Along the winding "Summer Trail"

Well, I just had to do this batch, before summer is gone! Very similar to the Summer Trail I dyed last year, but some green got into this batch...I guess there was a good rain and some grass sprouted up along the side of the trail, LOL.

A few skeins of size 8 and size 12 pearl cotton were added for the first time. Actually, there are "just a few" of a number of sizes - and that is just the way it is. I'm not really a "supplier" in the usual sense of the word, just an artist who hand paints a few skeins. Nowadays there are many options in tatting threads, but I remember many years when the quality thread only came in white, and the only tatting books available were reprints of early 1900's books. (Uh, did that comment date me? LOL) Well, the point is that tatters these days are very lucky to have so many choices!

Sad twist to the tale of the R's wedding necklace

Some time back, a very nice "patron of the arts" friend requested a wedding necklace in creme colored thread with white beads for her daughter. She wanted "R's" in the design to represent the names of the bride and groom. The wedding was planned for October

But - I received a frantic phone call from her the other day asking if I could please finish the necklace and send it immediately. The sad news is that the groom has just been diagnosed with cancer. The couple have decided to get married in a quick ceremony, and he will fight the cancer with the treatments available.

Let's hope it all works out.

"Garden Afternoon" batch 2

Here's what I decided to do for "Garden Afternoon":
Make the skeins longer (46 inches in circumference, or 1.16 meter), giving me room to put in the 10 colors used. Usually my dye batches are from 4 to 6 colors, so for this colorway I really needed to do something different in order to make everything fit. The circular painting method I tried first just took too much of my time.

Actually, I may continue with the larger circumference skein for all my batches, since it makes for less winding and more room for color. To help show what I'm talking about, here is a photo of 2 of the new skeins next to 2 old ones, along with a measuring tape. The yardage of the skeins is the same.

Here are a pair of earrings tatted in the first batch of "Garden Afternoon", from my "Carnival" pattern. Just one shuttle!

"Garden Afternoon"

Inspired by the colors of a garden during an afternoon stroll.

I hand painted dye onto this thread differently than I normally do - the dye was applied around in a circle instead of from end to end. The result is that the colors change in continuous succession, for example - ABCDABCD - whereas my usual skeins have the colors do something like - ABCDCBA - if that makes any sense.

It was a lot of extra work to do this circular method! So, this may be a one-time treat...or one-time disaster, depending on your opinion of the result, LOL.

"Vibrato" HDT

The colors in this hand dyed thread seem to vibrate back and forth, so it seems that "Vibrato" is a good name. Magenta and cerulean blue, shading from dark to light in both colors.

I tatted some "Vibrato" thread into another "Belle" pendant (original design, not written up yet).