I posted my second TattingTube video a week or so ago but haven’t had a chance to promote it.  Actually this video was created to introduce (more fully) my dream/inspiration of creating a video community of information about tatting to promote tatting.

Please consider creating a YouTube channel of your own and sharing your own journey/life with tatting.

When I went into YouTube today to get the address to my video I discovered that there is a new TattingTube channel & tatting content creator—Wanda’s Knotty Thoughts.  I was soooo excited to see this video.  Wanda’s YouTube video is exactly what I was envisioning.  The videos do not have to be long….its just a way to share what we’re working on; give patterns, designs, designers, etc exposure to show that TATTING IS NOT DEAD to the non-tatting public but also gives us a way to ‘meet/see’ other tatters.  I was so excited to be able to put a face to a name with Wanda as well as get an introduction to what she is working on.

Just today I was having coffee with my tatting friend, Beth when we bumped into my motorcycling friend, Dee and had coffee and conversation together. Upon hearing about Beth’s & my connection to tatting remembered hearing about a woman traveling with her mother in a sidecar. The mother tatted!!!

This really peaked my interest because: 1. I ride a motorcycle; 2. I used to ride a motorcycle with a sidecar (when my kids were little we took them everywhere with us, around the country, even to Alaska); 3. Tatting; 4. Cross-country touring.

So we looked it up and found the following article: https://ridermagazine.com/2015/08/04/effies-great-adventure-first-women-to-ride-cross-country/

According to the article, the mother in the sidecar, learned to tat in the first quarter of their cross-country trip and was after and avid tatter.

I just love this story!

I just today, created and posted a video to my new YouTube channel:  TheShuttleSmithTatting.

I’m a bit clumsy in my recording, but I had to start somewhere.  I find that if I ‘over-think’ something I never get it started/done. I hired a wonderful ‘social media marketer’ who has been helping me get-going in the confusing social media world.  She (Claire) pushed me to disregard my comfort-level and ‘just do it!’ That is why I actually have a video to post. (I can find a million excuses to not start something.)

In this video, I not only introduce myself  and my business, The ShuttleSmith, but I also am introducing my vision of creating a YouTube ‘community’ of tatters that I am naming ‘TattingTube’.  I will be posting more information about this concept in the very near future.  I’m very excited about TattingTube not only for myself but also for promoting the tatting world in general.

Please consider ‘liking’ and ‘subscribing’ to my YouTube channel to help me promote tatting.

Etsy.com/shop/TheShuttleSmith

For a limited time/volume, Karen Bovard-Sayre/The ShuttleSmith is making available (soon) her sterling silver tatting shuttles.

The yellow sign in the first photo was ‘dusted-off’. It was my original banner/sign from the 1990’s when I was actively making my sterling silver tatting shuttles.  (I taped-off the ‘sterling silver’ part when I recycled this sign for my Enameled Tatting Shuttles.)

So, the sterling silver shuttles shown in the first 2 photos from today are what I have available.  Look for them in my Etsy shop (TheShuttleSmith) soon.

I just realized that I haven’t really updated my website with my ‘new life’ change—I MOVED from Omaha, NE/Council Bluffs, IA to Grand Junction, CO the very end of 2021 (Dec 28th to be precise).

The first several months were spent settling into our new home. This meant not only unpacking stuff but also painting, cleaning, working in the yard, etc.  It turns out, we purchased a home that needed more work than we had thought.  In July, I just finished painting the last room!  We/had painted 3 bedrooms, the living and dining room (which was turned into my husband’s work-from-home office) before we moved in.  Once here/in 2022 I finished painting the hallway (the worst room with 6 doorways!), the entryway, kitchen and sun room.  We were without kitchen counters and kitchen sink for over 5 weeks due to Home Depot’s contractor messing up our new kitchen counter install.  I am so thankful for a kitchen sink to this day.

What free time I did have was spent preparing for the first ever Tatting Cruise hosted by Tatting Corner in March.  It was a blast!  If you get a chance, do go in the future (next one is scheduled for November 2023).  I shall plan to post more about that in upcoming blogs.

The next big event I prepped for was the IOLI (Lace) Convention in Phoenix, AZ area the end of July–July in Phoenix is quite hot!  I vended and took one class.  I debuted the first kit in my new business (Needle Lace Arts).  More about that the Convention and Needle Lace Arts in future blogs too.

I spend about a quarter of my time/life traveling back to Nebraska to visit elderly parents either by train (Amtrak–my favorite) or plane.

In the future, I plan to introduce you all to this beautiful new region that I live in.  I have enjoyed and been inspired by Jane Eborall’s photos of where she lives and have appreciated her willingness to share her home.  So I plan to do the same.

I would also like to start video blogging about tatting related things.  Stay tuned for more about that endeavor.

Any comments—contact me at:  k.bovard@yahoo.com or call me at: 402–960-7370.  Colorado is in Mountain time zone.

I’m finally getting around to posted links to the following two internet resources for two reasons: 1. Whenever I want to find these websites, I have to rediscover for myself what they are called, where the are. So I decided that if I posted it to my website, I would have a permanent place to go to find this information in one place; 2. These two sites are waaaay too wonderful to keep to myself. Everyone who enjoys tatting, lacemaking, needlework or fiber arts in general SHOULD know about these sites!

These 2 internet sites are libraries/repositories for books, articles, manuscripts, patents, periodicals, etc. that are in the Public Domain.

A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.

Thus the following two websites (one called the Antique Pattern Library and the other called The Digital the Archive of Document Relate to Lace) house digital copies of publications in PDF format that can be downloaded by an individual for personal use only. I understand that one is not allowed to profit from these documents.

However, if you frequent either Etsy or Ebay, you will find people selling digital/PDF files (instant downloads) of books possibly acquired from one of these two sources.

It is my understanding though that if you own a physical copy of a public domain book, you could also create a digital copy (from scanning or photography) of it that would be your own property, allowing you to sell your copy.

https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/

The following image is a snip image of the homepage of the Antique Pattern Library. If you click on any of the topics in the red boxes on the homepage it will take you more directly to just those publications of the genre/topic that you are interested in. There’s a lot of topics, huh?!

The second internet site to find a large collection of lace public domain publications is housed/collected at the University of Arizona. The following link will take you directly to the ‘Digital Archive of Documents Related to Lace’ (as seen in the image below) but if you go back a level (to …./patterns/weaving) you will find another archive dedicated to publications related to weaving (not lace). I think that this site started as a weaving archive and then added the lace archive later.

https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/lace.html

The following image is a snip image of the homepage of the Digital Archive of Documents Related to Lace. If you click on any of the topics in blue text on this page it will take you more directly to just those types of publications that you might be interested in. I would recommend starting with the ‘books’ link.

This is a compilation of the 2 (or more)-thread Glass/Enameled Tatting Shuttles that I have made through the years. Since I cut them out, I can do whatever I want, including more holes/slits for more threads. These shuttles were made with a variety of enameling decorative styles.

If you are interested in having one custom-made for you contact me: k.bovard @yahoo.com or call: 402-960-7370. You choose the shape, colors, etc.

I am constantly trying to analyze how to get fiber arts such as tatting and other lacemaking techniques recognized as ART.   Thus, I am starting a series of articles in which I explore various fiber artists and their work.

The artist that comes to my mind (immediately!) as who should be first to be highlighted is Agnes Herczeg. Agnes is a Hungarian artist who combines needle lace with small pieces of ‘found’ wood to create small but powerful pieces that can only be described as ART!

Please do take the time to explore the following links to see more images of her work as well as her work explained by various sites including The Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Look her up also by her name on FaceBook.

http://www.agnesherczeg.com
This is Agnes's personal webpage/site.  Check out pieces for sale under 'SHOP'.  
Also view her pieces from the past under 'GALLERY'.   Each one is amazing!!!

https://www.mrxstitch.com/adventures-in-time-lace-agnes-herczeg/