Garden Oddities

Mixed media tatted earrings

Work in progress

Finished today, these are mixed media tatted earrings, my design. They're based on my Nouveau pattern, but I added more beads, embellishments, and a wire framework.

The colors of hand dyed thread used were Gold Dust for the flowers, and Leafy for the greens. The wire frame is 20 gauge purple coated copper wire, and I wrapped the tatting on with 28 gauge wire, also purple. Tiny Swarovski crystals in amethyst color are in the flowers. The color choices seemed odd at the time, but I'm really pleased with the result!

Showing the back side

Dalek tomato

Incidentally, on a tomato plant in the backyard I found an oddly shaped tomato that immediately brought to mind, "Dalek"! It's a Dr. Who robotic character, which I really don't know how to explain to folks who have never seen a Dr. Who episode, but it only took a few household odds and ends to make one! 

The wee villain was very easy to "exterminate" for supper :-)

Sugar Maple

Summer can stay as long as it likes, as far as I'm concerned. But, since I'll be traveling to Palmetto Tat Days this year, I wanted to have some of this autumn-inspired batch to take with me. I won't have a table in the vendor room, but am taking advantage of the offer of the guild to handle my sales for me. This means labeling each skein with my vendor number and price. The best way to do that, it seems, is to put each skein into a small clear plastic zip bag. I bought stickers to put on the bags, but discovered that won't work because the sticker doesn't stay stuck on the plastic. So, I guess I'll just have to put the pertinent information on a piece of paper inside the bag. The extra time required for all these display details are why I much prefer to sell via Etsy rather than live shows :)

Bobbin lace earrings from a pattern by Jean Leader

My second completed project in bobbin lace is these earrings, done in single strands of hand dyed embroidery floss, a metallic thread, and size 11/0 seed beads. I used the pattern for beaded earrings by Jean Leader from The Lace Guild website, except I only used one row of beads.

Bobbin lace is a challenge that I just couldn't resist trying. All those bobbins and pins look so fantastically intimidating! My finished earrings are holding their shape pretty well without adding any stiffening, but I might like to try a different fiber next time, and compare the results.

Still burnin' the Midnight Oil while enjoying a fresh Nectarine

This week I finished 2 smaller batches of "Nectarine" and "Midnight Oil" in sizes 10 and 20 only. They're now listed in my Etsy shop.

Also this week I was given the opportunity to see the progress on my next book of tatted jewelry patterns that will be published sometime this fall by Annie's Publishing. They're doing a beautiful job of making my designs look good! I'm getting excited to see it finished, and hoping I could do a "book signing" somewhere when the book comes out.

I'm happy to announce that I've added a new Instant Download PDF pattern on Etsy as well as my Craftsy pattern store, the Amoeba Triangle set! This asymmetrical pattern has literally been years in the making, and the pendant gives plenty of practice in Catherine Wheel joins. The earrings and bracelet don't use that type of join, but all of the items in the set do use 2 shuttles and floating rings. It's one of the designs that I taught at the IOLI Convention 2016, and I hope lots of tatters will have fun with it.

What Lola wants...

...Lola gets :) She ages gracefully, too! I haven't dyed this colorway for a very long time, and when I looked at the original recipe I decided it could be improved. I'm pleased with the results!

My plan is to dye several batches of sizes 10 and 20 only for a week or so to balance the stock in my Etsy shop. Don't worry, all the sizes that I have been doing will be included in future batches, For now I'm doing some catch up work.

Bobbin Lace pendant with faceted bezel link in center.

Bobbin lace pendant in progress.

 After several learning experiments I finally finished a bobbin lace project that I'm pleased with! The pattern is the Naely pendant from page 23 in the book, Bijoux En Dentelle by Colette Varet. I added my own touch to the center with wire and a faceted bezel link.

The cord used is 1 mm thick waxed cotton. To me it appears to be about the same thickness as Lizbeth size 3. The waxing gives a nice stiffness, so maybe pulling some hand dyed through a block of beeswax might be something worth trying.

The waxed cotton cord that I used for the pendant came from this package.

Bijoux En Dentelle by Colette Varet has bobbin lace jewelry patterns for thread and for wire.