"Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem." ~ William Hamilton Gibson.
I have been working on a mixed media snowflake for several months now. Like a delicate snowflake, ideas for it have come and gone, melting before I can turn them into reality. I can only presume that other designers have a clarity of focus - or a process - that enables them to progress more steadily, but this has always been mine.
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| Mixed Media Heart |
I began with an article from the Online Tatting Class (founded by Georgia Seitz) that I had shared in August 2003 called Mixed Media Heart. It was a heart my mother found at a flea market in Florida in 2002. My parents had only just begun their 19-season-long winter treks to sunny North Florida. This heart was found after rummaging through a box of crocheted lace doilies. Haven't we all enjoyed a good rummage through the doilies, looking for tatted treasure?
Carolyn Groves wrote a pattern for the heart from the photos I sent to Georgia. Thank you again Carolyn for your excellent work!
Georgia's original post begins with "There is an old saying that needleworkers should not mix their media." I believe that old saying is wrong. Throughout history artists have excelled at combining mediums as suited their vision. The 2003 heart mixed tatting with thread crochet. I wanted to reshape it into a snowflake with my own creative vision. With any luck it would be a gem.
Round one combines six tatted rings, chains with decorative picots, and a crocheted chain across the top of the picots to add texture and dimension.
The decorative picots in round two mirror the technique in round one. A single shuttle split ring bridges the gap nicely, but I needed two threads to tat the next chain. See the problem? Several faltering attempts later (see photo below for the most hopeful of the discarded attempts) I changed the plan again.
Here is an Instagram photo of a pretty snowflake combining tatting with Turkish needle lace. It is my inspiration for round three, if I can recreate the needle lace. Wish me luck!
"I wish I could press snowflakes in a book like flowers." ~ James Schuyler.
5 comments:
On September 5, 2022 at 10:27 AM, Jane Eborall commented...
OMG - I can ‘see’ a possibility there. If you start the crochet in the middle of one of those chains and take the design out and in again in another round, would that work? You’ve wetted BC3’s creative juices!!!!
I do wish you luck. Mixing media can be very successful. Look at Marilee Rockley’s work for instance, mixing wire wrapping and tatting. I think many designers show us the final product, without showing all the angst and failures it took to reach that point!
Encapsulate a second thread in the lock joins to have at the ready for the bridging chain. The sssr could then be a regular split ring. Just a thought.
It's lovely to get to watch your design process!
Why not combine different techniques?
I think your idea for this snowflake will work, why cant we have some mixed media occasionally,I look forward to seeing your progress and finally a beautiful snowflake
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