From messy to beautiful

Hand dyed thread, so special for tatting and other lace work, begins as plain white thread (of high quality) and messy dye (I use Fiber-Reactive dye).

I wear a protective face mask to avoid breathing in the dry dye powder until it has been mixed into liquid form.





The wet dye color looks much darker than the finished color will look on the thread.

The way I make hand dyed thread (HDT) is to lay out the skeins onto plastic wrap and paint the dye on with a brush. There are other methods too, but this is how I do it. For cotton thread, I just roll up the skeins into the plastic and let them "cure".

If I'm dyeing a yarn with a wool content, I add some vinegar to the dye, since wool fiber needs an low pH, as opposed to the high pH required by cotton. Then I give the plastic-wrapped wool a "steambath" for 45 minutes. (I use a pot dedicated to dyeing purposes).

Then, the skeins are rinsed, rinsed, rinsed! Washed and rinsed some more, to make sure that the finished HDT is clean and will not "bleed" color when it is in use.

The straightened skeins are left to air dry, then twisted into attractive skeins to show.










Beautiful HDT!

The winners!

The 3 lucky winners are:

Icela

Donna

TAT19540

These winners were chosen by a random number generator. Congratulations, Ladies!

"Hot off the press" giveaway

Here's a photo of the page with my tatting featured in Belle Armoire magazine. Recognize those tatted pendants on the bottom right?

To celebrate, I'm having a GIVEAWAY!The prize is a copy of the magazine, plus 2 skeins of my hand dyed thread. One skein each of "Pizazz" and "A Leaf Falls", both size 20.

3 of these prize packages will be given away, regardless of how many enter. All you have to do to have a chance to win is to leave a comment on this post. You don't need to have a blog to enter, but you do need to leave some way for me contact you if you win.

Three winners will be selected at random on Friday, November 6. Good luck!

Colorful result of careful mixing, painting, curing, rinsing

Here is a photo of me hand painting thread with dye. The next picture shows the finished result, a lovely batch of "Garden Afternoon" hand dyed thread.

"Keyed Up" earrings pattern

Obviously, this design could be varied endlessly by using different charms, findings, beads, thread colors, etc. It's quite simple. There are no split rings - but does require the use of 2 shuttles, and they are "switched". In other words, shuttle 1 trades places with shuttle 2 where indicated in the pattern, which is available as a pdf in my Etsy shop. BTW, there are many Etsy sellers who offer interesting charms and findings for sale. Of course, if you really want the same tiny keys I used, they are available at Bello Modo.

Even though this is so simple a pattern, it did take some experimentation time for me to figure out the stitch counts so that the tatting would take shape naturally without being forced. I think this finished design has major improvements over an earlier attempt.

Chemo Cap Project with tatting

This is the first time I decorated a cap for the Chemo Cap Project.

The tatted flower started out to be a different design, but I made a mistake, so... just kept going and made up a different flower. The center bead is surrounded by a self closing mock ring, and the motif just sort of grew out of that, using one shuttle and a ball thread.

I worked on this during the Fall Beading Retreat held by the Loose Bead Society. So, it was a "tatting in public" day for me, and a lot of fun! The event was also a convenient opportunity to learn some jewelry making tips from the excellent "crimp bead" demo that was given.

"Lacy Treasure" pattern

For something that was intended to be a simple design, it sure seemed like a complicated thing to write up - golly!
There are a lot of different skills used in this little piece, which I originally came up with as a teaching pattern. So many people asked about it, that I have decided to offer it for sale in pdf format in my Etsy shop. I still plan on using it as a teaching pattern for introduction to beaded tatting.

I wonder which tatting design they chose?

Every time I get a notice that my tatting is going to be published in print - I get so excited and go sort of nuts!!! (Not that I'm not plenty nuts already, LOL.)

Okay, here's what I've been told so far: Belle Armoire (Art To Wear magazine not BA Jewelry) is publishing one of my tatted originals in their November/December 2009 issue. (Not the current issue for sale, the next one coming up.) And that is all I know; they didn't say which of my items they chose. It would have to be something that I've sent in.

So, is it the "Ruffled Orbit" tatted earrings? Or the simple "Lacy Treasure" pendant? Or, could it be the "Wondrous Window" pendant? We get to find out in November!

Historic costume jewelry display

These vintage jewelry pieces and fashions are on display at Mount Mary College. I am gathering ideas from these classics, that I may use in my tatted jewelry designs.

Of the vintage clothing that was on display, my personal favorites were the 1952 prom dress with the lacy, full skirt, and the coat inspired by an abstract painting.

I really enjoyed seeing this display, and I am so thrilled to have become an official, card carrying member of the Loose Bead Society of Greater Milwaukee! What a nice, friendly bunch of people interested in all sorts of ways to use beads!

Right away I got asked if I would teach a tatting class (they remembered me from my tatting demo in February).

Since we can bring our projects to work on at their Fall Retreat on October 10, I'll bring a beaded tatting project, and we'll see what happens. I am also looking forward to eventually learning other beading techniques from these talented folks, that I'll probably "morph" into tatting designs.