"Lava" hand dyed thread, and a new choker

The "Lava" name and the color was inspired by the "Lava Rock" used in the garden. My dear husband's comment on seeing the thread was, "It looks burned." :) But that effect is only from the color - sort of rusty brick red shading into brown and black.

Over the last few days, I tatted a choker using the "Twilight Zone" hand dyed in size 20 with purple Czech glass druk 6mm beads. I got the idea for putting the beads inside split rings from Jane Eborall's super wonderful technique pages. The actual pattern I just made up as I went. I tend to not like working repetitious designs, but couldn't think of anything to change it, so I just kept going. Of course, I ran out of thread a few times and had to tat over the ends.

The matching earring design is the same as the ends of the choker. I do like the earring design, although I might tweak it a bit. I'll let it rest awhile. Then later, a new idea usually jumps right out.

Experimenting in the "Twilight Zone"

While I was painting this batch the colors looked so dark, that I was afraid that the whole thing would just turn out black. Instead, the purple and blue areas are bright! Whatever - you just can't predict what will happen in the "Twilight Zone".

I tatted a rough idea for a butterfly viewed from the side, attempting to continue my current fascination with streamlining shapes. It needs work, but at least I did manage to tat it all in one pass with no ends to hide, and it shows how the new dye batch looks worked up.

I also tatted the center from my "Amoeba Triangle" design into earrings. For these I used Lizbeth bright aqua. The color is so bright my camera just couldn't capture the exact shade.

In June I will be teaching a tatting class, and it is already full to my maximum of 6 beginners. So, I don't know why I'm posting about it - except to let it be known that interest in tatting is alive and well!

Video - bead in center of tatted ring

I made this video while working on a design that uses beads in the center of rings. Enough of a challenge in itself, but I wanted to use size 10 Lizbeth thread, and many beads don't want to fit on a thread that thick. So, this shows one way to handle the situation, that worked for me.

Tweaking the "Amoeba Triangle" design

 The newer "Amoeba Triangle" is the pink, on the right. I've attempted to improve the design by adjusting the center to accommodate a larger bead, and by replacing the picots in the outer edge with small tatted rings.  The new angle at which the pendant hangs came as a surprise - and I like it.


The earrings in the photos on the left are some other things I've been tatting as time allows. The brown pair is from the "One Shuttle Glamour" design in my Boutique Tatting book. The pink pair is a newer design, which for now I'll entitle "Giddy" unless a better name comes along.