A rivoli is...

 A rivoli is a crystal with a foil backing, making it very sparkly. There are no holes, so it's a cabochon, not a bead. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, for many creative possibilities.

 The foil backing needs to be protected from scratches and wearing off, because if that happens, the crystal will lose some sparkle. Before working with the rivoli, paint some clear nail polish on the foil back and let it dry.

I beaded a peyote bezel around my rivoli before adding tatting around it. Deborah Roberti of AroundTheBeadingTable.com has written an excellent free tutorial for creating a peyote bezel, and that's what I followed. She has many more patterns for sale on her website. 

I used a 12mm Swarovski rivoli, size 11/0 Delicas and size 15/0 seed beads. My beading thread was 6 lb Fireline, which is a little thicker than the 4 lb Fireline recommended in the tutorial, but it worked well for me. I must point out that it's important to use a thread especially made for beading to do the peyote, because an ordinary sewing thread can easily break from the stress. 

The necklace I designed. The center is a beaded rivoli, with tatting added around it. I joined the tatting by inserting a tiny crochet hook under the beading thread between beads. Tatting techniques used included bead picots, beads on the core thread, Josephine rings, and split rings. I used size 20 thread in my own hand dyed "Lilac Sea" and "Forest", plus Lizbeth white.

I chose to finish the necklace with strung beads on a flexible beading wire.

Tatting the necklace in progress. I was surprised at the creamy color of the size 11/0 Toho Lt. Jonquil seed beads on the white thread, as compared to the darker color in the tube. I was very pleased with the results!

“Berry Sundae” hand dyed

New hand dyed thread, "Berry Sundae" is now listed in my Etsy shop. The colors were inspired by a lovely berry sundae that I enjoyed recently.

If you've been waiting for my books to go on sale, the time is now. My self-published books (printed only) are currently on sale in my Etsy shop at a discounted price.

Another one of my wire + tatting experiments. I'm keeping this one!

The details: 

I used solid brass wire from Beadaholique in gauges 18, 20, and 28. The Sodalite stone I purchased from a local bead shop. The tatted "flowers" are a mix of my own hand dyed with white and some gray polyester thread. I basically used the same techniques as in this video, only this particular pendant got a little fancier.

For those wanting to learn more about wire weaving, I recommend Dawn Horner's Craftsy class Start Wire Weaving Cabochon Pendants (affiliate link).

June flew by

Tollway Tatters - June 23, 2018

 Tollway Tatters is always a good time with good friends. The Hinsdale Oasis on the Illinois Tollway is sort of a centrally located gathering place. Follow Lace-Lovin' Librarian's blog for up-to-date info about the next meeting. Tie-dyed t-shirts are optional! Everyone was working on impressive projects at this meeting, while I brought along a new pattern that I had purchased from JTatter on Etsy, the Tetrahedron earrings. I puzzled over it for the entire time there! Later, at home, I was able to understand it, and the finished earrings are shown at the end of this post.

My fresh paint and wallpaper home improvement project completed

 The stairway in my home had been the "gallery" of my children's drawings and school projects for many years. Since my "kids" have all been fully grown up for quite some time now, I finally decided it was time to take the faded, dusty, peeling papers down, paint the wall a new color, and bring a calming view to a windowless wall with a wallpaper frieze from Bradbury & Bradbury.

That's me trying the Lunar Module landing simulator at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio

 The family vacation destinations included the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio (hometown of Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon). Lots to see, very educational and great fun!

View of Cincinnati, Ohio

 We then continued to Cincinnati, Ohio to see a lot of the sights there, including watching our own Milwaukee Brewers play baseball in the ballpark of the Cincinnati Reds.

A beautiful sundae! Maybe the inspiration for new hand dyed thread.

 This sundae from Dairy Queen looked so pretty I took a picture of it! I'm getting a color idea for more hand dyed thread. By the way, my Etsy shop is digital only mode (vacation mode for me) just a bit longer, then I will have new plans for it.

Tetrahedron earrings, tatted from JTatter's pattern.

 I've finished a pair of Tetrahedron earrings from JTatter's pattern! For these I used size 20 hand dyed thread (Solar Flare) with size 3mm Swarovski iridescent pearl beads in Light Blue, and wire wrapped the niobium ear wires myself. 

JTatter's tetrahedron pattern in my own hand dyed thread and hand formed ear wires.