In the comments section of the blog two days ago Kathy said:-
"A couple of words stood out to me: 'magazine' and 'doodad'. Did the magazine do an interview also, in addition to printing your pattern? And apparently you were using doodads back in 2000!"
Well that prompted another trip up into the loft to look for the patterns I did back then for a magazine here in the UK. No interviews and no mention of my name either!!!
All I really remember is the craft lass rang me up and asked for 'tatted snowflakes', please. I'd done things for them before which I will show you another day. Well I suppose I've always had a rather unusual way of looking at tatting so I decided to do something that nobody I knew of round then had done before. These were done in 1999 at the beginning of my 'four bad years' so this was a real morale booster back then.
In those 'good old days' there was a lady who had a tiny, tiny wardrobe sized outlet in one of the antiques arcades in town. In fact many times you had to wait outside for the only customer in there to come out so you could squeeze in!!!!
I found some (now called doodads) metal findings in there and promptly set about doing four designs for the magazine. Three were published as you can see below. Unfortunately they took over a year to be put in there and as these sorts of metal findings were so hard to get the lass in the arcade had run out of one sort!!! That's the reason that one of the snowflakes below doesn't have a doodad!!!! I wonder why they didn't use the other one? I'll never know now.
So, for those who missed previous posts here are the links to the patterns that came about because of this. First the altered original here on rings and currently I'm working on updating this one - which wasn't published!!!!
They are beautiful snowflakes, I don't remember seeing them as I would have kept a copy of them. It was a bit naughty not to put your name as the designer on them.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
What I find astounding is that in the year 2000, there was a magazine that not only had tatting patterns, but also amazingly published them weekly! Who knew!!!
ReplyDeleteFox : )
Very interesting. I'm glad there's more acknowledgement now for designers. Is there?
ReplyDeleteNot sure, Jane. In later and other magazines I have my name on patterns (will show them another time) so it may just have been down to My Weekly alone not to put the name of the designer.
ReplyDeleteFox, they weren't published weekly but about three or four times a year. I got paid for one or two but after that I just gave them away. I'll never be rich from tatting - well not in a monetary way. I'm rich with friends, though, and that's what's important to me.
I have a copy of the relevant pages not the whole magazine. Can't believe it was that long ago. Sacha Distel is no longer with us either.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is - did you get to meet Sacha Distel and maybe snog him?
ReplyDeleteOh, YUCK, Crazy Mom. No WAY!!! He just wouldn't have been my 'type'!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis whole post blew my mind!! First, of all, thanks for all the effort in finding the magazine and showing us the pages, plus explaining all about it. The small antique store is so funny! Also 'funny' is naming a magazine 'My Weekly' and publishing only four times a year! I had no idea you ever had your patterns published! As impressed as I am with the 'early doodads' and your amazing use of them, I'm also impressed with those drawings! Were you able to do those back in 2000?? And they had no problem printing them? I'm also amazed the snowflakes were on the cover! Nice photo! But no mentioning your name?!! I have my own magazine story from 1992 that I haven't written about yet! That's why I'm so interesting in the publishing angle. In a nutshell, I was paid nicely for my five patterns, waited a year and a half, and they never published them! I've often wondered if the color hand-drawn diagrams were too much for them to handle, along with the dash and number notation system. (I have to admit I had to look up who Sacha was!) I look forward to more of your past publishing ventures!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Kathy. The magazine came out weekly (think it still does) but only published tatting patterns three or four times a year. It's a dreadfully old fashioned magazine but I believe it's a best seller in the UK. The company is based in Dundee (Scotland). I can't remember how we managed the drawings. I know I did them on my computer and then emailed them to the company but I believe they re-drew them as they were using macs and I was on a PC. It would be much easier nowadays!!! It tickled me as the editor I dealt with had an Italian sounding name and a very broad Scottish accent!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm REALLY looking forward to reading your story. Until I got the magazines out of the loft I didn't realise how many were published and in several places too!!!!
Well, congratulations. what an accomplishment! those are nice snowflakes, glad you are updating them.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I have found your blog today.
ReplyDeleteHi therunawaytrain.
DeleteWelcome to the crazy world of me (Jane) and brain cell 3 (it)!!!!!!