Highs and Lows are the order of the day....

Here is the first batch of ceramic shuttles in over a year and a half. Doesn't seem like much huh? I had a fair amount of losses, but that is to be expected. No tears this time, only blood and sweat literally. I had some very generous tatting friends donate bits and pieces of their tatting for use in my pottery and this is the result. Since the tatting was so fine....(size 80 or finer) the resulting tatting texture is very detailed. I hope you like them as much as I do!
I am not sure when the next batch will be ready....maybe by Christmas but I cannot make any promises.

I don't know what is more exciting ...the new shuttles....or this....

This just arrived in my mail box and I am SOOO thrilled. I am not sure I really deserve the honor. I barely squeaked by on a few projects...LOL! Thank you so much to Bobbie D and the other T.A.T. crew. You guys are AWESOME!!! I will continue to strive to be the best tatter I can be!

....side note....
As a potter it is my life's ambition to be a Master Potter. One cannot self proclaim the title of "Master", it is an honor which must be bestowed upon by one's peers. All master potter's that I know personally have a beautiful head of snow white hair...so as you can imagine I cannot wait for my hair to turn gray fast enough....LOL!

...anyhoo I looked in the mirror today and I am well on my way with new gray hairs sprouting every day...WHOO HOO!

With all that said I will wear my Master Tatting Pin with pride (it took me nearly three years to complete it after all).


And now for the lows which keep me balanced so that I don't annoy every one with my overwhelming happiness.
I am still having problems with my hands. I called the neurologist's office again this morning to see why on earth it is taking so long to get a fruit-loopin appointment made. I have to back up a little and tell you that I have been trying to get in since October 24th. The receptionist at the office is the rudest person I have ever encountered. She has been so snippy to me every time I call....and she always says she will call me back with an appointment time...yet she never does. I don't know what the deal is but I am about ready to just give up!

This morning I sliced my thumb open somehow and didn't even notice it until there was blood all over the place. You see, my hands are so numb I can't feel it...in a way I suppose that could be a benefit. But anyhow, I am really annoyed right now. Why do some people feel the need to be total jerks? It is so unnecessary!

Back to the good news, I will be listing the few shuttles I have on hand a bit at a time. Enjoy my friends!

Keeping on....

I ran out of hooks but that hasn't stopped me from decorating cases...here is a preview of what is to come.


Me being me, I absolutely HAVE to decorate each hook pen uniquely...can't keep them plain or make several of the same....just can't do it! These are a lot like my ceramic shuttles that way. See the "Pin up" girl, the Sunflower princess and a church landscape? I included a close up of the cherub? Each of these have neat little details and special touches.

Just like everything I do, these are made with the most top notch materials I can find. I do not cut corners, nor do I go the cheap route when it comes to my creations. These have stainless steel hooks and the pen casing is very strong.

...needless to say I am making very little profit on these...I am doing it mostly for fun.


These are currently listed in the shop, I will be listing a couple more this week. Since I am out of hooks it may be awhile before more are listed.

More LadyShuttleMaker Hook Pens on the way....

Hi friends,
I am overwhelmed that these bookmark hook pens are being received so well. I have sold out today but please don't worry I am working on more as you can see.
I cannot rush them because I have to make sure every single one is perfect. Of course just like my shuttles I test them before they go out.

For these new ones I dipped in to my special reserve of decals (some of which are vintage) and I am excited about how they are all turning out.

The hooks are quite small (as one would expect for tatting) the largest being size 10 (very small) and the smallest being size 13 (super tiny) with sizes 11 and 12 in between. I had to go out and search all over town for some hooks. Let me tell you, these are not easy to find. I cleaned the town out and will be working the next few days to offer what I can while I can.
I also have lots of fun ideas for decoration too...because of course each one HAS to be one of a kind!
Please keep checking the shop and the blog for updates.

A new tatting tool?

My DH bought this headlamp for me hoping that I will go on night bike/hikes with him. I am sure I will.
But I found a better use for it! It is awesome for tatting...especially those dark hard to see threads. It is perfect. It is adjustable so that it shines right on your hands and it is super bright! Brighter than any lightbulbs I have in the house.
Hey and if the electricity goes out I can still keep on tatting.

Tatting Ideas

I am working on new gift cards to include with all my sales both tatting and pottery related. These have a little tatting bits on them. What do you think?

Also, I haven't found the need for picot gauges until recently when I wanted to do that picot trick on one of my butterfly patterns. Anyway, I found a use for those phony credit cards I am always receiving in my relentless onslaught of junk mail...yep, you guessed it...we have picot gauges folks!

I am sure someone has already thought of this out there but here you go anyway. I use these little plastic cards for pottery tools as well.

Love to TAT

I wanted to tat something for my Aunt who is sending me copies of some of my great grandmother's original poetry. I don't know what this motif is going to be, I just started tatting and this is where I ended up. I guess even I will have to wait to see what it becomes.

I finally got my Tatters across Time mailed off. I've had it finished for a couple of weeks but they are very particular about how it should be packaged and sent back so that took me almost as long as the actual tatting. But it is another thing I can cross off my list and I am very excited for the next step of the program.

It's been two weeks since the dog attack and I have not been able to do any pottery. My hand just hasn't healed enought yet. I have been out longer than I thought I would, much to my chagrin, but I have been able to do a lot of other things I normally wouldn't have time to do. So I guess there really IS a bright side to everything.

Applying what I learned

I finished this butterfly last night. I used all the techniques I learned over the weekend in this design with the exception of the split chain. Each wing was tatted with no interruptions. It may look simple but it is in fact the most technical piece of lace I have ever designed. Although not perfected my cluny leaves are getting better. You haven't lived until you've had to undo a cluny.
I forgot to add in my earlier post that I literally brought a shoe box full of ceramic shuttles to the convention (five months worth of work fit in a shoe box). I did not go to the convention primarily to sell my shuttles but I did sell just enough to break even on the trip. That was a real blessing.

I'm back from the convention

Well, I can no longer say that I have never seen another tatter tat!
Yay!
After being an isolated tatter for 17 years, I spent two fun filled days in Spokane, WA for the Shuttlebirds tatting convention with dozens and dozens of talented tatters. I am finally home after many hours of driving. I am sick (probably from too much stimulation over the weekend), I am exhausted and I have a ton of stuff to catch up on. But, be assured, I have many things to share in the coming days.
In the meantime here is a sunflower applique project that I did in Karey Solomon's class.
This was tatted with no cut and ties.

Baby Booties and Grandmothers

This is a picture of my niece's feet at her baby dedication wearing some booties I tatted. The pattern is from Beginning Tatting by Gloria Crowther. The ribbon is blue because they were tatted for my nephew a few years ealier but he came out of the womb with feet too big to wear them...so they were saved for his baby sister. She is one month old in this photo and the booties fit perfectly.

The Shuttlebirds Tatting Convention is this coming weekend. It will be the first time I will be around other tatters since my great grandma taught me 18 years ago. I can hardly contain my excitement. Even better, I got a phone call from my grandma this morning saying that she would like to join me! I can't believe it. My grandma is a shy quiet little person and she is going to leave the house and go all the way to Spokane with me. This is a major deal folks!
She doesn't tat at all but she is very supportive of my tatting. I am so excited to be able to spend time with her. This is going to be a very special weekend.
If you are going to Spokane this weekend I will see you there!
Whoo Hoo!

More Tatted Purses

It's spring cleaning time. I found some more of my old tatting packed away among my things. I tatted this many many years ago. I think I was still a teen when I did this one. It isn't the best example of tatting but I do remember it took me forever and a day. Look how long the strap is. I think this is also my first original piece. Mind you it isn't rocket science of a design but it was the first time I broke away from following patterns. I've kept it all these years for nostalgic reasons.

This one was tatted a few years later. It's a cylinder. I think I was going for green grass, flowers, blue sky and clouds. Can you see it? I used a mish mash of edging patterns and put it all together with different size threads. It must have been whatever I could find at the time. I was very poor back in those days.
It's funny that I've had these packed away for over a decade. I'm glad to finally have an excuse to pull them out and share them with you.

Also, I have started putting my "signature" on every photo I post from here on out. I did a search the other day and to my surprise I found more than a few of my photos that people had "borrowed" from me without my knowlege and posted on their own pages. It doesn't really bother me, it is flattering in a way, but it would be nice if people informed me that they were doing it.
I am sorry if it gets annoying seeing it on every photo here, but I feel I need to protect my creative work.
I may be over sensitive but I've had some unfortuate experiences in the past with my other artistic endeavors. With the internet being a "free for all", it's just the way it has to be.

Happy Tatting!

Success! (Insert smiley face here)

So I tatted up this little motif with size 80 tatting thread. To be honest I thought the pic tip might be too blunt for joining in this size thread. Not at all. I am very pleasantly surprised with how well this handles the finer threads. No problem at all with the joins. So Yay! A little bright spot in an otherwise not so wonderful day.

Latest Firing

A few of the Pic Tip Shuttles that came out of the kiln this morning. These have real tatted impressions. The plastic clover shuttle is thrown in the picture to give you a size reference.
I plan to tat something with one of the shuttles today to see how I like them.
Please forgive me if the tone of this particular blogging comes across a little on the negative side. I am very frustrated right now. If anyone ever accuses me of price gouging on these shuttles I think I will go 9 on the Richter scale. If people knew how much time and work I put into these and how many I lose along the way they would know that each shuttle is a bargain. Even other potters can't figure out how I accomplish this monumental task. Ok, I don't mean to rant on that particular subject. I don't want to bore you with technical potter speak but basically I started out with 40 shuttles and only 12 survived the process.
So you can see why I am very frustrated.

On a happier note: I was tatting at Barne's n Noble's last night and I heard this huge gasp and a lady rushed over to my table and started gushing about how she loves needle tatting. We had a lovely little chat.
This whole incident got me to thinking about how I can help further the art of tatting. When I am out in the public I am an ambassador for tatting. So how can I be the best promoter of tatting that I can be? Being a shy and introverted person, I do not feel comfortable talking to strangers, but I thought of a way that might help.
I am going to make up little pamphlets that have valuable information and resources on tatting like what it is and how to learn. When people approach me and ask me what I'm doing or tell me how their great Aunt used to tat then I will give them the pamphlet and encourage them to give it a try.

Tatted Purse Update #7 Almost finished

(((WHEW!!!)))....That is my big sigh of relief that this is almost done. I feel like I've put my heart and soul into this project for way too long. But tatting just takes a lot of time and at least I've seen this through. There were many times I wanted to give up from aching bones and muscles, not to mention a disconcerting "tingling" I got in my hands a few times.
I spent a lot of time taking out and re-doing stitches, but that is the way it is with designing. At least I have a pleasing feeling of accomplishment seeing the fruits of my labor.
The purse is now much too big to fit in my scanner. So I apologize for the less detailed photos.
And see....., I told you there would be a twist... You didn't see it coming did you?
Now I just need to create a liner for it. Once the liner is in place it is going to be a poofy (for lack of a better word) purse.
With the "twist" I wanted to create some volume. It will be 3 dimensional when it is completed.
Now I need to finish writing up the pattern and I hope to make it available in my shop real soon!

Butterfly Exchange and Great Tatting Group!

This is the perfect time to plug the MySpace Tatting Group. http://groups.myspace.com/tatting
This group just celebrated it's 1 year anniversary. I have made friends from this group that I hope will last a life time! This group has hosted several exchanges the most recent of which is a Butterfly exchange! Can we say WHOO HOO????
If you are looking for a great bunch of tatting people please check it out and even better, why not join? It's all free!
This is the Butterfly I received from my friend Linda. She found the pattern at
http://www.wcnet.org/~scwheels/page18.htm

The following are the butterflies that I made for my friend Jen who I will be meeting in "real" life for the first time in a couple of weeks. They are original patterns.

I will be sharing the bottom most pattern in the online tatting Class on Monday April 9th.

New Shuttles with Pic Tips

I am making new shuttles with pic tips for those who prefer that kind of shuttle.
These ones have impressed tatting designs too! These shuttles still have to go through two firings before they are finished. In these photos they are in what we potters call the "greenware" state. They are very fragile at this point.

I threw in a clover shuttle to get some perspective on size. The smaller the shuttle the more difficult they are for me to make. Keep in mind that the the clay shuttles will shrink even more during the firings.
I have several deadlines coming up in the tatting and potting world, and since I have been sick with flu-like symptoms I am starting to fall behind. I can feel the panic creeping up my throat.
So I best get back to work.

Tatted Purse Update #6

I didn't like how the white trim was bunching up the doily so I completely re-did the tatting. This has set me back a couple of days, but I wanted it to be right.
Also, I came down with some kind of flu and I feel terrible but I think the worst of it is over.

Tatted Purse Update #5

O.k., Here is the beginning of the "Twist". It was a trick and I had to re-do the trim a few times costing me a couple of hours. I like what I currently have and will need to start writing the pattern before I forget what I did.
Now that I am 75% done I can start looking ahead to tatting other projects. I have been consumed with this purse for a couple of weeks and my poor house and family are being neglected.
What do you think so far?

New Ceramic Shuttles

I listed over a dozen new shuttles today. I will be listing more in the days to come. Between the shuttles and tatting my purse I have been a busy lass!

Tatted Purse Update #4

Here is the final round. It now measures 8" in diameter. Now I will start on the "twist". I love tatting!

Tatted Purse Update #3

Here is the next round. It now measures 7 1/2" in diameter. Keep in mind that I am doing two of these at the same time for both sides of the purse.