Wednesday, August 6, 2008

I Made It Myself

As you may be aware, I am fairly new to the world of tatting. I've only been at it for a few years. A year or so ago I had an etsy friend ask me to deign a piece for them, a large heart. So I did what I always did at that point, I searched the Internet for patterns. I ran across an uncredited picture of a tatted heart, figured out the pattern and made it up in a couple of different colors. After I sent off the one my friend liked I listed the other in my shop. Later I was contacted by etsy who had been informed that the pattern was copyrighted and permission had not been given for me to sell anything made with it. I was mortified, I removed the listed and vowed that I would only use public domain patterns and start creating my own designs.

Flash forward to a couple a days ago when the same request was made of me, except this time the heart needed to fit inside a preexisting shape. Now, I have designed many pieces of jewelry and a few small motifs at this point, but I have never designed something this big. First I tried to draw the design out and when that failed, I just started to design as I tatted. This is the most comfortable method for me. I used scraps of tatting from failed prototypes and laid them around the design until it felt right.




So, here it is my very first large motif. It isn't finished as I still have to hide the thread ends, but it fits just inside the shape and I'm pretty proud of myself. Does this mean that I'm a grown up tatter now? Probably not. I've seen designs that make mine look like stick figures sitting next to the Mona Lisa. I just hope that if I've come this far in just a few year that after a couple of decades of tatting, I am as amazing at it as some of the other tatters I've seen.

4 comments:

SarahKelley said...

We all start somewhere and we don't know about copyrights till someone tells us!
Still it's a pretty pattern, I love your solution and you have every right to be proud!

Jane Eborall said...

HEY, you've stolen my method of designing!! The 'tat it and see' way!!! Well done. Welcome to the 'nearly' grownup world of designing!!! If you could see how much thread I've 'wasted' over the years you'd be apalled!!!!
JaneEb

Unknown said...

Wow, it's beautiful. I cannot imagine having he patience itmust take to tat. Tammy

Unknown said...

The heart motif is absolutely beautiful. Good job!