Mary and Me

Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts on the left, which inspired me to design the Floral Heart on the right:

Both are tatted in size 80 DMC Special dentelles thread. The dusty rose is color #3688 and the red is color #321.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Inspired by Mary

These two bookmarks are inspired by Mary Konior's "Corn and Chaff," from her book Tatting in Lace.

Ever since tatting Corn and Chaff, I wondered how Mary was able to make these braid patterns. I finally figured out a way to do it, but find it easier to work with larger ring sets of three and four. It's basically a matter of balancing the curvature of the large ring, with the arch created at the base of a ring set. There's some trial and error in getting things to fit snugly.

Some interesting shapes can be made with these one shuttle patterns. Here's a version with pairs of rings:

Braids

I haven't had the chance to go to the store to buy any stiffening products for my tatted box yet. Maybe I'll have some time this weekend to test out some glues and other stiffeners on my tatting scraps. I've got a box full of scraps so I have plenty to work with.

I did manage to finish some other experimental tatting, similar to the "Braids" found in Mary Konior's books. I've always wondered how she designed these patterns and wanted to try it out myself to see if I could understand how it was done. These are pretty basic and were put together last night as a test:

They are my own little designs and I've tried to emulate Mary Konior's style. I'd like to experiment more to see what other things I can come up with. I also noticed that Mary Konior uses ring formations to make tatted squares and hexagons. I think that would be worthwhile to look at as well.

In other news, Billy turned 10 on Tuesday (February 28). That's about 80 in human years! Here he is with a cupcake. We don't allow him to eat them but luckily he had no interest in it anyways :)

Mary Konior's "Patchwork" as a magic square

In my last post, I talked about wanting to create a magic square out of four ringed flowers, similar to those used by Mary Konior. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered, "Why not transform one of Mary's patterns into a magic square?" That idea seemed like more fun, and so I went along with it. I'm a big fan of Mary's patterns and I think this one turned out nicely.

This pattern is called "Patchwork" and appears in Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns. The original pattern is a small repeatable square that can be connected to other squares to make a large mat. I transformed it into a magic square by adding trefoils to the corners of the small squares.

For those who would like to try this pattern adaptation, here are my notes. As you tat this, keep in mind that the central flowers have a slightly different stitch count so they can attach to the trefoils. I've also changed a lot of the original stitch counts to suit my tatting style:

Right clicking and opening the photo in a new tab should make the stitch counts large enough to read. Numbers in the diagram show one repeat. The flower in the lower left corner (where numbering begins) is a good place to start tatting this pattern.

If you are really ambitious, you could make the square much larger. I digitally altered the photo to give an idea of what a larger magic square would look like:

I'd recommend starting in the corner and working your way around like this:

This larger square is all done in one pass, but it is quite a maze and careful attention is needed to keep your place!

What's in the box?

Do you have a place where you store your completed projects? I've been putting all of my small motifs into an acid free photo box that I purchased at a local craft store. Since I've only been tatting for a few years (and have taken month long breaks in between), I don't have many items in there yet:

One of the patterns I've made a lot of is Mary Konior's Corn and Chaff from Tatting in Lace.

I first saw this pattern on Frivole's blog, and liked it so much that I found the book through Interlibrary loan. At the time, I was still very new to tatting and found this pattern to be perfect for practicing making rings. It's also a one shuttle pattern so it travels well.

I used Lizbeth size 20 and made the edging into bookmarks, many of which have been gifted. I also found it a great way to preview the different colors of thread.

Eventually, I did find Tatting in Lace, and paid around $30 for it. I don't remember if it was from eBay or Amazon:

It's a difficult book to find, as it's been out of print for many years. However, if you live in the United States, go to your local library and ask them about Interlibrary loan. I've acquired a copy this way and I've also seen someone else post about it on their blog.

As for current tatting, I am taking a small break from the Stawasz Tat-along. I've been so busy apartment searching that I've had a really hard time keeping up with blogs and the tatting forum. Everything is in place now, so hopefully I will have some Mega Doily progress photos to show next week.