I will be taking part as a vendor at the upcoming IOLI (International Organization of Lace) UnCon21 virtual convention.

I was supposed to be teaching at the real/physical convention that was going to be in Reno, Nevada, but it was canceled early in 2021 due to Covid concerns. That’s the bad news.

The good news—the IOLI committee/board did a fantastic job of organizing an ‘Un’ ‘Convention’ which is a virtual/Zoom approach to allowing lacemakers from around the world to ‘gather’, if not physically, but virtually via the computer. The UnCon21 is the last week of July.

There are over 600 participants registered. There are many classes (all full) with teachers from around the world. I myself am registered to attend a Teneriffe Lace class with Elizabeth Horta Corea from Brazil. Elizabeth is a big promoter of Teneriffe/Sol Lace and is teaching how to use ‘slotted looms’ to create the lace and then how to stitch/sew the motifs together to create the lace.

All throughout UnCon21, registered participants have the opportunity to ‘Zoom’ into many scheduled talks about lace topics. Every morning, there will be a museum tour of lace collections from museums around the world.

Another addition to UnCon21 is the ‘Virtual Vendor Hall’. I am participating as a virtual vendor and have a ‘Trunk Show’ on Tuesday, July 27, 6:30 to 7:30 PDT. During my trunk show I will show my wares: my Fun with Split Ring Tatting series of books (9 to this point) as well as my glass/enameled tatting shuttles and thread holders. I will also be debuting my latest/future direction of Teneriffe/Sol Lace Kits. I have some very cool future looms to launch in the future….but come by my Trunk Show to catch a sneak peak of what I’m doing.

All these activities are available free of charge to all IOLI members who have registered for the week-long UnCon21.

The above YouTube video was produced to help me participate in the UnCon21 Virtual Vendor Hall. I’m pretty happy with how it came out.