Monday, August 26, 2013

Still designing a tatted feather and a "tribal" necklace in progress


It's not so much that a creative mind is disorganized, it's that the planet spins around too quickly. That's the reason I can't get more projects finished. The odd-looking mess of beads, paper clips, and hand dyed thread in the above photo is a new original design in progress, that will have a primitive, rustic, or tribal look when completed. Making tatting look "primitive" rather than the usual "Victorian" is hard! I'm using some tricky techniques such as Catherine Wheel Joins and Loop Tatted Rings to get my design to work, and I'll show you the completed necklace when I get it done.

I've done a little more on the feather idea as well, and I think I may have a workable picot-ed version. I do plan to write up the feather pattern at some point in the future, but I'm hoping that a third feather inspiration comes along first.

For those who mark their calendars well in advance, I'll be teaching a day-long workshop on beginning tatting at Shake Rag Alley on May 31, 2014. It's a pretty location with major tourist attractions nearby, and Shake Rag Alley sets their class fees to be quite reasonable, when compared to other workshop events. Other attractions in the area include House on the Rock, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin, and Wisconsin Dells.

Besides hand dyeing a batch of Knitty Gritty, I also tried dyeing a small experimental batch of "Sumac". At first I planned to call it "Angry Martian" because I was "very angry, very angry indeed" at the time, but when it turned out so pretty, my mood improved and I changed the name to Sumac, which is a common shrub around here that has cheerful, bright colors in autumn.

12 comments:

Madtatter80 said...

It's all so beautiful and nice work great design ideas and colors I always enjoy the native american looks too. Excited to see your end product keep us posted!

Margarets designer cards said...

I am looking forward to your tribal pattern and your feather pattern looks beautiful.
Sometimes bad moods do the prettiest work.
Margaret

Kathy Niklewicz said...

Your feather experiments are looking great, and if anyone can design an Indian tribal pattern, you can! I'm so impressed by your talent and creative energy and enthusiasm AND dedication to the art of tatting!

Randi said...

Love the feather - well done!

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

That turquoise feather is absolutely gorgeous! Isn't it wonderful that you have the ability to dye threads for specific purposes?

Ladytats said...

if any one can come up with a primitive in tatting it would be you. I like the feathers you have shown so far.

Unknown said...

Your feathers just keep getting better. Looking forward to version #3! The glimpse of the 'tribal' tatting is very intriguing.

Fox said...

Once again, your tatting leaves me quite breathless!
Fox : )

Jane McLellan said...

All looks very intriguing!

God's Kid said...

Wonderful looking designs as usual!! :) And nice new color HDT!! :)

Linn said...

So beautiful. Is this needle tatting?

Marilee Rockley said...

Linn, thank you. All of my own tatted items are shuttle tatted, so my patterns are designed and written from a shuttle tatting perspective. I like the tighter knots and crisper texture that the shuttle tatting method produces. However, many needle tatters have told me that they enjoy my patterns, too!