Early December is the expected time of the year that Black Mountain hosts their Annual Deck the Trees Event for the benefit of the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministries Fuel Relief fund. This year the requests for heating assistance is expected to be greater than in years past and because of the Corona Virus Pandemic, the approach has been modified so that trees at the Monte Vista will have sufficient room between them to allow for social distancing. This is especially true since the Covid-19 numbers in Buncombe County are climbing now that the weather has gotten colder.

The Laurel of Asheville has the introductory article to the event that can be found here. And Thread Bears members have been busy adding to the ever growing number of tatted Christmas ornaments for the tree. This year with the theme “. . . And a Star Appeared” tatters worked diligently during our times of isolation to create more than 30 5-pointed snowflakes or stars to adorn the tree. Without a storefront location to fall back on to place the tree, the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce was kind enough to agree to host the Tatted Tree this year along with their own.

Some of the ornaments were created of threads that left the final star difficult to stiffen with even glue or starch. In some cases, because the star was created using threads that had a metallic filament, stiffening would have dulled the sheen on the ornament. So some of them were mounted onto felt which not only made for a more rigid end product, but gave each one that was prepared this way the sort of “outline” that made it stand out from the tree itself.

Sometimes the felt served to keep the associated star from fading into the green of the tree. Over all it worked well in almost every case.

As a group, several tatting shuttles that were not usable were given to me to add to the tree. Each of them was in some way unattractive and not what we might have hung on the tree as decoration. So they were glued to a Masonite star to be used as the tree topper. There is a paste that makes almost any medium appear like rusted metal. So that paste was used like paint over the Masonite and shuttles and a bit of antique tatting that had appeared in a bag of old lace was glued onto the edges of the star as well as around 3 of the shuttles themselves. In the end, the tree was topped this way:

The Tatted Tree has been one of the more sought after trees during the previous 9 Deck the Trees events and we’re hoping others will look into it’s location again this year. If you are out and about in Black Mountain between now and January 4th consider stopping into the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Chamber to see the Tatted Tree and the Chamber’s Tree as well.

The Deck the Trees Facebook Page will be sharing images during the event as well. Here’s to a Blessed Holiday Season!

Filed under: 2020, Christmas, December, Deck the Trees, General Posts, Projects, Shuttles, Threads