Monday, May 7, 2012

Merely interesting observations...

I wondered how I should title this post, "How would you tat if all your work was scanned?", "Wabi Sabi Tatting", "Is perfection what it is cracked up to be?" Many of you thought I was trying to prove a point, but that is not why I did this little poll. I did it purely to satisfy my own curiosity.
Are people naturally attracted to one type of tatting over another?
With the advent of the Internet and scanners, our work can be more highly scrutinized than ever before.
Many of you guessed that there was frontside/backside tatting involved here...but I tell you now, there is MORE than that going on in this example.
Thank you to everyone who voted. At the time of this post there were 172 votes; essentially 75% of people liked example A. and 25% liked example B. better. Frankly I was surprised that 1 in 4 people liked example B. better and that made me wonder if they were trying to prove the point that they don't care for frontside/backside tatting. But overall it seems like people are more attracted to "perfection".
As a Master tatter I feel an obligation to share my knowledge and strive for my personal best in tatting.....BUT.... I will say this and you can quote me, "I don't care one iota how other people tat". If you are tatting at all then I am super stoked on you! Nope....I'm not one of those who gets my panties in a wad over these little details. I will never judge someone else's tatting...(unless I'm getting paid to do so.)
So, from a teacher's perspective, and for those who DO like to get caught up in all the details, the following may be of interest.
Firstly we will address the obvious frontside/backside differences.  So in case anyone is lost, example A. is tatted with all the little tricks I will be covering.   And example B. is just your everyday normal old school style of tatting.
You can tell the difference between frontside/backside tatting. Example B. has the half stitch where the chain starts.  If you care, this is extremely simple to remedy, just reverse the order of your stitches on your chains.
Another way to tell the difference between frontside/backside tatting is how your picots look.  Did you know that there is a front and a back to a picot?
...and I don't think this even needs an explanation.
Now on to the other tricks. Dropping your shuttle through your ring before closing it does make a slight difference.  You can see in example A. that doing this forces that last stitch to the front so you can see it whereas in example B. it gets a little twisted and becomes lost.
And finally....and probably my new favorite is KrystleDawn's method of the LHPJ "Larks Head Picot Join", which as she puts it, "Puts the belt on the pants of the double stitch"...or something to that effect. Feel free to chime in Krystle!
I swear, every time I do this stitch I think to myself, "How in the world did she come up with this...she must be some kind of mad genius!"
Anyhow, with just a little bit of practice all these things are quite simple and can become part of your normal tatting.....or not.  It's up to you and you are the most important and most qualified judge of your own tatting! 
The bottom line is that tatting should be fun and enjoyable so tat the way that makes you the happiest!!!!!

12 comments:

Karen said...

Great overview. I've gradually incorporated these methods over the years because of you and others on line and from Shuttlebirds classes. You've demonstrated so much with just three rings and two chains. Thank you. Karen in OR

Martha said...

I was looking for a circle around the picots of the first ring, where the picots are backsided. I don't insist on one sided tatting, but I do like consistency. I practice some of the tricks you list, and now, I'll have to go check out KrystleDawn's join. Thanks for the link.

Ladytats said...

here, here, I too do fs/bs, but I don't care if anyone else does, that is just how I like my tatting to look.
I use Lily Morales LHPJ from Sabin Carden-Madden's website when using different colors, but otherwise, I do the normal up or down joins depending on if I am on the front or back side.
www.paradisetreasures.com/lhpj.html
is this the same join that Krystledawn uses?

LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...

Jeanne, Kystle came up with her own way of doing it and I found it very simple to do. If you email her I am certain she would give you her handout on it.

Kathy Niklewicz said...

I'm amazed you mentioned the lark's head join, as I only discovered it a few days ago through Karen Cabrera's excellent video. I had never heard of it before, and apparently didn't grasp the idea of it in Krystle's blog back in 2009. Karen's video shows how to do it very clearly, but I was going to experiment to see if I could do it in two steps, rather than one. Apparently Krystle has done that! One of the advantages is to eliminate the blips in joining with variegated threads.

And you're correct that photos on the internet are acting as magnifying glasses, and there are many who are perfectionists. It seems to me that fs/bs is only noticeable (if at all) on the base of the picots). Unfortunately it's another 'stressor' to add to our lives. I do whatever is comfortable at the time and try not to stress over these things! But fs/bs and neat ring closures do look great in photos!

Jane McLellan said...

Thanks for clear explanations!

Margarets designer cards said...

Your piece is very interesting, and shows the front and backside of tatting, very well, I think now we will all be looking at our tatting and checking which side we show the world.
Thank you for the observations in tatting.
Margaret

StringyDogs said...

Funny. I had seen all of the techniques you mentioned at one place or another. But to have them presented together in such a simple format... In science, we call such studies "elegant". I suppose because all is straightforward.

Thank you for a very interesting and elegant study. I will have to ponder whether to take up these ways of tatting. I may not yet, I am still in the counting stitches twice before I close phase.

tattrldy said...

This is a great observation on tatting construction. I do fs/bs because I like the look of it. I haven't been doing the extra half stitch at the end of a ring but am giving it a try - when I remember! Tatting is very much a habit that I have to stop and think about this. I've also gone over to Krystal's blog to check out how she does that LHPJ and will give it a try. I want to enjoy tatting so if it gets too much of a bother I'll keep doing what I'm doing :)) As you point out, if you're happy with how your tatting there's no reason to change. Happy tatting!

magic shuttle said...

wow great post...I just came across it randomly while browsing the web...Glad I came here !!

Mandi said...

Thx for the tips! I'm just starting out and was trying to figure out how to correct these little things that I didn't really care for. I have already made the changes and can see a huge difference. :)

Phoenix Rising Firearm Academy said...

I love it when I learn something new. Thank you so much!