find

 

I found this at an Estate sale. I’m always thrilled to find samples of tatting that are well loved. I need to repair this piece in a couple of places. Then I will wash and carefully iron out the worst of the wear. I imagine this hanging in a kitchen of a quaint cottage with seashells arranged on the window sill.

Shameless plug

 That’s your warning……  

SCMR tool

I am using today’s post to highlight some nifty tatting accessories. No, not more earrings. I helped my

Stand

daughter develop a 3-D printed SCMR tool, a display stand that stores flat, and a Toolbox. She sells them through her website, and also an Etsy shop. I’m pleased to remind everyone that the 15% coupon code of PICOTSNKEYS is still active. If you have questions, please feel free to use the comment area of this post or the email contact link.

Toolbox

More earrings!

 

I prefer to share my patterns and teach people to tat. But, I do gift earrings. Last week a small box arrived with earrings tatted by a good friend. I like them!! Thank you!! There were also a few strands of beads in colors I wouldn’t normally gravitate to. More on them later. For now, I’ll enjoy wearing my new earrings!!

Earring collection

 This is a much happier post than my last rant. I was just grumpy. Bad excuse, I know, but some days are like that! Today I post about my favorite way to say, “I tat lace.” This is inspired by this blog. Thank you for reminding me of the beauty in my world!

This is a partial collection of the earrings I have tatted and wear constantly. I do own earrings that are not tatted lace. Honest. I just don’t wear them as often. Being a smallish person, I gravitate to delicate not bold, pastel not bright, tailored not boxy. You get the drift. Tatted lace earrings are just my style!

The trio on the left side are my pattern I teach frequently. I use quilt thread a lot for these. Sometimes I use size 80 and bead size is typically size 15. I enjoy adding a bead or two. The bead cap that provides the base to tat into is not readily available anymore. A local jewelry supply place came to the rescue and sourced quite a few for me. My hope is that someone will come up with a bead cap that I can use as a replacement when that supply runs out.

And yet again

 Ok. Today I rant…..again. No, I’ll try not to sound grumpy. It’s just that today, I repeat the same concept and theory that seems to just not sink in with some people. Perhaps it’s because the concept involves how people used to create many, many years ago. That and a bit of STEAM………

(skip the next paragraph if you’re not up for rant.)

A very human trait to create has led to many innovations. When those dreaming up new ways to do things are informed of history, it’s usually quite a successful venture. Innovation is what makes the culture I grew up in influential. My peers and I were expected to try out new ideas, test each other’s ideas, and adopt what works well. That’s the way I do the thing. So, what concept am I having difficulty with? Using modern tools to accomplish ancient tasks. Yeah. That again. In my judgement, just because a tool is new doesn’t make it better AND just because we haven’t learned how something was accomplished before doesn’t make our way better. Sometimes we do find better ways to do things with newer techniques. Sometimes organic creativity is more authentic than historical practices. But, use your brain people, judge and think with your whole experience and knowledge!

(skep the next paragraph if you're not into STEAM.)

I’m always trying to work the Arts into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math subjects. The Arts encourages dreaming, innovating, creating in a way that makes STEM useful and influential. History is a lot more fun when you can work in the Arts. Humans seem more human. Evil can be balanced with beauty. You get the drift.

So, tatting……

I’m working on a pattern concept that promises to express music in thread. I’m using newer tools while completing historic lace. Oh and modern style thread. It’s working well. It’ll take a few months to work through the possibilities. But, I’ll hear, “Why?” many, many more times. 

Because STEAM…history…lace…beauty…and because I can.

On to Round 2

 

Now that I’ve decided what my changes will be, and got the beads in the correct (I hope) order for the new tune, I’m anxious to see how it works out. It took me an extra day to make enough progress for the picture. Below is a detail. You can see better that I decided to use both blue and green beads in this round. The black beads show up better in real life. But, needs must!

The tune is changing

 I’m still working at adding beads to Antiks. It’s turning out well, but no pictures yet. Perhaps Thursday. In the meantime, I’ll share some thoughts from past conversations elsewhere:

In music, there is much opportunity for embellishing a simple tune. A famous example is the Twinkle variations. Mozart wrote down his embellishments for us to imitate. Here’s an excellent video posted by Rousseau.

How can we apply these design concepts to tatting? I’m glad you asked!

In the video, you can clearly see how many keys are being played at a time by the white bars that appear above the keyboard. The first statement of the theme is just 2 notes at a time. Much like a simple ring and chain pattern worked in plain thread. (Here when teaching I show a plain flower or butterfly with no picots.) The next statement of the theme has more notes added in the top part. Much like adding decorative picots. Keep track in the following statements and you can detect more than 2 notes (chords) and the melody switching to the left hand. I like to think adding beads relates to adding chords. Color can also be used to express these compositional techniques.

So, that’s how I try to work in beads in a tatting pattern. Yes, I know there will be some designers who don’t support embellishing at will. There are composers who can’t stand hearing their music played any way except how they imagined it. I try to keep my music and tatting embellishing within good taste so that I do not offend or disappoint designers and composers.

Incidentally, if you wish to embellish any of my patterns, please do! Share a picture of your creation. I love seeing how tatters create!!

Beware the change in tune

 My adventure in Antiks with blue was going well. Really well. I liked how the blue was working up and the black beads fit just as I imagined they would. Then I changed the tune. I decided to change thread to a green color a bit earlier in the pattern than I planned to originally.

Now, changing the tune happens all the time in music. Composers change keys, performers improvise, and magic happens. Changing thread color shouldn’t cause that much discordance, surely!

I’m not sure yet……

I keep getting confused loading beads with the new thread color combination. And I can’t go back to my original idea without a couple of hours of puzzling and loading beads back onto thread that is fraying.

Beware the change in tune!

Now appearing in Blue Metallic

 

This is the first few rounds of Antiks in metallic. The bead mounted in the central ring is a faceted black bead. The thread is Liz Metallic color 391. The black rondelle beads are size 11. I have one more round to tat, then I plan to change colors.

Adding a bead to a picot that will be joined to future rings

 I don’t typically try to create step by step documents with photos. I see just how bad a photographer I am. But, a student requested this series, so I try. The pattern is a simple mignonette of two rows of rings. I’ve added beads between rings, on the bare thread between rows, and on the outer picot.

Here is the ring worked to the point of the picot that will create a bead join with the next ring.

R: 3 + (bead join with previous ring) 3 – (bead moved up to create picot) 3 – (picot will create bead join with the next ring) 3 .

Here is the bead on the beading needle threaded with a length of blue Sliver thread.

I brought the needle around the working thread of the ring and back through the bead to create a loop.

Here is that blue loop around the red thread that would be around my left hand.

Here the red working thread is drawn through the bead by pulling the blue thread.

I’ve replace the loop of blue thread with a safety pin.

Now I’m ready to tat the final 3 DS of the ring.

Here the final DS are tatted with the ring ready to close.

The ring is closed and I’m ready to RW and tat the next ring on the opposite row.

To see the finished pattern, take a look here.

Now, you know…….

New Year

 I wish everyone a New Year!

 I realize this blog is not cutting edge,

I create using techniques from long, long ago…..

I realize I’m not producing “new” “stuff” and “things” with a great deal of Wow Factor,

I have listened to my own voice……

I realize how few I can reach with this method of communication,

I have a story to tell…..

Perhaps along the way I can inspire more beauty and loveliness in the world.

Happy New Year!!!