It has been an interesting week, chronically fatigued, moderately stressed and lonely! But today is Friday and it is sunny outside and by golly I got to do some tatting! All I wanted to do was tat all week but other stupid stuff kept getting in the way....like taking care of everything and everybody else!
This is a rough draft, obviously unblocked, but continuously tatted... and in silk too! I've been thinking of free form, unregimented tatting and this is the direction that sort of thinking took me. We shall see where this road ends but for now I am just having fun tatting again.
Here is the simple little invention that is saving my hands from world of agony.
Have you ever thought about what we hand dyers go through to get your HDT skeins so beautiful...like flossy colorful ropes of candy? Well it takes hours upon hours of twisting then multiply that by a few thousand (yes I am in the thousands of skeins made now) and it is no wonder that I have carpel tunnel + tendinitis in BOTH hands in my tender thirties.
I guess this is more of an innovation than it is an invention but this is for you my other "hand dying for the love of tatting" friends. It takes less than 1 second to do the twisting job and it is saving me so much pain. I am quite happy just thinking about it.
This is the electronics and wiring in my kiln. $400 dollars later the replacement parts arrived on my doorstep and I spent an entire day on hands and knees with charts and diagrams and cryptic instructions but at last....SUCCESS! I fixed my kiln all by my little old self...(cursing the unfairness of it all the whole time.) It was a job that should have taken no more than an hour, that is if my husband were there to lend his muscles and his undamaged hands.
The "maiden" firing took place last night and all went well so that means I am back in business ya'll!
This makes me happy and should prove for a much better coming week.
Lot's more precious metal shuttles will be showing up in the shop soon!
