Bird Cage

This is Mary Konior's Bird Cage.  

I made myself a little diagram of her pattern so that I was able to complete the whole thing in one go.  And also so that I could avoid having the lines of bare thread that she had in her original.  She also had some cutting and joining in two places but I was able to eliminate those by using split rings.

I find it interesting that tatting seemed to have remained pretty static for hundreds of years with seemingly few new techniques being used.  Mary Konior has so many lovely designs yet she only ever used regular rings and chains.  There are so many useful techniques nowadays, split rings and chains to name but two which I use regularly.  And what about self-closing mock rings or single-shuttle split rings?

All of these new techniques seemed to have been "discovered" or "invented" relatively recently.  Am I wrong?  

Anyway I think it's wonderful that the beautiful art of tatting is doing so well and being enjoyed by so many.

Best wishes,