Yarnplayer meets Lace Lovin' Librarian!

What a super-nice lady!!!
A great thrill to meet her in person!

We had excellent weather for the art fair. A bit on the warm side, but I'm glad the air was calm enough that I didn't have to put weights on all my things. Many people, including young children, were fascinated with "that pretty stuff" and I got to have several interested enough to take a closer look at what I was demonstrating.

Only one person made the remark we tatters hate hearing:
"Tatting? Oh, that's a lost art. Nobody does that anymore...."
Grin ;-)

Choker with "rock"

It is about 16 inches around, with 2 end loops for a slight adjustment. Only the main design area is tatted. The neck cord is just some of the matching thread twisted into a cord. I did this by doubling the thread, slipping one end over a small knob, twisting in the same direction as the twist of the thread, then taking the end off the knob and folding the whole thing in half. It jumps like crazy while it twists on itself! But it smooths out after the kinks are tugged and let go again.

The side with the pearls is what I consider the front.

The back is just some lockstitch chains. These are made by doing the 1st half of a double stitch unflipped, then flipping the 2nd half. (Or vice-versa.) Of course, some people may like that side best! The necklace could be worn either way.

I connected the inner motif to the outer ones with twisted chains of 4/4. (4 first halves, followed by 4 second halves.) I was concerned about where I was going to join these since I hadn't left any open picots! But it wasn't a problem to join beside the beads of the beaded picots.

The finished design isn't exactly symmetrical, but I figure, "Hey! It's handmade! It's original! It's unique!






By the way, I'll be selling my work at the Lake Country Harvest Art Fair on Saturday, Sept. 8. I will be in the "Wisconsin Handweaver's" booth.

New shuttle, new piece

The larger shuttle at the top of both photos is from LadyShuttleMaker.
It's beautiful, and makes a lovely ringing sound while working.

The piece I'm working on is another necklace idea, incorporating a polymer clay "rock'. I just need to figure out how to enclose the rock, and then figure out how to attach the whole thing together. Ideas come to me while I'm working; I can't think it up first and then do it. I just have to live it.

Or maybe this...

This pendant shows how the "Summer Trail" colorway works up. I tried connecting the top ring to the outer rings below it with a longish picot covered in seed beads. This design will reappear sometime in a different form, since I'm not satisfied with it yet.

"Oxidation" necklace

OK, it is done. Next time I will make the holes in the polymer clay a bit bigger! Then it would be easier to join into. I might try for more of a heart shape for the central bead. The "Flora" brand thread, size 10, that I used for this piece is sturdy, but is slightly duller and fuzzier than the DMC Cordonnet Special, in my opinion. Well, I am picky!

Anyway, I saved a scan of the necklace at actual size, to use as a reference for future designing. I think the next one will go a lot faster, now that I've got something to follow.

Pendant in "Weathered Stone" hand dyed

A change from my usual bright colors, these are neutral, earthy. Actually tends toward the greens, I just don't get into browns much. The seed beads were a bit of a problem, since the holes were so small they were stubborn about getting onto the thread. I had to look for beads in the batch that had slightly larger holes.

The pattern, yes, I am working on it.