Tired

It was a lovely day of constant working. First it was a Woven Rose pendant. I made two, one for the order and one for the shop.It's a nice simple piece, but the weaving in the center round gives it a little complexity.

After those were finished it was onto remake this bracelet.  This was is quite a bit harder to make. I call this one Ornate and it isn't quite back in the shop yet. I finished remaking it late yesterday so I'll post it later this morning. I still have at least two more necklaces to remake for the shop, so as long as the winter tiredness doesn't continue to win, I should stay nice and busy for at least a couple of days.

The fairly sudden lack of sun around here is definitely taking a toll on my energy levels and it's been a bit of a struggle to keep from snuggling up on the couch and hibernating. That's just another reason that having orders to make for people is such a good thing for me. If something really needs to be made because someone is waiting for it, that's a very strong motivator for me. Restocking the shop, not so much. Here's crossing my fingers for more powerful motivation.

An Order

Right after schooling wrapped, I went to work on a custom ivory scallop bracelet. It's been awhile since I made this one, but it's a simple one, made in one piece. I had it done by the middle of the afternoon and started on remaking the other piece from the order, a black choker. I finished the choker as well, but never got around to working on the Armenian lace doily though.

Since I finished the order I got, it'll be put in the mail this morning.
I suppose I'll go back to the doily and cross my fingers that the more frequent orders I've been getting lately are the beginning of a trend. I'm sad that every few days is now my definition of more frequent. There's nothing for it though, I'm certainly busy enough with other life stuff as it is.

More reading, a little tatting, some knitting, and then I remembered that I had this little project tucked away in my nest.I only managed a round or two on it because it wasn't until late in the afternoon that I ran across it.

I also had to field a tatting request in my etsy shop that I was disappointed to have to turn down especially since I could really use the sale. The request was for a custom designed mask. Why did I say no? Well, there are a few reasons. Designing something from scratch can be a long drawn out process with lots of trial an error. You know I love to design new pieces, but doing so on a deadline is incredibly stressful and without an inspiring idea to start with, crazy hard. There's also the matter of price. It's hard enough to price a piece once the final one has been created, it's impossible to guess at one before the design is done, so either I charge too much for what turns out to be a simple design, or more likely I charge far too little for something that takes forever to design and make. Lastly, there's the issue of pleasing the customer which could involve more than one prototype as designs and elements are rejected, meaning lots more work and the possibility of never creating what they were looking for and losing the sale altogether. It's just too much stress.

Don't get me wrong, I have on many occasions designed from scratch for customers, but not usually masks and never without some sort of inspiring moment in the request. Mostly I'm asked to simply modify existing pieces with colors or enhancements or to design something to a very specific shape or size. I had to turn this one down, because I knew I couldn't do it and be satisfied with the outcome, but man do I hate saying no.

Weekend Recap

Friday was reading and knotting, again. Saturday was a little errand running and a lot of cleaning. That evening we had a pair of my nieces over for the night. I just can't let people who don't live here see how normally lazy I am regarding the house cleaning.

Finally on Sunday I heard back from the customer that I made the prototype head piece for. The request was to purchase the prototype and see it in person before committing to more pieces. So I finished the piece off, actually wrote down the pattern changes just in case and will be shipping it out this morning. If he likes it, then I'll likely be making more of them, if not, at least I got paid for the prototyping and that's pretty rare.

I'm starting this week without any projects again, so there's going to be more Armenian lace knotting I assume. Well that and probably a lot of reading.

Custom

It was definitely a nice and busy Monday morning. I had an order to get out in the post first thing. That was followed by a surprisingly drama free morning of schooling for the kids. I think that they might have actually been happy to get back to work, or at least have something more to do than sit about and be lazy.

After schooling I had a custom order of tatted hearts to make up. These are for a wonderful return customer that I've been lucky enough to work with several times over that last decade. She employs me to make tatted bits for her to use in her own creative work. Mostly they are hearts of varying sizes.

After those were made up I finished remaking the last piece from the order I sent out in the morning. I then started reading. I managed two short stories and started another enormous novel. I guess I can find time for all the things I want to do during the day.

I'm finished with tatting tasks, so I'm crossing my fingers for something to come up while I'm schooling the kids this morning. Otherwise it's more reading and perhaps I'll get back to some knitting as I have a gift to make. Though it's not needed until Spring, so I might not. Oh, who knows what the day will actually bring, but i might as well get to it.

An Order

The weekend was mostly adventuring with the family. We hosted a birthday celebration for my niece and nephew, whose birthdays are just a few days apart and that meant cleaning the house as well. So there was cleaning and shopping and one long walk on the bed of the almost completely dry creek nearby, thanks drought.

The one thing that made this weekend just a touch different is that on Friday I actually got an order in my etsy shop. Not just any order either, a custom order and that means I actually had tatting that needed doing. The customer ordered my widest cuff bracelet with beads added to it. I'm almost certain that she assumed they could be added after the fact, as in sewn on, but that doesn't really work well. In fact I even had to adjust the pattern to account for them. Since they are the Swarovski rounds, they are larger and they take up enough space that they would change the shape of the piece. So I got to do some minor design work as well to get them to fit perfectly inside the piece. It was lovely.

It actually took until Saturday to finish, but now I am again fresh out of tatting tasks. Though I do still need to put together the pattern for the Tatting Day piece. I don't suppose that will take too long, so I'll probably stall on it until the day is almost upon us. Well here's to more custom orders or any or any orders really, some artistic inspiration, and hopefully finding out that our car only needs minor, inexpensive repair since we're still waiting to hear on that. Fingers crossed.

Repeat

You know what I absolutely love? Repeat customers. I have just a handful of wonderful people who come back time and time again to have me make something for them. It is especially lovely when I'm in that, 'the shop is dead' mood and one of them pops by to get a few things. Really it just turns my mood right around as I get to work and I start to feel useful again. I think that that is the worst part about the slow shop really, the feeling of uselessness. That somehow your work is no longer needed in the world, so why bother. It's a good thing that I have an otherwise happy and stable life or that could really mess with my psyche.

So as you no doubt guessed, I got an order in yesterday with some pieces that needed making. This not only gave me something to do yesterday and likely today as well, it gave me things to take pictures of to share with you. This first one is a pair of my chanmaille earrings that I call The Twenty. I was asked to do a slightly different colorway for the ombré effect. I honestly like this one better than the golden orange one I had already made.

The second one here are my Pinwheel Swirl post earrings. I initially made these up in colors I thought would sell as is, but every pair I've sold since has been a unique combination that I would not have thought of making. These color choices are clearly Halloween hues and though I have no intention of adding them to the shop like this, the listing is already set up for customers to choose their own colors, but I might change the listing photos to include them.

I still have more work to do on this order and that makes me very happy. I should have it all done today since I have no other tasks to work on though. So here's to a lovely day with lots of tatting in it.

Custom

Thankfully yesterday's illness hasn't progress past the headache and sore throat, so I was perfectly capable of getting some things done. Schooling did demand the entire morning, but after lunch, I got tatting done. This is the beginning of a custom order necklace. It's going to grow up to be one of my Grand Daisy pieces, but the customer also wanted beads in just the center two daisies, so I added some swarovski crystals. It's amazing how a nice color change and a little sparkle can alter a piece so much.

It's not quite finished yet, it still needs it's hardware and a little pressing, but I should have it out in the mail to the customer today.

Since that was my only project, today will likely be back to stitching again. It really is slow going, at least compared with my speed of tatting. I've spent years getting fast with that needle and it's hard to slow my brain down to the speed of my fingers with this, but at least they're still busy. Here's hoping for more tatting busy, soon.

One Task Down

Yesterday was a stark contrast to the day before. The last day of July was hopping with orders and questions and all sorts of things. The first day of August was quiet as a mouse. That's not to say I didn't have plenty to do of course. I still had left over tasks to accomplish. I actually finished the tatting on the the mask and eye patch order so I will be getting all the finishing work done on it today. If you've been wondering what this finishing business I keep mentioning is, it's a bunch of little things. All the pieces will need to be pressed and rid of any cat hair that might have escaped notice while working. Then ribbons need to be cut and added to all of them. Because there are a bunch of new color combinations in the order I'll get some nice pictures of them to add to listings or just to have 'just in case'. Then there is the packing and finally shipping. So it's not something I can really get done early enough in the morning to ship them out today.

After that's done I'm all caught up in the shop so again I'll be hoping for elytra in the mail today. They're coming from overseas though and it's only been a week since they shipped so it will probably still be another week. I'm just trying to be optimistic. Yeah, I know that's not a good look on me.

I couldn't properly solve the rose pattern mystery yesterday either. I looked up my blog posts from when I used it and my first rose was actually designed as an anklet to match an existing tattoo of a customer. That, I do remember. It appears that I did in fact make it up myself by building up the design for the eye patch that came next and was designed to match. I still feel like I must have seen something similar, but it's been four years and exhaustive searches have gotten me nowhere so I'm tossing my hands in the air and giving up the search. Part of the reason for the search was I want to now make the roses as pendants for the shop, but I wanted to get the pattern origins nailed down first. I think I'm going to make them anyway. They're different enough from more recent similar roses that I've seen around to be safe in that.

So today is mask order finishing and rose tattoo pendant making unless the mail surprises me or August picks back up right away. Either way I'll make sure I'm busy again because I like busy.

Custom

Thank you so much everyone for all of your comment support yesterday. Sometimes all I need is to know I made a logical decision and that I didn't overreact too badly. So now this whole mess is in the rear view and I'm nice and busy again.

I know I mentioned a bit about the custom order I was working on and that's what I got up to yesterday. The idea was to create two specific lengths of lace with a similar look to my 'queen' pieces on one side and a simple chain and ring edge on the other with the task of providing a space to lace through. The two pieces will eventually make their way to a costume jacket. So the challenges were to make sure the pattern would fit the length right and that the design would provide the strength needed to be functional.

The first challenge was defeated through dumb luck. I made up a length of lace using the same pattern as the outside edge of the 'queen' pieces and with a slight modification to the ends, it was the right length. The second challenge was a bit more of an adventure. I decided to tat the entire edge over a length of wire. Now, I do this all the time for a few of my masks, but it's a small bit over the wire, this was every chain along the edge and it was a pain in the neck. You can see the wire there curving down...it's about two feet long. I bet you're wondering how you do that with the needle. Well, you set the needle next to the wire and then pretend that the whole wire is the needle and tat over it and the needle at the same time. Yes, it is tiresome, clumsy and slow work, but it is effective.

The final pieces are perfect. I mean that in the, 'it will work perfectly', not in the 'it's entirely flawless' sense. It's the right length. There is plenty of lace to sew to the garment with a decorative edge. It also holds it's shape and with so many lacing points it should function well and not distort at all. Working on this piece also reminded me of one of the reasons I charge so much for some of my work. It may look simple, but making it was anything but.

I still have a couple of pieces in queue to be remade today, but I have caught up with all my recent orders. The Universe has been extraordinarily kind and I do so appreciate it. I hope that kindness continues as it's past time to start saving for our annual vacation and other adventures in the future. My work is never done.

Yes, Another Secret

The cough has started albeit slowly and with less ferocity than my family experienced. I just hope this doesn't mean that it wants to last longer with me. I'm definitely working slower than usual, but I am still definitely working. I decided to put the new pendant on a micro bead chain and got it listed in the afternoon after I finished remaking a Ladies Who Lunch choker. As I was making that it occurred to me that while I do occasionally refer to my pattern notebook and pictures, I have a ridiculous number of patterns memorized. Sure, they tend to have tons of repeats, but still the sheer brain space these things must be taking up...I shall blame that for all my other memory failings for this point forth.

I know I have mentioned this in the past, but a super secret project that was actually initially imagined over a year ago is moving forward as I type. Now, I can not speak to the nature of the project as it has been established that we shall 'sit on our genius' until the concrete realization of the project. I am truly tickled by the possibilities that this project may bring and I promise you that I will share more when I can. I further promise you that you will LOVE it. Yeah, I know bold statement, but I think it might be true.

While most of the details and the true nature of the project must remain under wraps I can share some of the beginnings. Yes, I'm that certain that you won't guess from this. What are you looking at? Well, a pile of small hearts. I am currently trying to design just the right heart. I know many people write this sort of stuff out first, not me. I just start tatting and see what happens. In fact you might notice some stray threads in the picture from pieces abandoned before completion as they were not working out at all. I actually think I have already found the winner of the heart off, but a few others are just fine as well and might by re purposed to pendant status or even earrings as they are small enough for that. I have to admit that even though I designed these blind, without so much as a peek around at other designs...I fear that they might resemble others designs...I really should go look around at this point and see. I mean it's a heart, we've all made these and there are likely dozens of existing designs for them. Meh, I probably won't go look. I know I made them, what other proof do I need.

There are a couple of other small pieces that I bet you can't make out in the picture at all for various stages of the project and I have a few more small designs that I need to come up with here very soon. Seriously, this will be big...I was going to say epic, but I think I may have been overusing that word so, I'll stick with big. Oh, and don't do trying to guess, seeing if I'll allude to the truth. I think this one will be better as a surprise. So that is what I'll be working on today, unless I hear back from my custom order customer. Yes, I started this one before I was paid too...I don't need a lecture. I'll be able to use these designs either way too.

Not Quite There Yet

I think I had another off day. Something just wasn't right...you know when you can't quite put your finger on the problem, but it still manages to soil the day. I did spend a little time trying to get the caterpillar just right. I made a few more adjustments to the metal bits and I think I'm almost there. I just have one more little problem with the way the lace will behave hung like this. If I can suss out a solution to this issue, the caterpillar might get it's photo shoot today and get listed...if I can suss it out. I like the way everything hangs, but it put a little stress on the bottom of the lace to bend. I may just insert a bit of wire to solidify the piece, but that is so not fun.

In other designing news, I started work on a set of custom necklaces. The only odd bit is the customer wants to remain a bit in the dark concerning their design as one is a surprise and apparently she is not so good at keeping those a secret. The less she knows, the less she can share. Makes sense. So I shall do my level best to remain a bit cryptic on the design work, but I have to share a bit don't I?

This little section is the edge of a doily that I plan on doing a bit of reverse engineering on to create the final design. I of course had to make a section of said doily before I could begin to break it down and use the elements properly with a few other ideas to create the final design. It's always hard to follow the exact pattern in the first place. I always want to start modifying right off the bat, but the process works so much better if I have a correct representation of the original. I am likely to axe the extreme picot party of this design and there is much work to do to join it to the other sections, but I have already tested the design for shape and it's perfect on that front.

Oh, one more small bit of news. In a continuation of the fashion blogging news I've already shared, yesterdays google alerts brought me another feature., this time at trend hunter. This time it is perfectly clear that they have mistook the 'tats' in' TotusMel Tats' to mean tattoos and again are assuming that my attempt was to create non permanent tattoos. I mean, sure I'll take all the press you want to give me, but I'd much prefer that they 'get' what it is. So...

Dear fashion blogging world, thank you for the notice, really it is wonderful, but it's tatting, not crochet or knit. It has absolutely no relation to tattooing except in your perception that it resembles it. Thank you again, please continue to mention my work at your convenience and I am available for interviews.

There, that ought to do it right? Maybe? Anyway, I'll be working more on the custom pieces as well as hopefully putting those final touches on the caterpillar today and maybe it will be a 'normal' day.

Tatted Headband

Busy, busy weekend. Projects were approved, others became irons in the fire awaiting approval. To say that I've had a jump start into the year would be, I fear, a gross understatement. Along with the many projects I've already shared, I've got a few more as well my own wandering mind coming up with new ideas.

Over the weekend, I was very nearly bullied into attempting to create opera length tatted gloves. I accused them of insanity, but I know that with the addition of laces it would be possible. However anyone who has done an afternoon of tatting can appreciate the sheer amount of time said project would take. First of course I need to concur the hand portion of the glove itself. I have seem wearable tatted gloves so I know it is possible. I would like my pattern to not simply mimic those so I will not search out the pattern and rather muddle though on my own. Yes, this is another project that will take forever to manifest, so don't expect to see anything any time soon. I'm also contemplating a high end of luxe line full of embellished pieces, again gonna take some precious time.

I will show off the most recent piece to actually sell from my slate of custom pieces. The tatted headband I teased at. I made it with hand dyed thread and a hell of a lot of swarovski beads. I attached ribbon to each end so the whole thing will tie on. In fact I tried it out as a choker as well and it is quite dramatic. This one will definitely be remade and make it's way into the store. It will likely be purple, but will receive a black makeover in the future.

One other interesting project is an exclusive piece for an online store. I made something up to share with them yesterday and it will remain an iron until I hear back. I usually shy away from wholesale entirely not wanting to compete against myself, but this match was right for an exclusive piece...I hope. I'll share more as it develops of course. I know it's early in the year, but here's to this being the start of, let's see...yeah, let's go with greatness.

Seen The New Tattoo?

First off today, I thought I'd share a wee bit of the nonsense. During the holiday break, my family ventured to Monterey and for Christmas I got myself a new tattoo. While it's still far from completely healed as that takes a couple of months really, it looks pretty good, so I thought I'd share it with you. This also illustrates at least for me, the importance of a good tattoo artist as opposed to a tattooist. The artist I saw took my drawing and asked if he could work with me on the design. Thank the gods he did. He took what I had created using clip art and a pen trying to create the feeling that I had in my head and made it into this...actual art. I think it's perfect...the picture is not.

I received word back on a few different irons I posted about yesterday, so it's full speed ahead on that fence. Yeah, this is not going to make a lick of sense if you didn't read yesterday, sorry. One of those irons was a commission to make a pearl necklace 'wearable'. I was sent a sketch of what they were thinking of and I made up a little sample piece with the options and I will await the pearls to create the final piece, likely next week. This one should work up rather quickly, but at a very long length for doubling, it should also be quite a striking look and you might see a similar version without real pearls pop up in the store some time.

I know I never showed you what the last pile of ace was becoming. I wanted to wait and see whether the commissioner of that project liked it yet before I did. Well the design has been approved after some slight tweaking, that frankly I should have done in the first place. The final piece may see some crystal embellishment, but we're still on the fence with that decision. It s, my friends a face mask, designed for those who want a tatted mask but wear glasses and I still have not gotten over that design hurdle. I shaped it a bit like gas mask or a motocross mask. Sure, it has little masking powers but hey, it's lace.

Yesterday headband sample was also approved with a slight design adjustment. The entire piece will be created to widen at the center. This should be a fairly simple case of strategic stitch increases. I want the widening to be a nice, gradual increase. Does this mean that I will make a prototype and write it all down? No...that's silly, wise, but silly. I will of course just make it up as I go along. See, this is why I'm not sure I belong in any designers club. I'm like a hack who sometimes gets lucky. I don't follow any rules, hell, I don't even know what rules might actually exist. Don't worry though, I don't think I'm too good for them...I'm just too lazy to figure that all out.

Anyway, I should be busy working on all of this for a while and after I clear my plate, I've been thinking more about doing couture type pieces. After the mask, I felt such accomplishment, so I was thinking of doing a small line of similarly embellished pieces. Price them accordingly, accept that they may never sell, but may in fact inspire others and you know, get eyes into the store who might then purchase the reasonably priced items. Of course they will take much more time to create, but I suppose that's the point. I'll let you know if they ever do start to be created...one day.

You Want Me to Make What?

It's times like these that have me wondering if I was always this bloody impatient or if it was the advent of the Internet and email that caused it. I generally concluded that I was always impatient, but I was aware of the limitations of communication and I accepted them. So instead of wondering why someone hasn't answered my message in an hour or so, I simply used to start get antsy in a week. Regardless, I have so many irons in the fire right now, I could make a wrought iron fence surrounding my entire house, if only any of them would get back to me.

After extreme focus on one single design, I've moved onto several other custom requests. There is the mystery one you glimpsed the last couple of days. Then I moved onto a request to capture an existing bracelet in lace. The bangle bracelet has special engraving that cannot be sized, but is too large for the wearer. They asked if perhaps it might be entwined into lace in order to make it fit. Rather than attempt this with the real bracelet, I made a wire analog using the customers measurements and used a familiar Celtic design as a jumping off point. Of course the stitch counts are all different, but it's the basic construction technique that was perfect for this task. I wish I could credit the original designer, but honestly I can't figure out who did it first. This of course is one of those irons awaiting approval before commencing.

Next up we have a headband. After wearing one of my jeweled masks another customer wondered if a similarly jeweled headband might be created. For this piece I went all over creation looking for the right edging to base it off of. It needed to be think, about 2.5 inched across and it needed to have just the right spacing for crystal embellishment to not be too heavy or light. While that can be created simply by adding more picots, I wanted the design to really hold them...if that makes any sense. Again I went with a familiar construction technique of a sort of rose motif, chain, motif and turn the whole thing around like a bookmark. I really likes a bookmark design I spied, but I wanted the whole thing much more compact and dense. The inspiration was spied on Gina's blog and I believe it was by Judi Banashek. I hope I changed enough, but I really liked the structure for the headband. This too is awaiting customer approval so it might well be different in the end anyway.

There are are a few more custom orders and requests also firing, but I think that's enough sharing for now. Who knows what I'll get onto today.

Onto The Next One

I spent a good portion of energy yesterday trying to get as many people as possible to look at my new mask. I suppose after working on the piece for three weeks I was in need of a little show and tell. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented. I am proud of the piece, but I definitely needed the pats on the back to reassure me that it was in fact done. However, I have no time to sit on my laurels and I've begun work on my next project.

The head cold might have helped me with finishing the last piece, but it is having the opposite effect on the next one. I'm having scattered thoughts and it's not quite gelling in my head yet. I even hesitate to say what it is that I'm attempting to make yet as I think this one might take two or three prototypes before the actual piece emerges. I started this one with an element from a vintage handkerchief edging. I often start a new piece simply by gleaning elements from other designs as a jumping off point. It's really what I do with them that makes the pieces original and boy am I thankful that I have those early tatters to lean on for inspiration.

Today is not looking much better for creation either as not only am I sick, but so are the kids. Sure, during the day they seem fine, but as soon as the two year old's head hits the pillow the coughing begins and nothing can stop it for like two hours. Then when she is quiet, I'm all paranoid and I have to watch her breath for a while. So as you might have guessed I'm running on a bit less sleep than I like to have.

Let's see what else? Ooh, I sent off my first order to Dubai. I've shipped a lot of places, but this was the first time that a customer requested that I use a different carrier. They were willing to pay and I'm not exaggerating here, $85 for just the shipping. I am carefully monitoring the shipment with extreme paranoia, not because it's huge or more important than any other order, but because that's a lot of shipping costs and it better get where it's going fast and efficiently.

I know that there was something else that I wanted to share with you today, but it appears that the head fog is winning. Hopefully this cold is on the way out and I can get my brain back soon...I really miss it.

What The?

Oh, weekend...so full of drama both good and confusing. My household was abuzz with preparations for the coming holiday week. All cleaning and the children uncleaning. We had dental appointments and shopping for table wares. We had playtime with the cousins and delivery of the dining set we'd waiting over two months to receive. I finished knitting up a gift and tatting all weekend long. We bought one set of dishes and acquired another which all needed washing as well. It was mostly ups, but there was one very odd down.

I awoke rather early on Saturday and did a random google search for ankle corsets. I often do this sort of thing to see if anything has been featured anywhere, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a pair of my corsets for sale elsewhere. I was shocked and annoyed that I had not been informed that a pair I had sold would be for sale. I had been asked about wholesaling to the site, which I have never really done anywhere. Why let someone pay you less for something & then charge the customer the same amount, particularly when it is online as well. Not to mention that I can't make enough stock for that sort of deal. I suppose it would have been fine had I known, but the other weird detail was the renaming of the piece to something I find silly. The full and initial rant is located on my facebook fan page. I have calmed and I think that it might just fade into the sunset, but yeah, that was my weekend, 'what the...?' moment.

This week should be full of more tatting, the start of the free shipping season and hopefully the arrival of my belly dancing piece supplies, so I can get that made in time. There of course will be eating and whatnot and my posting here and at the wunderkammer mat be interrupted, but I don't know how busy I will actually be yet. Just don't be shocked if I seem to disappear for a bit, like I'm going to do right now.

Friday

Ah, Friday, that glorious day that says to you, 'hey, you still have one more insanely busy day before you get to relax!' and then kicks you in the rear for thinking otherwise. On today's butt kicking agenda, eight hours of babysitting my niece...who has a recently broken foot and shall need to be carried to the bathroom. Also today, we have the laundry which I failed to put away yesterday, several more pieces that need making, normal homeschooling duties and all the other miscellaneous tasks that rear their ugly heads during the course of an average day. To help me deal with this list, I have...well, I have nothing, just me. It's going to be a fun one indeed.

Going back to yesterday for a moment though. I listed both of the new slave bracelets and while they were well received on twitter, there was a shiny new view bug on etsy, so all my new listing were showing '0' views. I know that in the wider scheme of things this is but a minor annoyance, but it is a really annoying annoyance. It seems to be fixed now, but I have no idea whether the views during the bugs reign were counted. Again, I know silly problem, but I really like to know what my views are really like...I'm obsessed like that.

I mentioned that I have a few more pieces to remake today and I still haven't gotten back to that scarf. Unless I get another custom request that requires me to make something new, I think the next new item will be the belly dance necklace that can not be started until my supplies arrive. The shipping times on the site I ordered from are ridiculously long, so it will likely be a rush job anyway. Well, the sun is now rising and I must prepare for the day.

Mask

Back to the tatting. Against my own rules, I had started this mask before it had been purchased. This tends to happen when my curiosity for the final product outweighs my better fiscal sense. I needed to see if I could create what I claimed that I could create. Lucky for me the purchase did eventually come and now I'm on the home stretch of the project.

The mask, as I'm sure I mentioned, is meant to match a dress that also has silver embroidered embellishments upon it. I thought the effect could be mimicked by using a blending filament held with the thread while tatting, but a quick experiment nixed that idea. The filament blends far too well and only peeks out every few stitches, not a bold enough look. So I finished the mask as normal and then began the task of, well actually embroidering the edges.

Using a much smaller needle, I am stitching the filament right on. I've only finished one eye and I plan to also do the entire outside edge. It's a much harder thread to work with as it is prone to stretching, but I really like the way it is turning out particularly from a distance. When it's done I'll get some more pictures and share the dress it's to match so you can see how well I did.

This project as well as surrounding myself with makers of extreme bits of frippery has inspired me to slowly work on a very high end line of one of a kind pieces. I think this is just a vanity project and I've no illusions that I'll be selling many $500 pieces, but I thought it would be neat to try something ridiculously detailed. I plan on working with some silk thread and layering several different elements to create these pieces. No, I have no idea when they'll emerge. Obviously they will take more designing and time. If you have any ideas of which direction these art pieces should go, feel free to share. I'm not certain whether I'll start with neck pieces or cuffs or something else entirely so all your ideas will gladly be stolen.

Ummm

Yeah, I've got nothing, but more of the same really. I speed tatted and finished up all the custom orders I had on deck as well as a couple of pieces that had been started and never finished. I slapped up a little not about Halloween in the store. I figured a polite warning to buy masks early, should they be desired was in order. Then I waited...and waited. Sure I picked up the needles and got to work some more, but after I get a bunch of inquiries, I tend to sit on my hands for a while wondering when or if they might return. You see, I get worried that if I start work on something else then I *will* get a custom order that will cause me to abandon what I've started. Then again, if I start to work on the piece inquired about, they are likely to never return to make that purchase. So I waver back and forth with little direction. I generally opt for working on small pieces, but currently it's the masks that are most in need of remaking.

The afternoon and evening was spent more on home matters. Looking for a new kitchen table that can actually be used by small children, still look nice, not be a stain magnet and well made and not ridiculously expensive. It is a task we are failing at. We did get the last of the light switches rewired with the help of a contractor friend. So with that, the completion of the backyard and the window treatments,we're about halfway to settled. The front yard is still a mess and we still have not adorned any of our walls. Then there's the dining table that won't arrive until the end of the month and the front sitting room that is currently only a pair of bookcases. We've discovered that big comfy chairs are far more expensive than we could have imagined.

Thanks for all the moral support after yesterdays episode. I do get great joy out of knowing how many of my pieces have traveled the world, especially since I haven't. That doesn't mean that I still don't long for the day that my pieces take a trip down the red carpet or in front of a movie camera or something as equally immortal. I imagine that after my own desires for fame were destroyed my my lack of the ambition and drive needed for it acquisition, that might be closest that I'll get. And now back to my actual and much less glamorous life...which I love, I promise.