Saturday, 20 June 2026

double celebration

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 Tomorrow is International Lace Day (ILD) and on 28th June is Eleonore Endrucks' birth anniversary. This time we decided to combine the two events into a week-long celebration if you would like to join us. We have a huge collection of Endrucks' original/reworked 44 patterns from Die Schiffchen-Spitzen, 1920, and the derivatives which are housed in 16 categorised directories. For our celebration, we released six Letter E patterns - initial of Endrucks' name. 


The six Es - 

Letter E from E1 by Vani Kattoju 2024 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W5Dvx4LTiFUtwaMI9XkwC8ecUW1FYuPc/view

Letter E from E17 by Manju Talekar 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aPpcIJiYFNTnzRQ9R5n8s54X1PT4paLl/view

Letter E Cursive from E32 by Paola Bevilacqua 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LFhDbOo3UGjw1eMywcz3R4pY76i9CAxP/view

Letter E from E41 by Julie Santos Villegas 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bKKeKLztN35vqCxVGKjSSxfhmTEEJBo2/view

Letter E from E41 by Manju Talekar 2024 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zQQ0ZQs1NLDmp5xPUAJzTIV3zy1JvTY/view

Letter E from E41 by Ninetta Caruso 2025 – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IGsQVjONbkvFY7lVUN5MmzezPpmvUnoy/view

 Most can be tatted up very quickly and if you rotate it slightly we get the letter M! It is amazing that one pattern E41 has generated Three versions of letter E!

Feel free to choose any of the above and give it your own spin - decorate as you wish - or derive your own E from the Endrucks collection!

For lots more patterns and inspiration check out the EP LINKS doc - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w1TZBg-HIzseGEUoJ-rko7tNbtSgZY5A18Oy2Y9Hh0Y/view

💗💖💗 Happy tatting and sincere thanks to all the designers mentioned above 💗💖💗

Thursday, 18 June 2026

EP Tutorials

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Ninetta Caruso, my partner in crime! Ninetta is my PIC in the Endrucks 1920 Project and we have a great collaboration going. Add to the vibrant Project is something she and I have been working on since August of 2025 - a tutorial resource catering to the Endrucksian collection. but of course, it is relevant for any tatting project.

Eleonore Endrucks used very limited techniques to create unique patterns in her 1920 book, Die Schiffchen-Spitzen. Yet the derivatives and even some reworkings of her originals have applied a wide range of techniques and effects. Our members cover an entire spectrum of skill levels. Hence some required help at various stages. We tried to provide that help. Over time, these tips and techniques started growing and remained scattered. (We had used the #eptutorial hashtag, yet found that only some selective posts came up). Hence we needed to bring them all under one roof so that future tatters could find the tutorial alongside the pattern easily. To that end we worked on the EP Tutorials document and lo and behold, it started to grow and grow!

This is a quick collage showing some step in a pictorial or some application in a model, etc. 

As our technique list grew, we tried to incorporate what Frau Endrucks herself advocated through her advice and preface and balance it with what we do today. 

EP Tutorials :  https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Xh32ZlW5MmVTlidA8RzwwY7j-l4i_9YYv5N236R5RE/view    (click link to open/download)

Some features of this document include -  

  • Endrucks' tips
  • short introduction or descriptions
  • pictorials (as PDFs)
  • video links
  • blog links (We have tried to keep it an in-house affair limiting the links to either Ninetta's or to my blog and resources created by us.)
  • diagrams (as PDFs)
  • pattern links where the technique was used or effect applied; these can act as practice patterns. All patterns are from our Endrucksian collection.

The document is divided into sections and each sub-listing is arranged alphabetically for ease.
We start with a general section comparing vintage or traditional tatting with contemporary tatting.
This is followed with 
  1. starting and finishing
  2. changing direction
  3. 3D or dimensional tatting
  4. picots
  5. joins
  6. classic formations
  7. techniques
  8. continuous tatting
  9. needle tatting
  10. working with beads and jewellery findings or notions
Some presentations are still works in progress; we had delayed the release of this document long enough and didn't want to wait any more. So these PDFs will be done over time and the document updated accordingly.

We hadn't realised ourselves how much diversification had entered into the Project! And I am sure we must've missed a few! Do let us know if you come across something we've missed or something you want.

On the top right of this blog page you will find important links relating to the Endrucks Project. I also added a new page (tab on top panel) titled 'Endrucks' to give a birds-eye view of the Project and all relevant links. It is still under construction. 

Tuesday, 26 May 2026

unhappy trials

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I was impressed by Lauretta Tondelli's experiments and effects which she shared in a FB group a couple of years back (she seems to have left FB when I checked before finalising this post and her posts are missing, too). Always meant to try them and here are two attempts - my first trials. Not happy but more details below ....

Lauretta Tondelli's Interlaced Onion Rings, a trial motif, placed inside a 2D medallion gone 3D!
 
The two images above show the piece from the 'front' and 'back' though it really depends on how you interlace the mock rings.

This interlacing effect of onion rings is made with one continuous chain starting with a small starter picot. Once all three mock rings made, they are interlaced through each other. Lauretta created a cute pair of earrings using this motif as the center and adding a teardrop.

My own reservation is about the third chain which I feel is too long in my trial and also the overall untidy visual. First trials, so perhaps there is still hope for me.
Okay this motif is supposed to be a flat medallion center for another effect that Lauretta was sharing. As you can see, my work has cupped enormously. I realised what was happening but continued nevertheless so that I can make the requisite changes in my next trial. For one, the picots should've been longer.
So now my issue was what should I make with this! It looks cute and has potential, doens't it? So I played around a bit ....
If we upturn the medallion it can make a nice bezel setting and one can add another layer beneath encasing the gem. I was too lazy to hunt around for the right sized gem, though.
I decided to add a base. This is a coil starting at the center with few slope and roll joins as the chain progressed. I should've stopped a bit sooner with a shorter coil.
The reason for the base is my idea to convert this into a miniature basket.
Same 'bowl' reshaped into a squarish bowl or potential basket.
And when I pinched the corners a bit more, ....
Some more pinching so that the cupping looks deeper and with addition of accessories, it can become a flower.

So, what is your verdict? What do you think it should grow into?

Many thanks to Lauretta for sharing her notes and apologies for my bungling ....