I enjoyed seeing and handling Jess's lovely threads and brought home a number of them. While we chatted, I started Marilee Rockley's Ripple Necklace using Jess's Faerie Dust thread and Lizbeth black, both size 20. I made several mistakes, a few of which jumped out at me as I photographed it today. It's a gorgeous design, but perhaps not the best project when one is distracted. Faerie Dust looks really great in Marilee's design though, don't you think?
Jess does beautiful work. She taught herself to tat and uses very different hand movements from those I use. I enjoyed watching her work. While her movements were different, they were graceful and effective. I've planned for a long time to try Jane Eborall's method for avoiding that blip of color in a join, but never quite got round to it. Jess demonstrated the technique, a much faster learning method for me, so the Ripple Necklace benefited tremendously. Jess also showed me how she does her ring-only heart. When I glanced at the design last week, I had assumed it used split rings. Jess's design is more great evidence that there is more than one way to achieve a particular outcome.
As Jess mentioned, we had a tatting student, too. He handled the shuttle while I held the core threads. Then Jess helped him try it holding both the core thread and the shuttle.
Jess, Livi, and I hope to get together again before the summer is over. If any of you tatters live within a reasonable driving distance of Wynne, Arkansas, we would love to have you join us.
