It started with a fascination with how lace is created. When making crochet/knitting lace became out of my reach due to a lack of hand-eye-muscle coordination, I discovered tatting.
I am fascinated by knots and braids so tatting is very easy to love. It is really hard to learn though. Especially on your own.
As with everything else, I learnt to tat the hard way. From books.
End 2007 I found a tatting teacher in Singapore and I went for a grand total of 1 class.
This useless bookmark is what she made me tat. You understand I already knew how to tat the basic ring and chain. But the teacher was rather inflexible. If I wanted to learn the advanced stuff like a basket (3D), I had to learn from scratch. It didn't make sense to me but I went for the first beginner class anyway. She was quite unhappy I could make the whole thing in one lesson. I guessed she saw dollar signs when she looks at my face.
Well, I still keep this bookmark around. This bookmark was the last craft I made before I was struck with myofascial pain. That was a period of my life when pain ruled my daily life.
A few years later when I recovered, I never went back to the tatting teacher. I kind of accepted that this level of tatting is as far as I will go. Tatting requires a lot of time and I surely don't have enough of that.
I have tatted a lot of little doilies and I didn't quite know what to do with them. Today I tried incorporating them into felt brooches and I'm quite pleased with the result.
I like the idea of blue background for lace. I don't know why. When I think of lace, I'll immediately picture a blue background. Like indigo or even denim.
This doily is big enough to fit nicely onto the brooch. The lace is made up of small rings and big chains (the crescents). I used variegated tatting thread.
This tatted butterfly is not big enough to fill up the whole brooch so I embroidered some lazy daisies and straight stitches. I used crochet thread for the butterfly and although it has a coarse effect, I rather like the texture.
I think the next time I make a tatted brooch, I will include beads. I have received some beads from a friend and I'm dying to use them.
As always, Bear is my model. As you can see, he's quite well-behaved.
The butterfly is not tickish at all. <Giggle>
Hey, the brooch works as an eye-patch too!
Linked to these partays..........
Skip to my lou
Ninth street notions
Ask anna
So very creative
Tea rose home
I bought this cute little tatting kit last year thinking I'd breeze right through it and be lace-making by dinnertime. Holy crap that's one difficult craft to learn!! I gave up, something I usually don't do, and tossed it in the trash. The only reason I didn't take a hammer to it is because my dad was using the hammer at the time. Sometimes I have a temper.... :)
ReplyDeleteoh wow, i love the brooches, really cute and you did a great job on it?
ReplyDeleteis there actually an easy way to learn tatting? i cant think so!
i learned it from books too though ,)
My mother tatts. She has been in the lacemakers guild for decades and the part I like the most beside the gorgeous lace is the bobbins! They can be quite spectacular decorated with beads. Mum has a ton of them.
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