Summer plans

Here is my interpretation of the heart pattern from the old "Workbasket" magazine - the same pattern that has been posted on several blogs lately, in various colors. This is my work from several years ago, obviously - it's all white!

Okay, I've been reading about all the exciting tatting conventions that folks have been attending lately, wishing I could go too - well, here are some events that I will be able to attend!

The biggie - The 55th Annual IOLI Convention!
Check out the details HERE.
I expect to be in attendance on Wednesday, August 6th, looking at what the vendors have to sell. No, I will NOT be a vendor, myself! :)
(I'd be all sold out in ten minutes, you know!)
BTW, take a look at the PDF file about Georgia Seitz who will be teaching a tatting workshop at this convention. I thought very hard about taking this workshop, but I just can't commit to the whole week. I hope she gets many enthusiastic students!

The weekend of June 14-15 the Lighthouse Lacers will be demonstrating lacemaking at the new Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I expect to be demonstrating tatting, not sure yet which day.

Now I need to get back to dyeing more thread! The dye series sets are apparently a big hit, so I need to do some more in "Tourmaline", and then possibly "Nectarine", "Rhubarb Pie" and "Roses" - so I have plenty to do!

More "Tourmaline" on the way

More hand dyed thread is coming! "Tourmaline", batch 2.
The small skeins of coordinating solids are what I am going to call a "dye series", and will be offered as sets. These came about as an idea to use up those 12 to 18 yard lengths that were left on the original balls after making the larger skeins. I'm sure that there are tatters that could come up with very creative uses for them!

Suspended bead in polyclay teardrop - pendant

Well, if only the top hole was bigger! Then it would have worked better - as it was, I had to improvise since the thread wouldn't fit when I needed to make the 2nd join. I'll make the top hole bigger on the next batch of polymer clay teardrop shapes. I don't know why this idea hadn't occurred to me before.

The chain with the bead is suspended using a regular jump ring. I used a "split" or coiled jump ring for attaching the tatting at the top.

Polyclay teardrops in teal

Here are some more of my polyclay teardrop earrings.

Green and blue earrings

These are based on the same basic design as the previous post. This pair uses hand dyed thread (Celery), blue and green glass beads, plus "embellishments".
A few rings are thrown off the mock ring, with extra-long picots covered with beads. Beads dangling from a long picot at the bottom. I just love that fire-polished 8mm round bead in the center! Those are a little hard to find, but I've seen a few in some shops on Etsy.

Ecru earrings

Ecru?!!!

Yes, sometimes the yarnplayer can tat with ecru :-)

These are very simple! Just load up some beads onto your ball thread. Tat a mock ring (it's just a chain leaving a big loop at the beginning) halfway around a larger bead, with bead picots. Slip the bead onto the loop, put the shuttle through, and snug up the thread, not too tight. Then tat the rest of the way around the larger bead. Lock join into the beginning. Then put some of the ball thread onto a 2nd shuttle to tat the split rings.

More trouble than they're worth

These hair clips with 5 holes seemed like they would work so well for attaching tatting, but I fear the effort of opening and closing them will have all that work looking a sorry mess very quickly. So, on to other things.

Nectarine, Golden Fleece. Dusty, and Knitty Gritty

Here are the colors recently added to my Etsy shop.

"Nectarine" you've seen before, and yes, inspired by the fruit.

The "Golden Fleece" is simply the colors used in my other batch called "Golden Glow", but without the brighter yellow.

The "Dusty" reminds me of the color of my sons' twill pants - sort of dark olive green, but not quite - with some brown added.

"Knitty Gritty" turned out just a little differently from my first batch of this colorway, (this is all hand dyed, after all!) but is very similar.

Several of these are not what I'd call "pretty", but I think they have a place in the color palette, too. More design choices! The "Dusty" might work for tree branches, bark, stones, etc., to set off brighter colors in floral designs.

Adding a jump ring

I want to thank Celtic Dream Weaver for showing me how to add jump rings for jewelry so that they encircle the tatted ring, rather than just joining them to the ring as I had been doing.

 

It is a little more trouble, but it's good to have another choice, and I think it gives a more secure hold.

The thread needs to be unwound from the shuttle to be threaded through the jump ring.

The jump rings I always use in my tatted jewelry are either "split rings" (coiled like tiny key chains), or jump rings that have been soldered closed. The regular jump rings that have an opening are just too risky for fiber jewelry, in my opinion.

There is also a special tool, used by jewelry makers, called a split ring pliers. With this tool, you can open the metal split ring to go over the threads. This can be done while the tatted ring is in progress, or I've also used it to put the metal ring on over the finished tatted ring. Split ring pliers can be bought from jewelry making suppliers, such as Fire Mountain Gems.

November 2010 note: I've added another post about jump ring findings  http://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2010/11/split-ring-jewelry-finding.html
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Here is also a picture showing my new shuttle from Lady Shuttle Maker! It is one of hers that has that "musical" quality!

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What I am working on in the photo is the "Vision" earring pattern, which is in my "Boutique Tatting" book.

Bag #4

Tatted loop closure, polymer clay button, handwoven original tapestry, all put together into a unique little bag! I do enjoy weaving these, so there will probably be more in this series!