Thursday, June 24, 2010

Sometimes I just like to ramble. I have been tatting but am not ready to show it yet. I even brought some with me to work on during lunch.

So what inspires you to tat?

Is it something you need to embellish?
Is it to relieve stress?
Is it the challenge of mastering something done only by hand?
Is it to keep the art alive?
Is it a compulsion with no clear purpose behind it?
Is it an excuse to play with thread and color?
Is it the feel of that oddly shaped tool in your hand?
Is it to add income?
Is it something to keep your mind and hands busy?
Is it an excuse to eat chocolate? (or drink wine?)
Is it an excuse to brag about how talented and intelligent you are? (wink)
Is it an exercise in patience?
Is it a reason to be competitive?
Is it an excuse to collect ...stuff?
Is it so you can have a reason to have a blog?
Is it to make a meaningful gift from the heart?
Is it about research you've been asked to do?
Is it to test your eyesight?
Is it an excuse to poke yourself in the finger with a hook and make sure you're not dreaming? (only joking Fox!)
Is it the social atmosphere?
Or do you just love, love, love it for all of the above reasons?

I was going through some papers and such recently and found some embroidery designs from Mary Corbet of Needle n Thread. I do like to embroider but I had actually saved them because they looked like great ideas for tatting designs. I admit I get irritated with blogs and websites that only show you a snippet and then you have to click on "read more" to get the rest of the story. Most of the time I don't. But sometimes I do, if I'm really really intrigued and have time to kill. More often than not though, you've lost me. At any rate, I saved these. As much as I'd like to show them, I haven't asked permission but do a google image search on Mary Corbet and you'll eventually find them.

Unless you're like me and get irritated at having to go somewhere else. LOL!

Okay, here's the link!

And here's some eyecandy from the past!

This came from one of those online generators around Valentine's Day one year.

This was a ripple edging from Mary Maynard's Book, Four Square Tatting. The tatting designs resemble some simple quilt designs. This is something I've always wanted to explore more but I haven't gotten any further.

Before Riet taught another version of this at Palmetto, I'd seen a woven picot bookmark that was done in an exchange. I eventually got hold of the person who tatted it, probably 4 or 5 years after the fact, and got some basics on how to go about it. For the longest time, I saw long, woven picots in all my design ideas. Some will eventually come to fruitation. It's a neat, but tricky, technique that requires significant planning ahead.

I took part in lots of exchanges over the years. One of the early ones had to do with embellishing a card with tatting for your partner. I've been asking myself if this is one I sent or one I got? I think I sent it. I vaguely remember buying the card and I recognize that Manuela variegated that everyone loved, and I do remember the two cards I got, one with a tatted curtain (so clever) and another with a little bear and tatting on it, but....I didn't note it in the photo caption. So, it might have been done by someone else and just gave me the idea to follow the same idea on yet a different card.

See.....you wished you'd written on the back of those printed out pics who was who and where and when the photo was taken.....ya gotta do the same thing with digital too!

Have a great day everyone!

11 comments:

  1. I'm having trouble keeping up with all your posts again! Thanks so much for the link to the embroidery designs. That's a treasure trove of art work, and I can also see tatting design possibilties there!

    After looking over your comprehensive list of 'why we tat' I have to admit I'd have to check off most of the items!

    Tatting ALWAYS intrigued me, but when I finally learned how at age 45 in 1989, it took over my life!

    Even the smallest projects in tatting are admired with wonder, and it's just SO versatile and can be used in so many ways! And I always contend you cannot have enough Christmas ornaments, bookmarks, or decorated boxes! These are very useful things!

    Also, I love tatting because it is NOT something that EVERYONE does, and it is still considered unique and even 'endangered'. To my delight, it also enables me to play 'dress-up' in Victorian-style costumes, which meshes beautifully with my love of history and that era. It opened the door for me to participate at fun festivals at lovely historic places and meet many, many people.

    I don't intend for tatting to be associated only with the past, but it is nice to pay homage our 'roots' while emphasizing that tatting is quite alive and evolving to amazing new levels - especially on the internet! And young folks are certainly attracted to the jewelry! Tatting is (as the kids say) - WAY COOL !!!!

    And, of course, tatting DID inspire me to start a blog, which I never imagined I'd ever do!

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  2. Why do I tat? I think it took me so long to learn that I'm afraid I'll forget if I stop! I do feel very proud of myself when I finish a new piece. Tatting keeps me awake while I watch t.v. with Dave, and it's a wonderful excuse for not cleaning or cooking... Oh, is it 5:30 already? I didn't realize it was so late. How about frozen pizza for dinner? ; )

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  3. I hate to say, but all your reasons for "what inspires you to tat", I know I have used them all, at one time or another. Am I bad or what?!?

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  4. Kathy, I learned to tat when I was 48 and the very same thing happened. It completely took over my life at that point!
    Diane - Oh, a new one to add to the list - an excuse not to cook or clean! Good one!
    Tatfully Yours - as you know by now, you are not alone. Obviously if I thought them up to write down, I probably used them at one time or another! LOL!

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  5. I love to tatt to see what I come up with next to make. I do it to relax & to keep learning about it. Enjoy today & keep tatting!

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  6. The colors on your rippled edge are just outstanding! And I am not a big fan of purple, but your bookmark is so beautiful that it has changed my mind. :)
    Have a great day!

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  7. I tat because it was something new to learn. Little did I know it would take over my life and cause me not to sew or cross stitch for several years. I am not so obsessed with it now since I want to do more with knitting and crocheting. My life is so full since I retired, I never have enough time to do all that I want to do in a day. I tend my veggie garden every day, and my sitting garden, Both take up most of my early morning hours. I have to edge the side walk because I must have everything neat and proper outside and the grass cut. The rest of my day is spent cleaning and washing laundry in between tatting, knitting, crocheting and making greeting cards for the sunshine group for retirees. What I use to spend on tatting supplies, I now spend on my plants for my sitting garden. I long to be in my sitting garden tatting and working out my designs, but that is not going to happen for another 6 months it seems, so in the meantime I will settle for tatting in the house in the cool of the air-conditioner for now.

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  8. Gina,
    What a thought provoking post! I really had to think about this and I am going to be so selfish and save the thought to blog about!

    However, I will admit here that I tat because once I began to, shortly after learning, I just could not NOT tat!

    You are an example of how a good 'saver' always can come up with what is needed. Being a 'minimizer' myself, I often know exactly what I am looking for, but realize it is long gone!

    I suppose there are pros and cons for both modes of how we handle things.

    Thanks for getting the old noggin working this humid, hot morn in TO!
    ♥ Fox : )

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  9. Why do I tat? I remember about 15 years ago telling myself that is one fiber hobby I will not pick up. Then life happened, and I learned to tat. It took me 3 years off and on to get where I was feeling pretty comfortable with a shuttle. I think that with everything else I have learned it is about the fibers and colors and patterns.

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  10. I learnt to tat at my grandmothers knee but was too young to appreciate the art when I was so young. Returning some years later and recently being able to follow so many great tatters has been a revelation. Added to the fact that I'm so fortunate to have a sister who encourages me no end.

    So all the above reasons are why I tat but particularly its good for stress, that is unless you are finding a pattern stressful!

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  11. I tat for a lot of reasons. It keeps my hands busy. I have something to show for my time even when I'm watching TV. It's a challenge. Tatting to me is one of the hardest crafts I've ever done. Not so much the doing of it but of the reading of the patterns. Some of the patterns are not written very good and it's a challenge to tat them. I love to see the patterns emerge and know that I did it....I like to think I'm one of the ones keeping the craft alive. I saw this done many years ago at a craft show for the Junior League and it so fascinated me. I thought the movements were lovely....

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