Progress has been slow on my experiment to use Birgit Phelp's 2003 SweetHeart as a base for a bigger heart. What you see above is my third try at round two. While the round has potential, it is not working right for this project. The design gods are laughing.
It might be time to confess that I signed up for the new design-tat beginner course. Having tatted off and on for almost 30 years, I figured it was high time I actually learned to design.
Two Celtic tatting shuttles, plus a free spool of Olive Green DMC Cotton in size 80. Woo Hoo! Celting tatting here I come!
However, before the first design-tat lesson was complete, I go and upset the applecart with my Big, Lofty Idea. It is a curse to have a brain that leaps ahead instead of learning step by step.
Design-Tat lesson 1 homework
In this case, as I tatted out a simple ring-and-chain homework assignment I contemplated both the best way to achieve a straight edging and what role mathematics might play in achieving pleasing compositions. Sounds complicated, doesn't it?
It would not be surprising if my tombstone read: Done in by BLI's.
One of the other students in the design-tat class mentioned wanting to tat Moorish-style designs. I was immediately intrigued! Which led my over-eager brain to leap about spouting random bits of geometry and music theory.
By no means am I an expert in either category. Far from it! But as geometric shapes danced in my head, I mulled over how they might be used to their best advantage. Imagine a heart shape as a triangle with two half-circles on top. See a snowflake as either a cluster of triangles with a core hexagon or a spoked wheel or a spidery web.
I also toyed with bits of music theory, namely ABA rhythm structure. Could ABA structure be a signpost to Moorish-style design?
Honestly, I get these ideas and then cannot resolve them, because I don't have the necessary in-between information to get to the logical conclusion. That's why I need the design-tat course.
But it is not right to bewilder the other design students with my BFIs. So I will table them for now.
On a lighter note, I got a package in the mail this week. Wanna see?
Two Celtic tatting shuttles, plus a free spool of Olive Green DMC Cotton in size 80. Woo Hoo! Celting tatting here I come!