The Starr sisters, Genaveve and Judy, have combined their talents and their media to create some special and unique art. This blog will highlight these art pieces and each of the artists will provide a paragraph to discuss their contribution and its relationship to the whole piece.
Judy: It all began with Genaveve’s husband, Karl. He is an avid garage sale attendee and found a treasure which he brought home to her. Genaveve has spent a lifetime perfecting her talents with calligraphy and handmade tools used for painting. Karl thought she might be able to use them.
My hobby of about seven years is tatting and I enjoy creating new patterns. I had a new book with ideas for using photo folders to display tatting. Genaveve was willing to share her treasure and out came the box of photo folders. Not only that, but she wanted to have some pieces of tatting threads, the purpose, was unclear to me.
After Genaveve got her creative juices flowing, some special paper arrived for me to ponder. What fun I had with the choosing of the appropriate tatting embellishment.
Genaveve: Judith showed me the colored threads she uses for tatting and asked me to help her compose a design that would work in the photo folder. Since I know nothing about tatting, except that it is a skill that is very difficult to master, I wasn’t able to visualize any compositions. I researched patterns on the internet, but still wasn’t able to draw a design. Then I got the idea to create backgrounds that Judith could use as inspiration for designing patterns herself. I asked her to send me samples of her colored threads. I mixed watercolor paint to match colors of the threads and using wooden tools painted strokes on watercolor paper, leaving space for the tatting. My only motivation was to provide her with an element she could have fun playing with.

1. Cream:

Judy: This pattern was found in a 1987 tatting book. I was looking for an elongated design that would fit into the unpainted vertical stripe. The original intent was to use it for a lace edging. The pattern used a new-to-me, Josephine Picot.
Genaveve: Just thinking of allowing space as a vertical shape for the cream color with very subtle background.

2. Green:

Judy: I pondered this for a while, needing something small and simple to enhance the flow of the paint strokes. I found this pattern in a more recent book that had been republished from one in Sweden from 1967.The original intent was to use it in a mobile.
Genaveve: Another vertical piece, leaving space for the tatting, and having a corresponding “space” in the strokes of green.

3. Blue:

Judy : I was looking for something elongated and delicate. I found this in the same book as Green and Purple. It was designed to be an edging around a round doily, but with adjustments I came up with this variation. I made the first one with yellow-gold thread size 20, but it turned out too big so I used a very fine size 60 thread and it fit into the space.
Genaveve: Thinking of a dark background to allow the “ecru” color of the thread to show up. The strokes are colored to blend with the photo folder.

4. Coral:

Judy: This is another lace edging that can be made any length such as for a hanky. Our other sister, Sonja has a lot of Arizona friends who share crafts with her. One of them gave her a stack of magazines, books, and miscellaneous to search through and copy if she wanted. I in turn, while visiting, did a search for tatting patterns. Bingo, this is one of them, made the length to frost the cake so to speak.
Genaveve: Just matching the color here thinking that perhaps Judith might add individual circle shapes–she came up with something better.

5. Purple:

Judy: This triangle was also in the reproduction 1967 book that the green one was in. It too is designed to be part of a mobile. Purple is my favorite color so I especially enjoyed working on this one.
Genaveve: I would like to paint a background specifically for this triangle shape someday.

6. Yellow:

Judy: It was a given that this pattern needed a flower for the leaves and stems. I wanted a special flower and mentioned to Genaveve that I was looking for a three dimensional pattern. She had seen one on the Internet and shared the source with me. I modified the large flower in turn to create the bud and medium flower.
Genaveve: Painting stem and leaves that would have an “antique” feel to go with the photo folder.