Made room for the long bead

Based on my Unfolding Heart pattern, I tatted this heart from hand dyed size 10 thread featuring a long red glass drop bead in the center. The pattern as written isn't long enough to make room for the 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) drop bead, so I added an extra ring with corresponding chain stitches to each side of the heart. 

Earrings from Heart Aglow pattern, using the same 11/0 seed beads on size 20 thread, with a 4 mm Swarovski faceted round bead at the top and 11 mm Czech glass dagger bead at the bottom.

Tatting Using Left Hand Only

A left hand only tatting demo for people with limited or no use of their right hand, inspired by the book Tatting With One Hand - Tatting for the Physically Handicapped by Helen A. Chesno.

For the demo I used size 3 thread. Although it's easy to see and good for beginners to practice with, the downside of thick thread is that it constantly requires tension adjustments and the shuttle can't hold much. Once the process is understood, I recommend moving on to a thinner thread such as size 10 or 20. The larger the number, the finer [thinner] the thread.

The pillow in this demo is a 13 inch ethafoam cookie pillow made for bobbin lacemaking.

The pins and pillow do the work of the missing hand. All other shuttle tatting techniques are the same.

Yellow Atom, Spring Green Earrings

Atom in tatting always seems to make people smile. The pattern is in my Up and Tat 'Em book. It's definitely a challenge! The "nucleus" is an 8 mm bead, the "electrons" are 3 mm beads.

 A new experiment I'm trying with 8 mm beads is combining peyote stitch beading with tatting. I made a beaded bezel with Delicas beads and size 15/0 seed beads around the large bead. Then, tatted around it. I like the bright spring green color since it helps lift me out of the enormous piles of snow currently outside in Wisconsin! By the way, I finished these in between snow shoveling sessions. I think I'll keep the green pair for myself, but I've already started another colorful pair that may eventually make it into my Etsy shop. A tutorial may follow if there is enough interest.

Original Design Finished! "Nexus of Joy" Necklace

 After several months of thinking, experimenting, searching for threads and beads, it's done! I'm actually quite pleased with the result. Just so you know, this art piece necklace is NOT for sale, but I do intend to enter it in exhibitions for display.

 The necklace was made using several tatting techniques, including Celtic tatting, bead picots, beads on the core thread, curled rings, bead inside a ring, bead inside self-closing mock ring, floating rings, and pearl tatting (double sided chain). I tatted with shuttles throughout, using Celtic shuttles for the overlapping chains around the stone near the neckline.

 Besides tatting, I used the beading technique of peyote stitch to make the beaded bezels around the 3 stones in the piece. Two of the stones are amethyst, and the small one in the center is a druzy. The pointy dangle at the bottom is wire wrapped, strung with drilled amethyst chips and glass beads.

 So now that this is accomplished, my next goal is to organize my crafting studio. It's quite a mess at the moment!

Nearly There

Working from the back side

 My large challenging, yet untitled tatted necklace project has grown to the point where the finishing touches are beginning to be added. I've learned to accept some "imperfection" otherwise the project would not get finished within a human lifetime, ha! When finished I'll take good photos and come up with a title, then enter it in a competition such as Bead Dreams.

Snow in Milwaukee

Yes, that's the snow outside my front door. Pretty as it is, I'm not too thrilled when it's my turn to shovel!

Coming along fine

My challenging necklace project is coming along just fine. I still need to figure out how to connect everything together, but I'm trusting that a stunning finish will present itself soon.

Screenshot of my profile on Bluprint

So, Craftsy is now officially Bluprint. I looked at my Bluprint profile page (affiliate link) and everything is there. All is well.

Craftsy becoming Bluprint

Confused over Craftsy becoming Bluprint?

It's only a name change. 

Craftsy is changing its name to Bluprint on January 8, 2019. 

If you have purchased classes on Craftsy they are still yours on Bluprint.

You will login to Bluprint using your same username and password that you had on Craftsy.

You do NOT have to purchase a subscription! An account is not a subscription!

An ACCOUNT is simply what you login to.

A SUBSCRIPTION is like a purchase. You buy it only if you want it. (A subscription will allow you to watch any and all Bluprint classes, but only while the subscription is active.)

You still have the option to purchase individual classes to keep always. You'll always be able to access them whenever you're logged in to your account.

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By the way, I did receive an email saying that Bluprint is reducing the number of patterns for sale on the site, but had this to say about my patterns:

"Good news: you’ve been identified as a top designer on Craftsy! We love your work and we are excited to continue to share it. We thank you."

This is all I know for now. I hope it helps.

Hand dyed thread "Mardi Gras"

A fresh batch of "Mardi Gras" hand dyed thread has been listed in my Etsy shop. 

I wish you all a very Happy New Year!