I sense a desire for more "Stardate" HDT...

I will comply...after I finish engineering this new earring design...developed from the "Orbit" style.

Stardate 1001.26

The choice of the name "Stardate" seemed, well, logical for this batch. Set a course for creative tatting...engage!

Oh, BTW, I derived a stardate from today's calendar date by putting the last 2 digits of the year first ("10" from 2010), then the month (01 for January), the dot, then the date. I found the instructions in the book Star Trek Chronology by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda.

Just felt a little "spacey" today!

Funky heart pendant in polymer clay and tatting

Originally this was going to be an earring, but the 2 hearts I made of polymer clay didn't match - I mean they were VERY different, so this one got finished up into a pendant on a chain. I still like the idea for earrings, so I'll have to make more hearts. I'd like to make a lot of different colors.

Speaking of colors, some of the colors in the pendant are similar to a shirt I saw the other night at the meeting I attended for the Loose Bead Society (LBS). I just had to tell the lady, "That shirt you're wearing has wonderful colors in it - I would like to dye some thread in those colors!"

While I was at the meeting I had the opportunity to talk for 5 minutes in front of the group (over 80 people in attendance) about the beginning tatting with beads class that I'm teaching at the LBS March Retreat. I do hope I'll be able to get some more people "hooked on tatting"!

"Nectarine" hand dyed thread

I still have a few more skeins to photograph, but since I'm hungry I'm going to eat the nectarine (the fruit - not the thread - LOL!)

Tatted necklace with polymer clay heart finished

It's done! The polymer clay heart measures about 2 and 1/4 inches wide (5.7 cm) by 2 inches high (5 cm). The thread used was Flora size 10.

Detail of note: the ring just before the large round bead is where I began tatting the neck cord, using a Loop Tatted Ring (LTR) to get both threads through the bead without having to unwind any shuttles. This is the technique used by Bina in her Candlelight Snowflake. The LTR is a new trick for me - I don't quite have it mastered yet, but it came in handy for this project!

The closure is a toggle that I made of polymer clay, and can be inserted into any of the tatted openings for an adjustable necklace. I'm very happy with how the necklace turned out.

Funky polymer clay heart with tatting in progress

I made this funky, colorful heart in polymer clay, with holes around the edge for joining a lacy edging. So far I've tatted all the way around the heart, using rings and chains in size 10. Now, to decide what to do next. I want to finish this as a necklace.

"Celery"

In this photo you see size 20 HDT, some tatting done with it, some actual celery (the vegetable itself), and one of LadyShuttleMaker's handmade ceramic shuttles. To quote my teenage son, "The thread looks more like celery than the celery does" - LOL! I had to agree, because the veggie did seem awfully dull compared to the brightly colored thread. Still, I couldn't think of another name to call it. Incidentally, I did dye a batch with the same name quite some time ago, and this is similar, but "tweaked" (to try and spice it up) so it probably won't match exactly, in case you still have some of the old stuff lying in a drawer (what are you saving it for?!!)

Size 20 used the base thread of Lizbeth this time. Just so you know, my 2010 plan is: to eventually use all the sizes that Lizbeth comes in as the base for my hand dyed thread in the 6 cord type. I'm gradually replacing as I run out of the stock I have on hand. I am very picky about thread, and I wouldn't be doing this if Lizbeth wasn't a high quality, lustrous, strong, beautiful thread, which it has shown itself to be. The tatting in the photo is the hand dyed Lizbeth.