Not Every Craft Involves Needle, Shuttle or Thread

 

Taking a photo of a mirror is one of the hardest images to capture.  We had this old mirror that was, once upon a time, part of a dressing table or similar piece of furniture.  It has been around for a very long time and was in a state of disrepair.  As we have gone along setting up our household, the decision was made to put it into use somewhere in the house.  After repairing the damaged frame, it was sanded and several coats of paint that matched one of the interior doors was applied.  

In 2018, I had the opportunity to attend John C. Campbell Folk School near Sylva, NC for an intensive course in traditional Rosemaling, a Norwegian form of painting.  Our focus was in Telmark style of Rosemaling which is modeled after the acanthas flower.  Telmark is never symetrical, but rather a broad, sweeping way to paint flowers, leaves and flourishes.  The more symetrical forms belong to other styles that come from Sweden, Germany or even Russia.  Sometimes in the US it is referred to as Tole Painting after the artworks of the Pennsylvania Dutch, but it is not nearly the same.  If my instructor could see this work, she would probably be agast at the poor quality of the design, however in keeping with the purpose of Rosemaling in the dark homes of the Nordic countries - to lighten up interior darkness especially during the long winter months - the mirror received a bit of new life.

For a time, the craft space - a room now rather than a separate building - waited for paint, both mundane and artistic, to dry.  At times the space was extended into the den, but at last the project is complete and the mirror is hanging in its new spot.  

New Lace Form for me

 During the I. O. L. I. convention was held in Durham, NC, several of my tatting collegues inquired of me whether or not I had any other lace-making skills beyond tatting.  At the time, I had forgotten about the Teneriffe looms I had acquired some years ago in an Ebay purchase.  I felt encouraged to pull them out of their hiding place and see what could be done with them.

Thank goodness for the Antique Pattern Library!  What a treasure trove of material for all sorts of crafting!  I was able to locate a Teneriffe instruction book and begin.  My first effort was rather a compilation of techniques found in it, but it was a start.  

                                       

At a recent lace demonstration event at the Columbus / Polk County (NC) Historical Association, I learned from one of my lacing collegues that for many years, lacemaking patterns were held in great secrecy to keep the designs from being stolen.  As a consequence, the patterns and ways of working the designs were being lost by some lace-making houses.  Of course this led to the potential for hand-created laces becoming lost altogether.  It has been only through the efforts of dedicated lace makers that has kept this from happening.  And this is what is going on with Teneriffe lace: a few dedicated lacers, mostly in the UK and Paraguay are passing along the information to the next generation of practitioners.  

From the start, I had no idea what I was doing, but I did discover that this lace form was created on the back-side of the work, not the front.  Right away there was a challenge. To resolve this, my first step was to purchase an updated loom   It's a lovely design that is much more easily warped than the antique ones I had on hand.  At the same time, this newer loom remains one that does not allow for the "front side" of the work to be visualized.  At Palmetto Tatters Guild's Tat Days Convention last month, the vendor there had a new loom by Gina B Silkworks (UK) that had no center, making it much easier to see the front side of the creation.  

This makes it easier to see what I am doing and where adjustments can be made to make each technique more pleasing to the eye.  It does not, however give specific measurements that help make spacing more even and regular.  That may be better carried out with practice, with using a pattern on paper with guides or adding guides to the center of the looms on hand.  Once the Teneriffe piece was removed from the loom, it was much more clear how the entire pattern was presented.

It came out much better than the first attempt and this loom came with a notation for design elements for the pattern.  Much more to learn. . .

N. C. Mountain State Fair, 2026

It's been a very long time since I have had entries for the Mountain State Fair.  This past year has been sufficiently filled with tatting to have several entities.  It is hard to choose from the tatting that I have created over the past 18 months or so.  Nevertheless I found a few pieces that I am particularly proud of and placed them into the competition.

Basically any resident of the state can put an entry into any of the regional fairs.  The largest and most prestigeous is the State Fair in our state capitol, Raleigh, NC.  There are about 5 regional competitions that incorporate several counties in addition to the individual counties of which there are about 100.  Our region is served by the NC Mountain State Fair held in September in Asheville, NC, the largest town in our 16 county area.  Tatting is considered a Heritage Craft.  As such it is not as common as it once was - particularly in the years from about 1890 through 1950.   One of my collegues, who regularly volunteers at this event, urged me and anyone I know that is a tatter to enter the competition this year especially to keep this catagory viable for the future.  My entries included: 

3 copies of this tatted cardinal (our state bird) attached to a white, satin wrapped hanging ornament;

this tree-top angel from Tatsy tatting patterns, circa 1980;

and this pendant which is a creation of my own tatted with silver Lizbeth metallic thread, a crystal teardrop finding and some glass 11/0 black beads.  This one netted me a blue ribbon, the first I have ever won at a fair.  

But the biggest surprise was winning "Judge's Choice" for a Yule ornament that I almost did not enter.

The pattern is an adaptation of Frau Eleanor Endrucks' Pattern number 19 in her 1920 tatting pattern work written in German and the basis for the Endrucks 1920 Project in which I and others have been participating for several years.  The thread is Lizbeth gold metallic with gold bugle beads between the motifs and with a circular motif around the hanger and another one at the base that are threaded to the center tatting.  

My biggest take away from all this is that modern judges seem to be looking for more unusual applications for tatting and very likely any crafting presented.  "Out with the Old and In with the New!"

Craft Space near completion

 Spring in the mountains of Western North Carolina can be a busy time of year.  The countryside is coming to life with flowers, new lambs and gardens begging to be created.  Keeping up with it all can be a daunting task, but we are moving steadily along.  Evening hours are dedicated to making the Craft Space more tidy and with greater accessibility to supplies.  We are almost there!

The rack to the left holds my watercolor, mixed media and sketching papers on top along with alcohol and pigment inks, brushes and supplies to go along with these media.  There is a hanging storage on the left end of the rack that holds acrylic paints and sprays similar to this item available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/TEMUORG-Hanging-Acrylic-Organizer-Supplies/dp/B0DKHLBHYW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HHV2TUT1KT03&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CNDwu64TaUgOAwNEShFC2oEs1qYDR3pBpp6Ei2AU-HOTrG9IaVLf3j2pTIN7YiOSfxHStqRYCtSDJ7-FMeDEKtSML8Bdnm0SLljDAhVfUpclc4jtjcK5n3GPVvl-5PgI.NjiSES5Km2X_jc9O7Y2YPvvSGds7FKF2S8prFZ2wZd4&dib_tag=se&keywords=clear%2Bpoly%2Bover%2Bthe%2Bdoor%2Bhanging%2Bacrylic%2Bpaint%2Bstorage&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1775952451&sprefix=clear%2Bpoly%2Bover%2Bthe%2Bdoor%2Bhanging%2Bacrylic%2Bpaint%2Bstorage%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1&th=1

Watercolor and oil paints are also on this rack along with giftwrap, tags, bags and papers as well as sewing supplies located on the lower shelves.  

The next rack has beading supplies mostly but also some items that rather form a transition to the rack that is along the side of the next wall.  This space is dedicated to tatting on the upper shelves and paper crafting on the lower shelves  The large carrying case with the pink top has more beading items including findings that merge tatting with jewelry making.  

Across the room is this:

The lateral file holds my tatting books and reference materials.  The desk over it has a tempered glass top which eliminates any need for a glass mat for applying inks when I am paper crafting and the cutting mat has a grid that allows me to make measurements as needed for determining sizes when considering smaller paper and mixed media items.  Most of my brushes, markers, pens and pencils as well as pallet knives are also in this area.  

One thing I learned about the internet, especially in the early days, was that nothing there was sacred.  If you found it, (IT being patterns, tips, techniques and so on) it was best to print it out and store it somewhere because websites come and websites go and at any time, what you just found might never be accessible again.  The notebooks on the shelves over the desk hold the items that I have found over the years.  Some of them are duplicated, but as Granny once said: "Better to have and not need than to need and not have."

To the left in this photo you can see the screen for our server on which I have stored many of the videos and other information from our business.  Here too are all the electronics for our household such as internet modem, wi-fi router and central printer.  These are not specific to the crafting, but in  today's world, the internet makes almost everything possible.  

In the coming months, I am going to be giving presentations on several crafts including tatting.  Area weavers have asked if I would give a demonstration and teach them the basics of tatting.  For that I have set up my video station in this area as wel so I can create a visual to help them stay on task with the technique if I cannot give one-on-one instruction during the session.  Currently the video set-up looks like this photo:

The table is on casters for ease of movement and the camera is above the space ready to tape the moves that demonstrate the chosen technique, not just for tatting, but for any medium.  Under the table is an asortment of shoeboxes that contain adhesives, punches and embossing powders that remain accessible when I need them primarily for papercrafting.  When the camera is not attached to the table, I can  move the table into the center of the room and add a tabletop overlay for cutting fabric.  This allows for dress-makeing, quilting or painting of larger objects.  (Yes, all of these things are in the works!)  Off to the right is a rack that holds papers and cardstock as well as my sewing machine, notions box and a few items for floral work.  Of course the broom is for tidying up after the day is done.  

This is the result of more than 25 years of dedicated crafting.  While the organization has been coming together, the crafting has gone on.  You do not see a "comfortable chair" in here.  No, crafting can be dirty work that for me, at least, is often best accomplished standing up or sitting on a stool like the one in the photo above.  There is, however more to come about that "comfortable chair."

Changes and Refinement to the Craft Space

 Since our move into the new house, my craft space has evolved from a small outbuilding (hence the "Art Barn" designation) into a larger and better equipped basement room inside the house itself.  It remains "The Art Barn" but is better in every way!  Shelving is larger and more accessable, there is consistent heat and since it is in a sub-terrainian basement, during the hotest weather last summer, the room temperature was never above 72 degrees.  So far humidity has not been a problem.

With a speaking engagement with a local weavers guild coming up in May, I was in need of a desk mount camera stand that could handle video taping from overhead.  It has taken a while to find one (Good ol' Amazon!) and the unit arrived today.  It's not super complicated and since I don't expect to be live-streaming anything and have good edit software at my disposal, I can cut in shots, title slides or audio with explanations as necessary.  The stand can handle my Sony HDR-CX240 with ease.  First run of taping will come over the weekend.   This little device is full HD, lightweight and easy to use.  Like many similar camcorders, the microphone is the weak link in the overall function , but this camera was built for this sort of use.

Now that the tables and shelves are together and in the room, having the ability to tape instructions and demonstrations is exciting!

Tatting for the Fair

 Last fall, my friend served as a volunteer at the Mountain State Fair in Asheville, an event that I have submitted entries for the Tatting competition in years past.  She indicated that there were so few entries in the “Tatting"  catagory of Arts and Crafts that she feared that category would so go away in the not very distant future.  She encouraged me to find something that I could enter in the fair next year.  So I set about it.  

Over the years, I have collected tatting pattern books by various authors.  One such author is Ineke Kuiperij, a lady in the Netherlands whose books came across the Atlantic with my friend and tatting colleague Riet Surtel-Smeulders when she would journey to the US from her home in the Netherlands to visit family, attend Palmetto Tatters Guild’s Tat Days and other area events.  Sadly, Riet passed away in 2025 and the world has lost another grand master of the craft.

I looked through Ineke’s books and found one particular pattern that I felt would challenge my skills and be an appropriate entry into the competition this coming fall.  It is in this book and an image of my chosen ornament is shown on the cover in the upper right hand corner.  

The piece is complex and created in 4 panels.  Each panel has 5 independent sections which are joined as the piece is tatted along.  Beads are added at intervals.  I chose Liz Metalic in size 20 and the color 313 (SandDollar) with Hemitite beads size 4 mm and black onxy beads size 6 mm.  The pattern was written for size 80 thread and I knew this finished piece would be larger, but it was one I wanted to showcase.  

Judging how much to wind onto my shuttles can be a challenge as well and on the 4th section of the 1st panel, I cut it so close that I had to make the last ring a Split Ring even though the pattern did not call for it:

Thank goodness for crochet hooks and split rings!

Christmas is a-coming!

 With Yuletide upon us, creating gifts, tags and other things for the holiday has taken on a sense of urgency.   From my perspective, a hand-made gift holds special meaning.  The person who created it was thinking of the recipients especially and putting their personal energy into that special item while it was being made.  It is almost as if the item holds a blessing for the person for which it is intended.  

Even Christmas items hold a special feeling when they have been created by the home-owner. Our wreath this year began with a base of artificial greenery on a wire frame to which I added some apple wood branches from an apple tree felled during our encounter with Tropical Storm Helene when it came through her 16 months ago.  I added pine cones found locally and decorated with glitter paint, wild, dried flower stalks that I think are from the artemisia family and bits of lichens that I found on fallen limbs from a nearby silver maple.  

The gold mini-poinsettia flowers were artificial, but added some sparkle that was more muted on the pine cones.  The red ornaments were given to me by friend Sharon Tabor, a fellow-tatter and who created the tatting on them.  The bow has both burlap and acetate ribbon.   Hanging on the south side of our main entry, it will bless the house all all who enter by it.

Playing with Alcohol Inks

 About a year before our relocation alcohol inks came into my craft stash.  On my own, I made no progress using these inks.  I had created a few backgrounds but they had not been quite what I had hoped.  Mary Polanco is a YouTube Creator (Mary Polanco Designs) and associated Facebook Group (MPD Community).  She recently posted that she would be conducting a class on the use of alcohol inks and I enrolled.  

The day of class I assembled the suggested tools which included alcohol inks, specialized, non pourus papers, a manual blower and 91% alcohol or commercially prepared blending solution.  In the past, I had added these inks to alcohol gel applied on gel plates and pressed watercolor paper or card stock onto the gel plate rather than putting the liquid ink directly onto paper and floating it around in the liquid alcohol or blending solution.  Somehow I cannot help but believe that using the gel this way gave poorer results.  Here is a sample of what I came up with as a result of the class:

The upper 4 were inks applied to the back side of photo paper and the lower 4 were created using the front side of the same Canon photo pater.  Over all the backgrounds created on the back of the photo paper were much more to my liking.  They were more difuse with special effects that arose from spraying alcohol over the images after they had dried.  I did use a less concentrated alcohol sprayu (80% rather than the 91% or 99% as was recomended.  

Many creaftspeople recommend using Yupo paper when working with alcohol inks, but that is jusst out of my price range.  Photo paper is cheeper and more readily available.  However along the way I have found some Brea Reese brand Waterproof Panels in after-market shops.  Most of the ones I have are smaller (3" x 3") and seem a bit thick for cards, even though they state on the label that they compare to Yupo.  I was very pleased with the results of adding alcohol inks to one of these panel.  

Overall the look of the Yupo knockoff was exceptional and much better than when using the photo paper, expecially on the shiny side. 

Cutting out shapes of the photo paper was easy enough.  The presentation indicated that certain plastic or synthetic papers don't cut as well as other papers.  I was able to easily cut a circle from the photo paper using a circle die.  I glued a diecut sentiment directly onto the circle cut from the photo paper.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the card created from my efforts.  Next time, T'm sure.  

Meanwhile I tried another technique also suggested in our class:  I stamped an image onto the paper.  I tried first with Versa Fine Permanent Ink in Vintage Sepia.  Because it is a slower drying ink, I attempted to speed up the drying process using a heat gun set on a low heat setting.  The pigment ink didn't completely dry and the effect whas not what I wanted, even after it was die cut.  It wasn't bad, but not what i wanted.  

The images on the left were stamped with VersaFine Pigment ink Vintage Sepia and Trinity Stamps Fern-tastic stamp and die set (top image, left) and a leaf from Altenew's Beautiful Day stamp and die set (lower left).  The  Outline is barely visible and it took a VERY long time to dry.  Even using a heat gun didn't help much and the photo papter curled quite a bit.  I have entertained the thought of using a black permanent marker to trace the lines of Sepia ink in an attempt to improve the finished product, but I have not done so at the time of this posting.  Attmept #2 using the largest pumpkin in Spellbinders Paper Arts's Charming Pumpkins clear stamp set and fussy cutting it out used a die ink (Altenew's Crisp die ink in Permanent Black) was a much better outcome.  All in all, I don't think I'll be using this technique in the future.  

During the Class Video, Mary showed an example of a card that had a cut-out section of regular card stock mounted over the alcohol ink background.  I found that MOST appealing and decided to follow her lead by cutting out some butterflies from my own stash (Spellbinders Delicate Butterflies Cutting Dies).  Alone the cut-out section looked weak.  So I went back and used the cutting dies that created the butterfly wings outline and body.  That went much better:

Of course there was the portion of the cut-out that was removed.  So I also made the butterfly wing outline for the 2 of them by cutting from the alcohol colored photo paper.  They weren't BAD, but one was so light in color that it, too looked washed out.  The other was of enough of a contrasting color value that it was as improvement.  These are seen here:

Based on this, I made other cut-outs of the basic form from one of the alcohol ink backgrounds that had bolder colors and the wing outlines from the darker brown used in the first example.  These turned out to be the best examples of this technique so far.  

 

These should compliment any sort of greeting card that I might make in the future.  

I did want to make one last attempt of die cutting photo paper colored with alcohol inks.  This time I used an intricate rose cutting die by Moments.  The most telling aspect of cutting this out was attempting to line up the cutting die to allow for the greatest amount of color on the rose pedals and the green areas for the leaves.  So the colors were somewhat off and it was a simple matter to dissolve a drop or two of the green alcohol ink into a watercolor mixing well with a few drops of the 91% alcohol mixative.  Then this could be applied onto the cut-out intensifying the colors in the best places.  This was an appropriate way to finish out the item for use on a later card also.  

The rose on the left was cut from the photo paper and re-touched with alcohol ink.  The rose on the right was cut first from green card stock then from pink card stock.  The pink die cut was trimmed to be only the pedals and buds and then that part was glued over the green die cut at the position of the flower and buds.  Either would make a lovely addition to a feminine card for many occasions.  Quite a good run on playing with Alcohol Inks!

A NOTE:  I do not receive any compensation for the items mentioned in this post.  This is merely for my personal recording and as reference to anyone who reads these posts.

 

 I would have never believed how hard it might be to spend time crafting while moving into a new home.  So many details require attention that it is mind-boggling.  The house has 8 rooms plus 2 areas for storage and multi-purposes.  The main living areas where we and our family are spending most of the time were the most important, of course.  Certain "decorative amenities" would have to wait, but those are now being wrapped up.

Having a space to be myself in is important: sleeping, dressing, attending to the activities of daily living and being able to relax, regroup and prepare for the coming day was of primary importance and in my humble oppinion, now complete.  At the end of July, we moved the contents of the last storage building - a 20' x 10' space - into our basement.  Much of the contents were my craft supplies: papers, paints, tatting threads, beads, findings and more were among the contents of that holding.  Also among the contents of the unit were all the networking components which would make the de facto access to the internet, digital storage and files we have accumulated over the years possible.  

So here we are, 5 weeks later and I am still not able to have access to my crafting.  Granted, I COULD set aside all the amenities that make our home liveable and comfortable for friends and family and simply attend to my craft space.  But that would not be condusive to a smooth flow of life in our home.  We had more than 30 years in our previous living space to compartementalize work, family life, recreation and crafting life and so far I have only had about 5 months to accomplish the same things.

Meanwhile, Tat Days is approaching in about 3 weeks and other crafting urges are tugging at my sleeves.  Not to mention the seasonal fruits and vegetables that are ripening and ready for harvest. 

Maybe in another month. . . 

Move in Getting Closer

 I am growing more excited by the day!

Our new home is finished to the point that we are beginning to move in belongings!  I am beginning to sense that my new Art Barn - now a room in the basement - will soon be ready to hold my art and crafting suppies and provide me with the space I need for my creative endeavors!  

This photo was taken while we were still under construction, but it's clear that the structure is and Arts-and-Crafts style cottage that, like the Tardis of Dr. Who fame, is bigger on the inside!  Can't wait!

Here's how it looks at the moment:

The green item behind the stool is a drafting table that is folded down to conserve space.  The words of Mark Knoffler's song "Prairie Wedding" from the Sailing to Philadelphia album / CD (2001): "I know it ain't much, it needs a woman's touch" pretty much say it all!