Tuesday, July 6, 2010

It's hard to say Goodbye...

Ok..., I like giving away pieces of my tatting. But... I sometimes have a difficult time parting with things which have taken so long to complete. As much as I do this craft for others, I really want to keep a bit for myself. So, I began to create a sampler of all my work.



I'm going to get a frame and place a segment of each edging or small sample of the doilies in the frame.



My question for you,... Is it important for you to keep record of your work? This could all be my quirkiness...but, I'm thinking I'm not alone in this. Help me out here....a show of hands. How do you 'keep' some of your own work?

11 comments:

  1. I often wish I had a record of all the tatted pieces I've made. I just don't have/make the time time to find a way to do it. Luckily, my mom and sister love framing pieces I've made, and I do have a little treasure box of pieces I love.

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  2. Yup. I would love to keep my own work, and I have some of it, and I have given a lot away.

    I think half the reason I blog is to keep a record of all that I have done since the very beginning almost two years ago.

    In fact, I have just ordered a soft-covered, printed book of my entire blog till yesterday, to have the entire record in hard copy.

    The idea came from a blog I saw by chance - the author and tatter had just received her order:two hard-covered books, one for 2009 and one for 2010. Very nice! (Check out: Blog2Print)
    Fox : )

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  3. John,
    Yes I do keep track of what I make. Now you know you are proud of your work when it's hard to part with it. That's a good thing. Yet it's also good to know that your work is so wonderful to others that they too want some of your work. The maker has the upper hand on what he or she gets rid of or keeps. I hope this helps you.

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  4. I wish I had started keeping a record of some sort from the beginning, but I didn't. I don't keep much of my tatting either because I'm not much on decorating or dusting. The pieces I keep are gifts from other tatters or things I use frequently. Scanners and digital cameras help me keep records of what I make. My computer holds all the records complete with any notes I want to keep regarding the projects.

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  5. I take photos of all my tatting so if I give them away, I still have the photos. The blog also helps to document what threads I used for it.

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  6. I have put my tatted pieces that I have kept in a photo album! The others I gave away.

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  7. I used to try to keep a record in a little notebook, and I tried index cards too, but I just couldn't keep up with it. I'd rather tat! But I've been blogging about my tatting since 2003 and one of the wonderful unexpected rewards was finding it to be a wonderful record of my tatting. Even now, when I go back and look at early entries, I find suprises I had forgotten about. Makes me wish I'd had a blog from decades ago but then I'd get stuck in the past so onward we go!

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  8. Photography is my solution to keeping a record of what I have made. Digital techonology has made it so easy! I also keep some samples, particularly of items I design or adapt from old, old designs.

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  9. I usually give everything I make away as gifts or donations (not just tatting, but quilting, sewing, crocheting, etc.) If I want something for myself, I almost have to start it with the intention of keeping it. Like others, I take photos of everything I make just to be able to go back and look. I like Fox's idea of the blog books - that could be interesting!

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  10. Such great ideas! Sooo, I'm not alone in this. That's cool. I'm also taking a page from the TAT program and placing work in clear 3 ring binder page protectors and then placing them in a binder. Hope your day is grand!
    John

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  11. I made a photo record of my tatting right from the beginning in 1989 (as I did for my knitting, which dates back to 1964!) and I have photo albums from back then.

    My personal diaries don't always have entries about my tatting journey, which is inexplicable to me.
    I have no idea how or exactly when I was asked to join the tatting group (sometime around Sept 1990), but I know I was thrilled! How could I leave that important event out?!!

    Of course, early on I used a 35 mm film camera, but to get decent photos I had to borrow a macro lens, which wasn't always available. In 2006 I finally bought a wonderful (but inexpensive) digital camera, and it is now so easy to get good photos. I also have an SD card specifically set aside for my tatting.

    Also, the majority of my tatting is still in my possession, as I have a 'permanent' display for our group's demonstrations.

    My 4' Christmas tree (permanently decorated) is a sampler of most of my earlier pieces, especially the 3-D items, and the tree skirt under it (quilted in '89) actually has my first amusing pieces of tatting on it! I could have sold some items from my display many times, but I won't part with them.

    Of course, blogging is a fantastic way to record our tatting journey. My insecurity there is that the blogger service could shut down, or somehow the blog could be lost! I try to print out my posts, but often forget to do so, and then have to 'catch up'.

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