A view of tatting's booth in the open house event on July 22nd 2023

Tatting, one of the most fascinating extracurricular in Santa Ursula High School Jakarta, has attracted the attention of 2023-2024freshmans due to its unique ways of promoting the club in the open house event held on the 22nd of July 2023.

Saint Ursula High School Jakarta is known for its diverse extracurriculars. Students can choose freely on what they want to learn for the next 3 years, which is one of the ways to know more about these extracurriculars by attending Saint Ursula High School’s open house. It is usually held at the beginning of a new term. This year's open house was held on July 22nd, 2023, and there was a particular interest in an extracurricular called tatting.“Tatting in Saint Ursula High School is one of the required extracurricular activities that students need to attend for 3 years. Tatting itself means ‘merenda’, similar to crochet but with different techniques and yarns. Unlike crochet, tatting doesn’t use any needles, however it uses knots to make crafts.” explained Ms. Vitta, the teacher of Tatting.After the open house event this year, the number of new tatting students doubled compared to last year. The tatting club did something differently from the previous open house event which attracted the new student’s attention.“We tried a new approach to promote our club by having the members sell their art and tatting handwork in the booth. Other than that, this year’s tatting open house preparation is also more organized and prepared than the ones before. For example, the tatting handwork is neater and the booth looks more aesthetically pleasing,” said Ms. Vitta.

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Some products that were sold by the tatting members

Tatting booth turned into a great success when the members sold their art and handwork in the booth. The new students became intrigued and interested in the fact that they could create jewelry and sell it. The enthusiasm of the seniors to show what tatting is also showed an impact to the interest of the new students.“I picked tatting because I was fascinated by how tatting seniors presented themselves in the open house,” declared Natasha, one of the new tatting students. The senior tatting students had demonstrated some of the techniques, so the new students had an idea of what they would learn, which made tatting more interesting for them.Since the start of the new term, extracurricular activities have begun. This has enabled the new members of the tatting club to know about tatting as a whole. “At first it was difficult to learn but turns out, tatting is fun once you get the hang of it and you will always want to keep doing it,” Natasha shared.

A look of tatting creations made by the senior tatting members presented on the open house event

Levina, one of the tatting club seniors who has learned the art of tatting for 3 years, believes that tatting products have the potential to be a promising business as they can be sold at a hefty price. “I personally think of tatting as one of my hobbies so I enjoy doing it. We get to make lots of cute little stuff. I’m also very happy as the things that we make turns out to be beautiful since we can pick a color of our own preferences and we are being guided slowly. After the assignment is assessed, the results can be taken home. We also get to learn many new tatting techniques and when our tatting handwork gets sold, it gives us a lot of money.”

A quick look on one side of the tatting booth

Levina explained that the products that could be made using tatting were endless. Some examples are earrings, rosaries, keychains, tablecloth, bookmarks, and many more. Every product also has a touch of uniqueness since it is handmade.Aside from gaining skills and knowledge, tatting members also gained values by learning tatting. “I learned to always be patient and consistent while putting the maximum effort in making tatting. I believe that there will always be improvement and I also need to work hard because tatting is quite complicated and challenging. For example, I spent weeks making a simple tablecloth,” stated Levina.The tatting seniors also have a few pieces of advice for those who are new to learning tatting. “Just enjoy and take tatting as a hobby. Don't put pressure on yourself and just enjoy the process since you will be proud of the final product of your own hard work,” added Levina.As the tatting club continues its journey, it remains as one of the most unique clubs at Saint Ursula High School Jakarta. With more students joining this club, we believe that tatting could keep on preserving and improving student’s creativity and passion for a new hobby.