Fishscale art and Hair

Cara Grandle here.

When it comes to historical fiction, most of the heroines are cameoed doing some sort of domestic fine art. Depending on the time period and the level of income, the crafts they did changed.

How often have you read about a lady in a drawing room doing needlepoint, watercolor or playing the piano forte? Or if your favorite book is set on the frontier, the lady of the house would’ve been candle-making, darning a sock, or making soap.

These sorts of hobbies and crafts are traditional and normal, but have you ever heard of a heroine sitting around doing fishscale art?

Here is what it looks like:

The ladies or their servants harvested the scales off of certain kinds of fish, cleaned them, dried them and sometimes dyed them, before they poke two fine holes at the base of the scale and then added it to their stitch work.

And now we have the original sequin.

And how about this? Have you seen samples of hair art in Museums or in old photos?

Women would gather the hair that they naturally shed or brushed out and they would twirl it around the tip of their index finger and place it in this little jar to be used as thread for a craft called hair art.

They would give their work to their friends and family as engagements, weddings, births, or bereavements gifts as keepsakes for any kind of special occasion.

Both hobbies should get the “Most Impressive” award for upcycling.

The one heart-warming detail about hair art, for me, is I can remember my Great Grandmother’s habit of twirling a loose hair or thread around her finger in just such a way, and now I know why.

As much as I find these two crafts interesting, I equally find them a little eeeewww! I wonder if the fishscale art smelled and I can’t help think about the hair as dead cells.

I’m assuming this is my bizarre reaction, but I figured I’d ask. What do you think of these handcrafts? Would you want fishscale on the hem of your dress or on the side of your purse? And how about hair art? Would you hang one proudly on your wall?

CaraGrandle is a Historical Romance Novelist who prefers to write about the early settlers of the Pacific Northwest. She is represented by the Steve Laube Agency. Cara leads the author4TheAuthor writers group on Facebook, home to 190 writers. Together they're pressing back on busy and making a space for their dreams. Cara hosts a Writers Encouragement show weekly on Periscope. The show is on Tuesday mornings at 9:00am PST. Cara's Periscope show includes live, interactive author-interviews with leading Christian fiction novelists, editors, publicist and agents under the handle @CaraGrandle.

Cara is currently out on submission. Follower her journey on her Facebook author page.

Tatting

By Vickie McDonough

I’ve always been interested in handcrafts, even when I was young. The first time I’d ever heard of tatting was when my sister brought home a note card with a multicolored tatted flower glued onto one corner. I fell in love with the tiny blossoms, so much so, that I ordered several dozen of the cards to use as thank you notes for my wedding gifts. 


So what exactly is tatting? It’s a form of lace making, which involves wrapping thread around one or two shuttles and using the shuttles to guide the thread into patterns of knots to create rings and chains in delicate designs. To make the lace, the tatter wraps the thread around one hand and manipulates the shuttle with the other hand. No tools other than the thread, the hands, and the shuttle are used, though a crochet hook may be necessary if the shuttle does not have a point or hook.

Tatting consists entirely of small rings, or rings and arched chains. These rings and chains are usually embellished with picots (tiny loops of thread between stitches.) Some picots are purely decorative, but others are used for the important function of joining elements together. Surprisingly, only one simple knot is used throughout, the Lark's Head, which consists of 2 half hitches. 

Lace has always been popular, but back when it was all handmade, it was very expensive to buy. Tatting was a fairly quick way to create pretty lace, although the learning process can be difficult. Historically, tatting was used to create doilies, reticules, bonnets, lacy collars and cuffs, bookmarks, and designs to be framed and hung on the wall.

Tatted Bracelet

Needle tatting is another form of tatting. Instead of using a shuttle, you use a needle, which you wrap loops around. 

Needle tatting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtMR_XtTvTk

Tatting Shuttles

Tatting is a fairly new craft, emerging in the first half of the 19th century. It gradually evolved from knotting, which was popular in the 18th century. The end product of knotting is embroidery, but the finished product of tatting is lace. However, they both involve making knots with a shuttle and thread. Knotting produced a thread with a raised texture, which could later be used for couched embroidery.

Tatted Doily

Tatting is a popular craft in Europe, although no one is certain of it origins. The German word for tatting is schiffchenarbeitm, which means 'the work of the little boat,' which refers to the boat-shaped shuttle. The Italians call it occhi, meaning 'eyes,’ which refers to the rings, which make up the lace. In France, it is called frivolite. In Finland, tatting is called sukkulapitsi, which combines two words: sukkula, which means shuttle, and pitsi meaning lace. 

Doing handwork allowed the historical woman to sit and rest, while being useful at the same time. It enabled her to show off her industriousness and creativity. Small pieces of work such as lace making, were acceptable items to occupy one’s time while visiting and could be brought to a friend’s house for a bit of work over tea and pleasant conversation.

If you'd like to see live-action tatting, check out the links below to some excellent videos:

Good video that shows you how to wind the shuttle: http://www.tattedtreasures.com/2011/08/absolute-beginner-series/

It you want to learn the various tatting stitches, this page has really good videos that will teach you: http://www.tattedtreasures.com/tutorials/

Pinterest site with lots of completed tatting projects, tutorials, and pictures illustrating how to tat: http://www.pinterest.com/huskerrhonda/needle-tatting/

Song of the Prairie, releases August 15th, but is now available for pre-sale.

Janie Dunn’s dream of being an opera singer suddenly fades when, at her dying cousin’s request, she flees Boston with her cousin’s newborn son to protect him from his abusive father. She moves to Kansas to live with her brother, but life takes another dire change when he is suddenly killed. Is a marriage of convenience the answer to her problems? Is Kansas far enough away from Boston that they are safe from the baby’s vengeful father?

Bestselling author, Vickie McDonough, grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who’s scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams in her fictional stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen and others living in the West during the 1800s. Vickie is the award-winning author of over 30 published books and novellas. Her books include the fun and feisty Texas Boardinghouse Brides series, and End of the Trail, from the Texas Trails series, which was the OWFI 2013 Best Fiction Novel winner. Whispers on the Prairie, Pioneer Promises book 1 was a Romantic Times Recommended Inspirational Book for July, 2013. Forging a Family, a novella in The Pioneer Christmas Collection, is a finalist in the IRCA (Inspirational Readers Choice Awards)