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Dear Reader,
I share here what I like and what works for me. If you've been following me, you know that I can change my mind from time to time, and feel free to comment that I'm completely wrong, you may be right. I'm not running a business. I'm not paid and have never received any compensation or facilitation for any review/brand/site here mentioned. In case one day we'll ever meet, I'll be the one offering you a cup of Italian coffee, too.
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Thursday 5 December 2013

About threads, trials, errors and perfectionism

DSCN4196 by ninettacaruso
DSCN4196, a photo by ninettacaruso on Flickr.
My favourite thread is DMC size 80, you already know that. I feel comfortable with  it, I just know how much ds I need within one centimeter, how much thread is needed for a 10ds ring, just in a sight. No matter if I've started to take off glasses (myopic - I'm short-sighted, urgh!) or if I've started to dislike red and black, especially when retro-tatting.
Dmc size 80 was the thread used for the sheet in that photo, formerly posted on a facebook's page. I tatted it in 1996, if I can remember well, tatting 2-3 hours per day for three months. For a chance - as it's never happened again - it was showed in public a few years later, during an exposition of old 1950's farmer houses, put into a hand made wooden crib.

I was there a Sunday afternoon, just near my tatting work, when a couple passed right the crib and she said: "What a shame! Why they put an industrial lace in this beautiful handmade crib??" I remained speachless, couldn't say a sigh! I've so neat in my memory, till now, how much care I put in it, I couldn't have ever imagined it would have been looked as a machine made lace.

I'll go on doing my best for each single stitch, after all these years I've learned how to retro-tat instead of cutting, and the experience makes the rest, besides a little help from my favourite thread... But I'm far from a perfectionist, (maybe I should show you) I've a box where I put all trials and motifs with flaws which - who knows? - could be useful a day to come... 

Il mio filo preferito, si sa, è il dmc 80, già so come mi devo regolare sia come quantità di filo sia quanti sono i nodini da fare in un cm, basta un'occhiata. Non importa se ho già cominciato a levare gli occhiali - sono miope - per vedere meglio da vicino e se comincio a non sopportare il rosso e il nero, specie se devo scucire... Lo stesso filo lo avevo usato, forse era il 96, per fare il lenzuolino della foto, precedentemente postata su FB. L'ho fatta in 3 mesi, lavorando 2-3 ore al giorno, con molta cura. Per caso, insolitamente, me l'hanno chiesta per esporla durante una mostra di cultura contadina, in case arredate stile anni '50. Me l'hanno messa in una culletta di legno fatta a mano. Mi trovavo lì accanto una domenica, quando passa una coppia e lei dice: Che peccato! Perchè hanno messo un merletto industriale in una così bella culla?? Sono rimasta senza parole, non avrei mai immaginato che potesse sembrare fatto a macchina! Beh, cerco di fare sempre il meglio che posso, ho imparato a tornare indietro invece di tagliare, e l'esperienza fa il resto, insieme al mio filo preferito... Ma di certo non sono una perfezionista, non sapete quanti pezzettini difettati e provette mi sono conservata (forse ve le dovrei far vedere)! Potrebbero tornarmi utili un giorno, chi lo sa?

"A San Giusto mancava un dito" (detto popolare)
Ciao,
Ninetta

9 comments:

  1. Wonderful post! Marvellous tatting!
    xxoo Fox : )

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  2. They should've had a notice on your work in the crib to say it was hand made. Take it as a compliment that the lady thought it was made by a machine. Tending towards perfectionism is not necessarily bad!

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  3. What a beautiful piece of lace! It does look very neat and even - the lady must have never seen beautiful hand made lace before! As difficult as it must have been to hear that, I would take it as a compliment.

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  4. I guess she had never seen tatting done in small thread, or maybe she had never seen tatting done so well made before. The lace you made is very beautiful.
    StephanieW

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  5. Thank you, you're all very nice and welcome!
    Love,
    Ninetta

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  6. Un lavoro veramente perfetto. Talmente perfetto da sembrare fatto a macchina ma veramente i lavori a macchina sono così simili a quelli fatti a mano?

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  7. Non credo Daniela. Sicuramente quei visitatori non avevano idea di ciò che hanno visto.

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Thank you very much for all your nice comments.

Ciao
Ninetta