Friday 9 November 2018

Vitrified Tatting?

Here is another experiment I tried with tatting:  incorporating elements (not into glass as the title of this blogpost suggests but) into resin.  However, I say "vitrified tatting" because I think that's what it looks like.

The little bowls are a bit rough as I have not had time to sand and polish them yet.  But this first one has a rather appealing "frosted" look.



The snowflake I used was one of the samples I made when designing Crystal Star.  At the time, I wanted to be able to offer a version of this pattern that doesn't require beads.  It didn't make it to a final version but I rather like the multiple chains in the centre and may re-visit this design at some point.

To make it, I first cast a silicone mould of a bowl.  The bowl was my first attempt at "throwing" on the wheel so it wasn't the prettiest or neatest of bowls!  But anyway that's what I used for my mould.  The bowl was unglazed so had a matte, slightly rough finish which is why the resin also looks more matte and you can see the lines of the original bowl in my resin bowl.

Silicone being poured over bowl to make mould:


Bowl removed from the set silicone mould:


Lace snowflake laid into mould ready for resin pouring:


I hadn't mixed enough resin so I ended up pouring twice with a little bit more blue the second time which gave that slightly graduated colouring which I like.  You can see how rough the bottom of my bowl is at the moment.  Needs more work!



The second bowl I cast from a commercial, glazed bowl so the resin from that mould came out shinier and smoother... except for the fact that I had bubbles in my silicone mould!  But that's another story.  It just means the exterior of my resin bowl is rough and the bubbles from the silicone stand out on the surface.  It needs sanding and polishing.  I've also found that it's incredibly difficult to pour resin without causing some bubbling to occur and you can definitely see them in this second bowl.

I used clear resin this time:



The second tatting design is one of Robin Perfetti's called "Kaleidoscope".



So that's the resin bowl experiment.  I do like how the tatting becomes part of the bowl, like it's floating inside and I will definitely make more items if I get the chance.


Best wishes,
Frivole

21 comments:

  1. Hi Joelle
    The bounds of your creativity are endless! I’m looking forward to asking a potter I know to press a doily into glaze, in a shallow dish, but I’ll just do the tatting part.

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  2. Wow! This is so fun to see! The resin bowl with tatting is stunning and the photos of the process are so interesting. Wonderful, wonderful. I would love a bowl like this for my thanksgiving table.

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  3. Wonderful way to put tatting to new uses!

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  4. Interesting experiments! Yes, that last one is my Kaleidoscope coaster. I remember seeing some paperweights with quilling inside at a local craft show and wondering if those were made of resin too? Never got around to researching it but thought it might be a nice way to display tatting as well.

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    1. Thank you Robin, I updated the blogpost. :-)

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  5. I love it!!This is sooooo awesome!!!!

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  6. That came out looking cool. I really like the gradient look. If you are using 2 part resin, if you warm up the resin portion before mixing, it will help reduce air bubbles. Also let the mixed resin slide into your mold using a popsicle stick instead of pouring it in from the top will also help keep air from becoming trapped near the edges of the tatting.

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    1. Thank you for the tips Imoshen! Have you tried it yourself then?

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  7. Oh my gosh! The bowls are wonderful - what a great way to preserve a beautiful piece of tatting! Your creativity is amazing. As I’ve said before, you are a wonderful inspiration.

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  8. Hallo Joelle
    Das gefällt mir gut. Alle beide Schälen sind schön.Die erinnern mich an meine beiden Schälen die ich in Italien machen lies
    Sehr schöne Arbeit und eine gute Idee

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  9. Such a wonderful concept and such superb execution!

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  10. Clever use for tatting, Love your snowflake and bowls

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  11. Fabulous!! Again you are mastering a new craft! Even making the silicone molds!! Working with resin has proved to be difficult for many, including tatters (or non-tatters who are given tatted pieces) who have been experimenting with encasing small pieces of tatting in resin pendants and keychains. A tatter in California (encasingtime.blogspot.com) has been doing exhaustive experiments in trying to find the perfect resin product. She especially wants to make resin shuttles with tatting encased in the blades, but has had difficulties. She first got the idea when a shuttle maker was actually successful in making clear resin shuttles, and he asked customers to submit their tatted pieces to be encased in the blades. Then he suddenly went out of business and did not fulfill new orders! However, Diane (Lace-Lovin' Librarian) has one of his early models!

    I have seen small items nicely encased in resin on Pinterest sites, but there is no explanation of the technique.

    It doesn't surprise me that you are going with larger pieces, encasing snowflakes in a bowl and plate! So far they are looking great! Love the clear plate!
    I have had to be content with placing tatting between two clear plastic or glass plates just as a table decoration which would have to be carefully moved!

    You are definitely on the right track!

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  12. Thank you Kathy! Resin seems to be quite brittle, especially when thin so I don't know how you'd make a tatting shuttle out of it but then I have very little knowledge of the material and perhaps resign comes in different mixes that have different properties.

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  13. gorgeous work and fantastic ideas for lace!

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  14. I know it's like way late but r/resin r/resincasting and r/DiceMaking on reddit are all really good references for setting objects in resin, and I've had some success setting some smaller pieces of my great-grandmother's tatting in resin using two part resin and silicon molds.

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Thank you for taking the time to write a comment, it's always appreciated!