Celtic earrings

 

In an Italian tatting magazine IL Mio Chiacchierino October/November 2014 the pattern for these large elegant Celtic design earrings caught my eye, so I wanted to make a pair! 

I needed to learn how to cover a plastic ring with tatting, so searched on YouTube for a tutorial and found this good demo by BridalDYI. 

The earring being worn by me, showing the size. Although large, it is lightweight.

The magazine issue where the pattern appeared.

Google Translate came in handy for translating the Italian pattern. There is a diagram (but I think the 7 ds indicated between picots of the outer row is a mistake). I counted 5 ds on the photograph of the earrings on the model so I used 5 ds on mine and I'm pleased with the result. The thread I used is Liz Metallic size 20 in the color "Sand Dollar".

Still in a Celtic mood, I made 2 pairs of shamrock earrings and listed them in my Etsy shop. One pair in Kelly green, and one in my own hand dyed "Bright Greens". The pattern for these earrings is found on the "My Free Patterns" page of this blog (with a nod to Rozella Linden for the Celtic knot).

A fresh batch of "Brilliant Sunset" hand dyed thread is still waiting in a bin to be rinsed out, so I'm off to attend to that next. 

I hope all goes well for you today!

Celtic Triangle Necklace pattern

This pattern is now available from my Etsy shop. 

Tatting techniques used include ring, picot, chain, join, Catherine Wheel join, bead picot, and floating ring. It's written from the shuttle tatting point of view, since that's what I do, but the pattern should be do-able for needle tatters as well, and they wouldn't even need a Celtic shuttle!

The center part of this pattern is a demonstration in one of my video lessons on Craftsy, in the "Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting" course. But, the extensions on the sides and bottom are new, and since so many people asked how to do this version of the motif it is now written as a pattern with stitch count photographs, written directions in English and several in-progress photographs.

 Be aware that this finished motif does require three 7mm jump rings to hold the parts together to keep it stable, otherwise the tatted extensions would just flop around loosely. That's one of the reasons that I hesitated in offering this version as a pattern. But, the jump rings do give it a rustic appearance and are decorative. I used Vintaj natural brass roped cable jump rings on the model, but any kind can be used as long as they're the correct size.

I finished the pattern model with 2.4mm cable chain, smaller 6mm jump rings to fit the chain, lobster style clasp, and extender chain. Of course it can be finished in many other ways, tatted in many colors, and I'm looking forward to seeing the creativity of others using this pattern!

Celtic Mardi Gras and Working on a Collar

The "Loopy" Mardi Gras items sold out immediately, but of course the pattern is still available at my Etsy shop. In the necklace shown above, I added 3 small charms using jump rings around 3 of the center front tatted chains. Seed beads on the Celtic chains weaving through the purple were strung onto the thread before tatting. These extra embellishments are not shown on the pattern, but are easy to add.

In life outside of tatting, I play the cello a bit. Well, I recently became aware of the social media buzz about "impossible arpeggios" in an amazing cello solo played by the TV character Wednesday Addams. Naturally, I searched online for the sheet music to "Paint It Black" and purchased it! 

More to the point, since this is a tatting blog, I noticed her white pointed collar and at times it's a lace collar. That excited me, so I'm in the process of designing a tatted pointed collar but with the front part mostly, finishing with necklace chain. Less work than tatting a full collar. Nothing to show yet, but will post photos when I have made progress!

Nectarine and wire projects

 

New this week in my Etsy shop is a fresh batch of "Nectarine" hand dyed thread. Of course, the nectarine in the photo was promptly eaten after the photo was taken! I only use Procion MX fiber reactive chemical dyes for my hand dyed thread. (^◡^ )

Tatted earrings, my own Celtic triangle design, with handmade wire-wrapped niobium ear wires and glass teardrop beads. The pattern varies slightly from the Celtic triangle taught in my Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting class on Craftsy, but it's made using the same techniques. The thread used was size 20, 3 colors of hand dyed, one of which is from the "Stardate" batch.

Earlier this month I finished another wire-wrapped pendant with tatting:

The thread used was sizes 10 and 20 of "Stardate" along with a light blue. The teardrop is an Amazonite stone, purchased from TerraFinds. The wire is non-tarnish Parawire in "Titanium" color, 18 gauge for the frame, 28 gauge for the weaving. The half drilled stone was wrapped in 24 gauge.

I'm really pleased with how well the hand dyed silk ribbon purchased from Quintess looks with the pendant!

New pattern listed: "Loopy"

Got it done! "Loopy" pattern is now listed in my Etsy shop.

Techniques used include chain, bead placed over a picot, lock join, shoelace trick, ring, using a Celtic shuttle to weave through a tatted motif.

Here's some pictures of color combos I've used this design for:

Double Flower Celtic

My video demo of this tatted flower is now on YouTube https://youtu.be/gn5G3aeHesg 

There's a left handed video there too, but I am not ambidextrous! I simply use an app to flip the video mirror image. Here's the left handed link: https://youtu.be/A8SWcA0BCMQ

The written pattern is a free download: https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/8252024/double-flower-celtic-pdf-465k?da=y 

This simple design originally appeared in 2013 in this blog post: https://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2013/07/double-flower-using-celtic-shuttle.html 

The Celtic shuttle that I used is this kind: https://hhtatting.com/product-category/shuttles/special-celtic-shuttles/?v=7516fd43adaa

By the way, since I sometimes get asked: 

No, there will NOT be a needle tatted version, since needle tatting really isn't my thing. But needle tatters can absolutely tat this pattern using the tatting techniques that correspond to your tool.

Have fun tatting and stay safe!

Early Beginnings of a Celtic + Floral Theme

 Wishing everyone happy creativity in 2020!

My first design experiment this year resulted in a necklace combining a simple Celtic motif with encapsulation (tatting over multiple core threads). The brightly colored floral effect comes from bringing out a multicolored thread out from the core to tat with, then returning it back to the core and tatting over it with the main color. I plan to do a better explanation later with a video demo. Also perhaps a better design, but actually I really like this necklace - the wire wrapped beads quiver constantly when worn, making an eye-catching statement!

 The following pictures show bright green tatted chains being woven "over and under" through a tatted brown motif, using a narrow Celtic shuttle. More to come later!

Hydrangea Dark

New batch of "Hydrangea Dark" is now listed in my Etsy shop. This is the thread color that I used for these tatted earrings.

I also dyed a very small amount of "Hydrangea Light" in size 20 only. I experimented by watering down the Hydrangea Dark colors and adding a pink.

The only tatting I did this past week was to add on a little more to my Celtic motif. I think I'll keep going and see what happens!

Celtic Motifs

 Size 40 Lizbeth and hand dyed resulted in a motif just over an inch wide, so I thought it would do nicely for earrings. I used my own design, a variation of the Celtic Triangle taught in my "Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting" Craftsy class http://shrsl.com/qo0s (affiliate link which gets me a little extra money when people purchase a class after clicking it).

For the pendant I used size 10 thread that produced a motif almost 2 inches wide. 

 Yesterday I attended a meeting of Greater Milwaukee Tatting Guild. We're a group of friends who get together at the food court of a local shopping mall and tat. Usually every month, but taking a winter break so the next meeting is planned for February.

I started another Celtic tatting motif at the meeting, using Lizbeth metallic for one of the elements and adding some of Karey Solomon's hand dyed thread from Graceful Arts Fiber Studio. I'm happy with the combination so far!

Projects looming and new cello

I've started warping my loom. This is a project that won't be finished at the "speed of the Internet". 
I actually prepared the warp months ago!       

The heddles on the loom shafts being threaded. The pattern will be an 8 shaft turned twill, for fancy dish towels. I've done a similar project, years ago! It's not that hard, just slow paced. Good for when you only want to relax, yet see some results...eventually!

That's me on the left, Ana on the right. We were tatting together at the mall.

The project that I was working on at the mall, all finished. It's a variation on the Celtic Triangle pattern that I teach in my Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting class on Craftsy. My affiliate link about that class: http://craftsy.me/2navHdI 

The finished necklace is listed in my Etsy shop.

The most exciting thing happened while I was still writing this blog post. My new cello that I ordered from luisandclark.com arrived! I have been wanting a carbon fiber cello for ages, and I'm very happy to finally own one! 

I'm enjoying my new cello on a beautiful spring day!

Spring!

 At last spring is bursting out all over!
I'm really enjoying it after the bleak winter we had around here. Since I'm involved in church music (singing in the choir and playing the cello) last week was very, very busy! Saturday night the church looked especially lovely and I got into the photo with the flowers. I'm wearing pink "Grand Aura" tatted earrings, and below is a close-up of the earrings.The pattern is my own, found in the Up and Tat 'Em book.

For Sunday morning, I chose a pair of aqua tatted earrings, done in the Celtic knot pattern from Celtic Tatting Knots and Patterns by Rozella F. Linden. I started the earrings at what would have been the Greater Milwaukee Tatting Guild meeting on April 10, except the meeting was poorly attended due to weather conditions and people having other commitments. It's still fun to tat in public, anyway!

A bit more industrial, and "Peace"

Well, I tried all last week to come up with a new "manly" or "unisex" tatted accessory design, but got nothing but a mess of knots! Inspiration doesn't turn on like a faucet for me! The best I could do so far is this Celtic Triangle variation, which is based on the pattern in my Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting class. I put it on a 2mm round leather cord, and I like the "industrial" appearance. I need to buy more leather cord and metal beads!

For my Etsy Shop I also dyed a new batch of "Peace" thread, which is based on the colors in a Peace rose.

Greater Milwaukee Tatting Guild meeting today! To find out more, see the group blog.