Slow lace and beading

Slow art piece in progress

A little peak at what I'm working on. The colors in the harlequin shapes as well as the bright yellow beaded crystals were inspired by The Starry Night painting by Vincent van Gogh. I'm at the stage of "Now what!" But, eventually an answer will come, a little at a time.

The large yellow beaded crystal is built around a center called a "cushion" 10mm across, not really round (a square with rounded corners) but it looks round enough with the peyote beading around it and the tatting.

In between working on that art project, I've added some more things to my "Marilee's Tatting" shop. At the top of this blog there's a tab labeled "Online Store", click on that and it takes you there.

Adelia pendant in teal and purple

Hand dyed thread "Pond"

Feeling better

 

The quarantine period of 10 days will soon be done, so I'm planning to re-open my Etsy shop on May 23. I'm feeling good! Definitely will be going to get the 2nd booster as soon as possible. Enough of virus.

I began tatting the "Antique Rose Heart" from the book Tat's Amore' by Martha Ess. My color choices reflect my obsession with the Peace rose. Actually I just planted a Peace rose bush in my garden 2 days ago, so we'll see if it grows. The one I had last year didn't survive the winter. I'm not the person with a green thumb... my mother had that gift of making a garden grow - but I do have a love for nature, anyway.

As I began tatting the row with the green, I realized that I had skipped a row. Well, I'm just going to continue and call it a "sport" of Martha's Antique Rose Heart, as the plant people call a spontaneous mutation of a cultivar. ☺

Here's some math for beading that I worked out through experimentation. To make a bezel around an 8mm rivoli I need 22 size 11/0 Delica beads. 24 came out too big and the rivoli fell out. 20 is too small. 

But, the problem with 22 is that results in a edge of 11 points, or divisions. That doesn't allow for an alternating pattern to come out right. Sigh!!!

Well, I will finish this set anyway. I do like the colors!

Beading with Tatting, Color and Roses

 

Work in progress: tatting with beads, beading around 8mm beads, and a retake on a previous design in peppermint green.

This beading is peyote stitch, using a doubled thread as shown in the 2nd photo. I've been using 6 lb. "Fireline" thread but have observed that it's a bit thick to use doubled with the size 11/0 Delicas beads and tiny size 15/0 seed beads that I'm working with. So have placed an order for 4 lb. Fireline to use in the future. Oh, and if you are looking for a tutorial, I'm following the top bead design shown by Viktoriya Antipova in her YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/m7oqEBAxhEI?t=1679 And it would be nice to support her by giving her video a "like".

Last weekend was a classic car show and I fell in love with all the aqua and teal colors I saw! So, having realized that I've never done a dye batch completely of aqua shades, that's definitely on the to-do list. (^◡^ )

The Peace rose that I had been using in photographs up to now was one I had seen at the Boerner Botanical Gardens. But theirs died, so since I really need a Peace rose in my life I bought one and planted it in my own garden. So here's a photo of its 3rd rose produced this summer!

Now that I've learned a little bit about roses (I was clueless!) now I have a deeper appreciation for the "faithfully blooming every summer for 22 years" red rose given to me by my mother. 

I don't know the name of this rose, but with the help of a rose expert friend, we've decided that it's a beautiful red rose! (And the inspiration for my original "Roses" batch of hand dyed thread.)

Lilac Sea

 "Lilac Sea" hand dyed thread is a combination of purple and aqua shades. I've just added it to my Etsy Shop.

Recently finished earrings made using the Lilac Sea hand dyed thread. The color gradation shows very nicely with repeated tatted chains!

More of my tatted jewelry projects that were put together using this color combo:

Original Design Finished! "Nexus of Joy" Necklace

 After several months of thinking, experimenting, searching for threads and beads, it's done! I'm actually quite pleased with the result. Just so you know, this art piece necklace is NOT for sale, but I do intend to enter it in exhibitions for display.

 The necklace was made using several tatting techniques, including Celtic tatting, bead picots, beads on the core thread, curled rings, bead inside a ring, bead inside self-closing mock ring, floating rings, and pearl tatting (double sided chain). I tatted with shuttles throughout, using Celtic shuttles for the overlapping chains around the stone near the neckline.

 Besides tatting, I used the beading technique of peyote stitch to make the beaded bezels around the 3 stones in the piece. Two of the stones are amethyst, and the small one in the center is a druzy. The pointy dangle at the bottom is wire wrapped, strung with drilled amethyst chips and glass beads.

 So now that this is accomplished, my next goal is to organize my crafting studio. It's quite a mess at the moment!

Just a mess right now

Designing in progress

Aqua/teal has been added to the purple and gold color scheme. Flowers are in progress, but I won't connect any of the motifs together until I have enough for the complete arrangement. I have been dreaming big, even thinking of entering the Bead Dreams competition. 

Beading around a druzy stone.

I found 2 small but stunningly beautiful druzy stones in my stash, so they simply had to go into the design somehow. I beaded a peyote stitch bezel and added beaded "picots" so that tatting can be joined around them later.

I'll be playing cello in this concert!

Concert this week! I'm busy practicing to be ready to play. I love being a member of this orchestra, it's so supportive, encouraging, and really amazing!

Other Ideas Brewing

 While still thinking about how to proceed with my current tatted necklace project, I did manage to complete my very first multi-strand necklace in bead stringing. No tatting in it, but posting the picture here as I'm rather pleased with the result! ☺ I don't remember where I got the metal circles that I used, and for all I know, they might have been a gift from one of Lace-lovin' Librarian's "doo-dad" mixes!

 These earrings are old (well, about 8 years old) but I like them. I'm starting to think that there might be a way to add that design element to what I have in progress. The design, not the color. I'm sticking with the purple and gold theme I have going. The goal in mind is to come up with something fancy to submit to a magazine or a competition.

Slow going, as I have many other distractions, including practicing for 2 concerts that I'll be playing my cello in, as part of the Wisconsin Intergenerational Orchestra. More info on that here: https://www.wiorchestra.org/performance-dates

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!