New Display

I will once again be teaching an "intro to tatting" class on September 10th at somethings looming in Reading, PA.  Just go to their website where you will find all the information you need to sign up if you are interested (click on "Saturday Samplers" right on the front page). 

I don't have any new tatting pictures to share - just haven't had time to take any.  I did get a new display system this year for my art/craft shows, which I absolutely love.  It's Pro Panels, which are quite pricey, but quite worth the price in my opinion.  Amazingly lightweight, easy to set up and very professional looking.  I've been wanting a display system like this for many years.  At the end of the show season last year my husband accidentally left all my Velcro boards behind at my final show and they got thrown away (admittedly, they were in such poor shape I'm not surprised someone thought they were supposed to be trash).  So this year I had to to something about getting a new display. 

Actually I did away with the table in this picture and instead used more shelves on the other side for the second show of the season.  I just love it! 

I've been working on a few special orders so I may be posting some new tatting soon as I'll have to take the time to take some pictures.   Hopefully :)

Drawing Patterns

Hi all!  Long time, no hear from me.  I will hopefully be sitting for at least part of the CPA exam in November, so studying is in high gear.  Still working full time, still doing art shows, and now teaching tatting as well - in other words, still biting off more than I can chew.  This is the story of my life. 

I have been taking Sharon's "Design Tat" class, although I generally don't post there either and just work on things on my own when I can.  I recommend the class highly (although I'm not sure when the next one is starting); it's very informative and the tutorials on writing patterns with drawing software are extremely helpful.  I've been playing around today with the software and in the attempt, completed a new written pattern for my "Tigereye Earrings" and then came up with a diagram for my mini-cross (the written pattern was originally posted as Motif 24 on my blog here: Mini-Cross).

Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

And that's all the time I have to share today - must get back to studying.  I do have some "Intro to Tatting" classes coming up in the near future - watch for posts about that in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Class Available

I will be teaching an "intro to tatting" class on February 5th at somethings looming in Reading, PA.  Just go to their website where you will find all the information you need to sign up if you are interested (click on "Saturday Samplers" right on the front page).  I'm busy getting the kits together so come join us!

Apologies to my faithful readers and followers - once again life, or more specifically school and work, have taken over and I literally have no time for blogging, e-mailing, reading other blogs, etc.  I know I fall off the face of the earth for months at a time.  I'm still here but not doing much tatting.

I promised some customers I would post when I would be teaching a class, however, so here I am popping in just for a second.

Darn Scanner

My old scanner never had any problems with objects that weren't quite flat.  I just laid a nice piece of paper over them and didn't close the lid.  They turned out really nice.  Not so with the new scanner.  Flat things are OK but if I have too many large or thick beads, I seem to get a funny halo effect around the thick area.  I have played with the resolution, the brightness, the backgrounds.   Finally I turned off all the lights in the room and tried to scan.  That met with interesting results.  And a clear view of just how dusty my scanner bed was.  So I turned on the dust removal tool which removed the dust but now I see a fingerprint!  Oops.  I'll have to take care of that before the next scan.  This piece still needs to be washed and blocked and have a clasp added.

Integral to this necklace is the central polymer clay piece I mentioned in an earlier post.  I saw the artist's work online and went to go see her in person back in August.  What incredible detail exists in each of her pieces.  I love tiny work myself but this just boggles my mind - I mean, look at the clay around the edge that looks like a little ribbon woven in and out of the piece. 

This is a vintage pattern (circa 1924) from Priscilla Tatting Book No. 3 - one of my favorite old books. 

Back to the scanner issue - I really do not know what I am going to do about this because I'm not really crazy about the black background.  It's not terrible, and the detail is good, but I'd much rather have my pretty papers. I'm not even sure if there is a way of resolving the issue.  I know my old scanner didn't give me the halo effect unless I closed the lid, so I'm not even sure where to start trying to correct the problem.  I'm pretty bummed at the moment.  Anyone have any ideas?

Snowflakes

My scanner is here and I'm back in business.  Another learning curve involved, however, and one I have not had a lot of time to explore as school, work, and high school football season are in full swing. I'm not quite getting the results I want yet.

I am currently enjoying my pdf copy of Jon Yusoff's "Tatted Snowflakes Collection."  Tatted snowflakes have been around about as long as tatting itself - so you'd think we'd run out of really different and unique patterns.  Not so with Jon's book, predominantly because of the use of more "modern" tatting techniques like the use of two shuttles and split and mock rings.  Here is the first one I tatted, "Alladin."

I think the thread is "Treebeard" by Lady Shuttlemaker (I really should label my thread better).  I plan on making this into a necklace eventually, probably by adding a tatted/beaded chain of some sort.