Drama and Lace

Ah Friday, that magically day. Only one more day worth of stuff that has to be done before there are couple of days where stuff only 'should' get done. Yeah, there's barely a difference, but I am wiped this week so I'm clinging to it. Yesterday was another odd one, sure it was my own fault for being curious and diving into the tatting drama that I stumbled upon. I'm not going to go into details as it serves no other purpose than to drag out the issue which I honestly think was someones intention...sorry, I'm stopping. Anyway the drama brought up other fairly non related drama and my morning was spent in a search for the truth of that matter. I ran into a phrase I had not actually heard before in reference to needle tatting and that was 'faux tatting'. This set me off more than I would like to admit and after much research I came back to a phrase I saw not so long ago though I can't remember who said/wrote it first. 'The knot does not care how it was made.' I thank that person who I can't remember the name of immensely for that peaceful thought and that it where I would like to leave all of that nonsense. Again, sorry for the cryptic, but as much as I needed to vent, I was not about to start even more drama as a result of it.

Back to the caterpillar. I've been staring and hoping that it would say to me in plain language, 'I'm done.' but it hasn't happened as of yet. I did fix the issue I was having with the lace folding with a small piece of wire. I thought about the questions brought up in the comments and here are the answers. I stopped the spots because they are only on the head portion of the 'real' caterpillar and as to the other question, I can devise no way to add eyes that wouldn't come off as creepy. Back to the dots though, just now, I looked over at the piece and I think that might actually be the ticket. I got caught up in reproducing that I forgot that this is suppose to be inspired by the character, not a reproduction of him. I think adding the dots all the way around would give the piece that finished look that has alluded me. Thank you, oh readers for your comments, they are useful...especially you victats for the questions.

Though I remained stumped on the caterpillar I moved full steam ahead on the new necklace design. After faithful reproduction of the original pattern, I busted out the scissors to cut away a useless row. Then I was back to my old ways of making stuff up as I go. I came up with a few adjustments and a whole new row. This actually shrank up the piece a little, so I'm now in the process of devising a continuation of the pattern that makes up for a small amount of space. Seriously, sometimes the hardest bit of a necklace design is adjusting for the right length without completely mangling the design.

After I get that worked out and apparently after I make a zillion little blue dots for the caterpillar, I'll work the piece up in black and them it's final color combination that is part of the secret so I won't be sharing that. Then I need to design a variation of the necklace. One that matches, but is different. I already have a good idea of how that is going to work, but as we know, things don't generally work out as planned. Now I shall leave you with yesterday's picture from my 365 project, because I liked it a lot and thought you might too.

Tunnel of Lace

I'm Baaack!

I'm here and not remotely prepared to face the day of laundry and inventory that awaits me. I'm certain to give a more thorough analysis of the weekends Maker Faire experience but here's the quick rundown. I wish I could say that I saw many wonderful sites and explored the maze of creativity that abounded and the fair, but truth is I arrived at 8 each morning, trudged back to the Carnival Mechanique and laid anchor. The crowd volume was intense and there was little time for anything other than minding our tables and talking to the hundreds, perhaps thousands of people that swarmed by us. I literally did not use the bathroom the entire time I was at the fair.

The wind was awful both days requiring us to continually rescue our own displays as well as our teammates. This also made it almost unbearable cold in the shade, so awesome outfits were hidden by wraps and jackets. We also had the added bonus of a steam powered locomotive directly behind us that sounded its horn at intervals throughout each day causing us to stop and plug our ears mid conversation. The sport of choice was browsing with a side of extreme business card grazing, but I think all the members of our group as well as the folk that sent in items to sell, sold something at least. Though I have yet to do my inventory, I think I did fairly well overall. I feel that at least the trip did not end up costing me any money.

The absolute best parts of the faire for me were the people. I heard and uttered the phrase, 'I know you from the Internet' countless numbers of times. I finally met all me new best friends form the steamteam and found my blind date fear of rejection was ill founded and they were fabulous and my daughter bonded unexpectedly with the other Pamela aka ClockworkCrow. I met several folks from instructables and got my special button for my presence on their site. I also spent many hours explaining tatting as well as Steampunk and I think we brought many people into both camps.

I have much more to share, but for now, here's a few pictures...sorry to say they were not many taken...except by complete strangers.

The Tatted Mask Strikes Again

You might have noticed that I wasn't around yesterday. I have a really good excuse though. My daughters eardrum burst and her sister was sick as well. We spent the morning at the doctors office and I spent the rest of the day playing nursemaid to the two of them. There was a lot of napping, but while they were awake, there was crying and clinging and I guess blogging really didn't seem important.

As the evening arrived, they did seem a bit better and I received an email from flickr. My tatted mask had won a third place in the diy/instructables Halloween contest in the costume category. I had entered simply by adding a photo to their flickr pool and I almost forgot about it, assuming of course that I had no chance up against some of the amazing creation featured there. In the message I received, it was suggested that I also upload a slideshow to the site which required no step by step instruction, so I went ahead and did so again assuming it would be lost among the other more interesting thing on the site. Moments later I received a message saying that the slideshow was featured on the front page of Instructables. I've no idea how it will be there, so run now and take a look.

It has been pointed out that there are no instructions, so why is it featured? I've no idea, they thought it was cool enough I guess. I will tell you though, the interface to make the slideshow was super easy and I just might have to try my hand at listing some patterns there in the future. So a bad day ended on a high note and the tatted mask has again asserted itself as my claim to fame. I still laugh that it started out as a custom request from someone who changed their mind. I guess the moral of the story is, if someone challenges you to make something unexpected, take the challenge, you never know where it might take you!

Last In Line

I am not a selfless person, I was always the first in line to eat. I wasn't only out for number one, but I certainly made sure I got mine. You know that person at the concert t-shirt stand that pushes through the crush of the crowd up to the front without blinking an eyelash, yeah that was me. Of course that was before I had kids, now I have patience, avoid crowds and I am generally the last in line for seemingly everything. I did do the line crush thing wearing my baby in a sling last year at MacWorld, but if you've ever seen the line for badge pick up there, you'd understand.

I can not even remember the last time I tatted something just for me. You see my list of priorities starts with the children/family and then my customers, then the household and then me. I am bringing in all this up so you will understand the event that me making my own Halloween costume pieces actually is. Over the weekend I decided that the finishing touch to me generic "goth" costume would be tatted edgings on my shaping corset.

I tatted two separate edging pieces and tacked them on the stretchy corset. Though I do like the way it turned out, I also decided that I am going to make a 'real' one as well. Since I have no desire to sew my own corset, boning scares me, I ordered a relatively inexpensive one that I will embellish when it arrives. Many moons ago I was approached by a corset maker to make lace for her to embellish her designs, but I think my price was a little too much for her and I never heard back, so I'll just do one myself. I figure I can offer it for sale as a made to order piece, since all the corset makers seem to do that.

I promise that I will post pictures of me in my Halloween costume after next weekend. I do plan on also wearing one of my masks and chokers, so I should be all tatted up.

The Tatted Mask

Yesterday I waxed poetic on the downside of a disappearing custom customer. Today, I'd like to share the bizarre upside of this phenomenon. I was asked if I could create a masquerade mask by a customer just the other day. They haven't necessarily disappeared, but even if they did, I was left with a very intriguing project which I'm doing one way or the other. The spark of an idea has entered my head and like my tatted hats and scarves it will not go away until the idea has come to fruition. I know that I said I wouldn't start work on a custom project without payment, but this one I'm doing just for the adventure of it.

These off the way ideas that don't seem to fit well with tatting are like a drug to me. I am not the most talented or skilled tatter by a long shot. I have seen those that create amazing three dimensional objects, animals, perfectly tensioned doilies and countless other projects far beyond my meager skills, but I am creative. My style and taste in tatting is very different than most I've seen and the chance to create something that has not been done before is not something I can pass up.

I've already begun and the process has already yielded yet another benefit. Through the power of split rings, I've re imagined a pattern that I could never do before. As a needle tatter, I am often confronted with a vintage shuttle pattern that I cannot for the life of me convert into needle tatting. While the occurance is rare it is none the less extremely frustrating. My overwhelming desire to creat this mask allowed me to work through the mental block and I have done it! To prove this, I have posted a rare photo of me and my gigantic ball of practice thread.

Here's the beginning of the mask with the vintage motif rescued through the magic of split rings. The final mask will be done in black, of course and I'm hoping to have one done in time for the Halloween season. This is definitely going to be an "art" piece that I hope even other tatters will be impressed with. I hope you won't mind being updated on this project as I'm certain it will dominate my thoughts for awhile.

Well...

If you've been paying any attention at all, you know what today is. That's right it's the 10th anniversary of the imac, oh and it's my birthday too. If you haven't done it yet, you might what to hazard a guess in my blog contest detailed in yesterdays post. You have until I get up Monday morning to get your guess in. While you're reading that post, make sure you check out the sale that ends at midnight tonight.

I figured I would take a moment to look back on my last year and what it has brought. I celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary. My baby grew into a toddler and my toddler grew into a kid, so my life as a wife and mommy has evolved dramatically. My creative life too, has grown by leaps and bounds. During the course of the last year. I was published twice in Belle Armoire Jewelry, started my blog, joined indiepublic, the Etsy SteamTeam and was featured in several wonderful blogs. Both my skill and tatting style has improved and I've designed dozens of new pieces. I feel like I've gotten much better at taking product shots and I actually started using my flickr account. I hosted my first Tatting challenge and it went better than I could have imagined.

I've also made many new friends through my blog, etsy, steamteam and random connections. It is the continued support of these amazing people that has helped me come into my own as an artisan. As I write all this out, I am actually amazed at all I have done this last year. I really didn't feel like I was that busy throughout the year. Now I'm a little afraid of what my next year will bring. How much further can I really go? I guess only time will tell. Well, I'm off to enjoy my day, so don't forget to enter the comment contest and see you all on Monday.

Tatting Is Not A Lost Art

The Challenge

With one week to go until the July 31st deadline, I am already thinking about my next challenge. So far, the challenge has gone off without any major malfunctions and I feel like it's already gone a long way to exposing tatting to new eyes. I actually discovered a treasury at etsy full of tatting curated by beadsandpieces and thanks to the pieces already made and listed for the challenge, four of the pieces feature my tatting. While the challenge is certainly not making me any money and it was never intended to do so, it has had the side effect of garnering me some extra exposure.

I will be sending out convos to all the participants of the challenge later today with a deadline reminder and I would love if tons of people would visit the flickr group in the next week to view the entries. I will of course be posting them all here after the deadline as well. I would also love if any other bloggers would mention the challenge and post the winners when they are announced for a little further exposure. I might be tempted to offer a small discount at my store for anyone who takes me up on the posting offer.

As for the next challenge, I will be needing some input before I proceed. Should I start the challenge next month with a deadline in October or should I wait until after the holidays? Should the challenge piece be a square, snowflake, simple edging or should I stick with the medallions? I've also been trying to come up with a way to involve other tatters in the challenge, but so far I'm up coming up with a blank. So any ideas on that front would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance for any opinions and check back for the entries and winners in the next couple of weeks!

What A Weekend

What a roller coaster of a weekend! Friday afternoon as I lounged around, waiting for dinner and fireworks, I pulled out my laptop and discovered my Portrait of an Elegant Bride on the front page of Etsy. I watched as the hearts and views poured in during the duration of my stay. What's kind of funny, is that I was actually watching the views on that piece since I recently changed the picture to one of myself wearing the piece. It went from about 600 to almost 1400. That was an amazing rush. Then it got a little weird. On Saturday morning, I awoke to a a handful of sales. I know, why is that weird? Well it's all a little odd for me because until recently I averaged one or two sales a week. I also had a thread at etsy revived for the third day. I've never had a three day thread before. I started to freak out a little and I made a few mental jumps. I thought perhaps this was me taking off, but then I jinxed it, I ordered supplies. Sunday saw no sales, anemic views and basically no attention at all. This allowed me to float gently back to earth. I'm now breathing easy, no longer anxious about an impending fame.

On another note, I'd like you all to visit this site and view the glory that is maintenance mode! This is the site that stole mine and other tatters images in a blatant attempt to sell public domain patterns. I wrote all about it here. I've been watching the site like a hawk since all this occurred and about a week or so it went down. I don't know if we have won the war or just the battle, but since it hasn't come back up yet, I'm cautiously optimistic. The one thing that this drama has taught me, is to be truly proactive about protecting your images. If you missed my cautionary tale, I think it's worth a minute to read. I'd also like to make a public thanks to all the people who banded together to help stop this from happening. I received many emails from the tatting community at eTatters and Here Be Tatters, of which I'm not even a member as well as Lily from SteamTeam at etsy and her many friends that helped out with a guerilla style campaign. So, thanks everyone for taking the time to help stop this thief. I hope that it really worked, but only time will tell.

Perception Of Value

Ah, I'm finished. I haven't shared, but I've been tatting my fingers to the bone the last few days to finish one of my most interesting custom orders to date. I made a total of 72 inches of lace in the same pattern as this choker. I'm told this lace will adorn sleeves and a scarf edge and after all this work, I really should ask to see the finished garment, but I don't want to impose. Anyway, the reason I bring this up is, it got me thinking about pricing again. I know that many creators have a devil of a time pricing goods and I think I might know where the problem is coming from now.

I knew that it was going to take many, many hours to create this order of lace, so despite a small discount for being such a large order, I priced the lace accordingly and I assumed my customer would balk at the price and the request would be rescinded. I was pleasantly surprised to be told that the price was fair. As I completed the project and held all this lace in my hand, I thought, man I wouldn't pay that much for this. And there it is, right there, our whole problem! Of course we wouldn't pay that much for our products because we can make them, but we are not our target audience.

Okay, so here's my comparison. I don't sell my knitting anymore, but I have mad knitting skills. When I go to a craft fair, I take one look at the prices on knitted scarves and I laugh, not because they are over priced, but because I would never pay that much for one. I can make that scarf and I'm not just one of those people who just says that, I really can. I however take a look at the prices for metal worked jewelry and think wow, I wish I could afford that. See, I have no skills in that area so I would pay a premium for it. Here's another example, my husband is a computer tech, I know so is yours probably, but I digress. He fixes and updates all our computers without a second thought and he also works on the side for a few select folk on occasion. He had a really hard time decided how much to charge for his work too, because he would never pay someone to fix his computer he really didn't know how much his skill was worth to others.

It's always hard to step out of our skin and look at our goods as if we didn't know how to make them. My 72 inches of lace looked so amazing as I was wrapping it in tissue, like something imported from an exotic land, every knot made by hand one at a time. It is worth the price paid for it even if I would never pay that much for it. Perhaps we just need a fresh set of eyes every once and a while to remind us that while we are surrounded at etsy with other creators, it's not like that everywhere. Our concentrated numbers online has blinded us to a general population that does not actually create things everyday. It's easy to forget that not everyone knits, throws pottery, paints, tats, lathes, crochets, solders or sews as a hobby or for a living. We are still few and we have every right to charge what we're worth. So forget what you would pay for your goods and think about what you would pay for mine or for something else you don't make. Then maybe you can start to attach a real value to your pieces. It is, after all, all about perception.

A Lost Art

So awhile back I made some ridiculous goals with the intent of keeping myself forever moving forward. One of those unreachable goals was to make tatting the next big crafting craze. Then something weird happened, I thought I might actually give it a go, well not exactly that, but a modified version. I what to expose tatting to a wider audience so that it is no longer referred to as a lost art. How, you ask. Well, I'm still working out all the details and I'm gonna need a little help from as many people as I can get.

I submit to you, Tatting is not a lost art: the challenge. I've done a beading challenge a few times and I thought, why not do something like that to get more people to not only see tatting, but use it in their own pieces. What I was thinking of doing is offering a tatted medallion in one or two colors at maybe $5 or $6 to anyone that wants to participate. The challenge would be to use that medallion in your own work, be it jewelry, multimedia art, clothing, whatever. Then you would list the creation for sale on etsy using something like TotusMelchallenge as a tag or upload it to a flickr group I would create if you aren't a seller or simply don't want to sell the piece. All of this would be done within a set time limit. I would recruit a small panel of judges and the winner(s) would receive something from my shop or another prize to be determined.

My ultimate goal here, is to get tatting a lot of exposure and hopefully by association get myself a little exposure even if it means eventually there will be more tatters to compete with. What I need from all of you out there is input. I need to know if you think this is a good idea. Would you participate? How good would the prize have to be to get you to play? Should I offer the medallion in just one color(ecru) or perhaps two (ecru & black)? How long should the time limit be? I'm thinking that I need a least a dozen people to make this worth the effort, so I'm going on a forum recruiting spree soon. If you'd like to be kept in the loop, just shoot me an email using the Contact Totusmel link on the bottom of the right column or convo me on etsy.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm at that point in motherhood where my children have very little idea of what it is that I actually do for them. This means that any gift I receive for this holiday is really from my husband, so it's kind of hard for me to really see the holiday as mine yet.

It is however a holiday for my Mom and my Mother-in-law. I spent the last couple of weeks constructing their Mother's day gifts. I really haven't decided whether I will be making more of these for sale, but I wanted to show them off.
This first one here was made with yarn from fearlessfibers. It's a superwash merino hand dyed in a brick house colorway. My mom's favorite color is red, but I didn't want something too bright and this worked perfectly.

The second one was a merino wool nylon blend in an amazing green called Margarita from Jenhintz. This was her first hand dyed sale and since my Mother-in-law has a love of extreme greens, it was the obvious choice for her scarf. Both yarn sellers were great to work with. It's always a bit scary for me to buy hand dyed yarn. I 'm always afraid that my monitor has misrepresented the colors somehow, but these were exactly as described.

I'm still not quite finished with my new scarf design. I hope to knock it out today, so I'll have something to show off for tomorrow.

All this mother's day stuff has also got me thinking a bit about this tightrope I walk between being Mom/Wife and being and individual. I know a lot of people wonder about keeping the balance between etsy and family, but for me it's the balance between me and my family because my tatting and etsy are truly the only things I do during the day that are only for me. I'm certain I've got a whole post worth of things to say on this subject, so I'll save it for another day.

For now, let me just say, I hope all you Mommies had a great day yesterday!