As I was working on a fifth trial of a new design, I became curious to find out how big my scrap pile has become. After digging through my craft bins I came out with this:
Perhaps it's not that impressive, but I wonder what it will look like in another three years. I sorted through the tatting and separated it into sections, trying my best to remember where each one originated.
The largest pile is a group of design trials that ended up as completed patterns. It's not unusual for me to go through 4 or more versions of the same design to achieve the look that I want and to get the pattern to lay flat. I'm not sure if this encompasses all of my designs, as there could be more that I don't remember throwing away.
A much smaller pile is design ideas that never took bloom. These were abandoned rather quickly, when I decided that it just wasn't going to work out. For some reason, I have a particular problem with creating butterflies, and have yet to make a successful one.
Another small pile involves learning new techniques. These include woven picots, self closing mock rings, split rings, folded joins, and interlocking elements. I find that leftover thread on the shuttles comes in handy when trying out something new. There are a few that I can spot in this pile that might be worth looking into for future designs.
The last pile contains experimentations with book patterns, and a few of the Stawasz rosettes that I had to cut from my Monster Doily. Those rosettes took so long, I suppose I didn't want to part with them!
So that's it for my scrap pile. What do you do when you have bits of tatting or other crafts that don't quite make it as completed items? I'm going to keep adding to my scrap pile to see how big it gets in another few years.
I have lots of tatting scraps also. They're in several places, and every once in a while I find a new stash. My grandchildren love going through and choosing bits of lace!
ReplyDeleteI bet they do, it must be like a little treasure hunt :)
DeleteI also had scraps tucked away in a few places, and I'm sure there's more that I have forgotten about or have yet to find.
Oh my, Impressive !!! I can see so many potential pattern pieces in your scrap. And I particularly like the little lilac/purple with variegated thread butterfly on the right ! You Must write up the pattern(s).
ReplyDeleteI rarely throw away my scraps . But don't have them organized so well. When the tiny pieces start tangling themselves, I take them out & try to sort them into small containers within the larger box(es). In fact, I've been working on a post of my learning doodads from last year. Never got around to posting them, altho' they were photographed. Always thought I would create something better & more cohesive - but those days never come, do they ?! So now they will be put up as is.
I had stopped tatting for almost 10 years because of my growing pile of tatting motifs, laces, etc. which were not used. And now that pile/stash has only increased ;-P Luckily, most pieces are now smaller (3D, freeform, doodads) so .....
I can see a lot of beautiful tatting in your stash. How about making a kind of tatting collage ?!
A tatting collage is an interesting idea, Muskaan. I had not thought about that before. I think it would be even better the bigger my pile gets, so maybe in a few more years I will put something together. You've been tatting much longer than I have, so I'm sure your pile of lace has grown quite large!
DeleteScraps, I did make some pin cushions and decorated them with bits of scraps, used up quite a bit. Any shuttles with a bit of left over thread are used to make flowers or tiny butterflies, I try not to waste and any threads that are left over from shuttles are also put in a bag they come in handy for butterfly antenna, or to hang a snowflake. I was told as a child waste not want not.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
That's a great idea, Margaret. I wish I could say the same, but I've started to throw away the bits left on my shuttles! That only happened after I realized that I was running out of empty shuttles and I hadn't yet made any butterflies or flowers with the leftovers. In fact, I have the opposite problem of an ever growing thread stash and not enough tatting projects to ever use it all up!
DeleteWow! That's an impressive pile of scraps :). You could always try joining them all up somehow? LOL I only keep the ones if they are a decent size as I still make mistakes in the first round :).
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have much at all if I wasn't designing things. I've got 10 more pieces to add to the pile from a cross that will not come together the way I want . I'm taking that as a sign that I need to step back for a while!
DeleteI cut them up into bits and leave for the birds in the spring to add to their own artwork! I cannot stand to have my scraps about as I get depressed looking at what I managed to make a mess of - especially if it was a new technique. And there ALWAYS is a new technique...
ReplyDeleteIf only we had birds again this year. They don't seem to like the first floor as much as they liked the third floor apartment. It was really neat watching the little ones take flight last summer. Though one did crash into the window first, before making their way into the tree!
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