Last Jellyfish

I don't know if I was distracted or just finally over the creation of jellyfish, but I felt like this last one took 12 hours just yesterday, on top of all day the day before. I kept getting inadvertent knots in the thread as I was doing the hyperbolic sections and there were a couple of times when I came close to just cutting and starting new thread.

I did finish it though. One last tatted jellyfish for the shop, for now. I should get it listed later this morning. It's done in black, charcoal gray and a lighter, slightly thinner gray thread that I received through a Christmas exchange one year.

After I get this listed, I really am not sure what I'll get up to. I want to keep working, but sales have dried up again and I think I need a break from the hyperbolic. I'm sure I'll come up with something. Hopefully it's something interesting.

Black and Gray

Yesterday I decided that while there are still a few weeks before my kids start back to school, we better start reacclimating to it now. So they were forced to practice handwriting and to read for a spell and then we read some comics together in the morning after yoga. I figured that I need to get used to the lost time as well. I mean, I know it's not actually lost time, but I have filled up that morning time with all kinds of things and that's not going to fly when the schooling starts again.

Once that was wrapped I did get back to some tatting. I got a snowflakes done first off because I had decided to go ahead and do the next jellyfish and once I start those it's non-stop tatting for a couple of days. The black and charcoal gray bell portion is done, but I barely started on the medium gray hyperbolic sections.

There is plenty left for me to work on today before this one is done. I might get it finished, but definitely not all the way to listed today. I think this is probably the last jellyfish for the shop, at least for now. I had imagined a whole bunch of them when the thrill of selling the first once was fresh, but now that it's been some time, I know they are not likely to continue flying off the shelf. Besides, I'm sure if someone wants another color, they'll just ask and I can do it custom. What I'll get up to next, I haven't decided that yet either.

Purple Jellyfish

So let's see, Friday I finished the purple jellyfish and it got listed on Saturday. It is absolutely my favorite so far. Well, maybe the big one is my favorite, but this is my favorite color combination. I used Lizbeth dark purple and dark iris purple for the bell and mystery lavender for the center. I wish I could say that I am getting faster at them, but it's not true. I am making subtle adjustments with each one though making them each even more unique than just color.

I've been having problems finding headbands for my kitty ears again. I used to just get them on Amazon in multi-color packs and paint the ones that weren't black, but all they had this time around were pastels, they were add-on items, and I was getting scared that they were going to stop carrying them at all. That is until I checked the hair aisle at Target. For the first time since I started making those, they had several black multi-packs. I got so excited that I bought them all, went home and started making more of them. I didn't have any on order, but I had so many headbands that needed ears and it just seemed like the thing to do.

So as you might have guessed I didn't start another jellyfish nor anything else interesting. I just made cat ears the rest of the weekend. I don't have any orders in queue right now either, so I may start another jellyfish, I'm itching to make one in black and grays, or I might do something else entirely. I guess we'll just have to see how the day goes.

Purples

Yesterday went as planned, just as the day before had. I exercised, I got lazy, then I followed that with finishing the piece that needed remaking and a snowflake. I know I shouldn't get too used to the routine because schooling with change it in a few weeks, but it's working for now and I'm feeling pretty productive.

After lunch I was able to get to the next jellyfish. I opted to go with purple as it's my favorite color after black of course and at least one other person suggested it. This is Lizbeth, dark purple and I followed it up with dark iris purple...I think. The bell dried overnight and I'll be able to get back to it today.

The bell is actually becoming faster to tat up, like most pieces with repetitive patterns, once it settles in your mind, you get to pay a little less attention and let the muscle memory do its thing. The hyperbolic tatting however, continues to take forever to accomplish. It's just so long that it tangles the with the working thread and I spend just as much time carefully avoid that as I do untangling when it happens anyway. I still have two more hyperbolic sections, the tentacles, and the light cozy left to make before I can put it all together. Still, baring any other distractions, I should finish it today and get it listed over the weekend. That is unless I get lazy and save if until Monday. I am already thinking about the next piece after this.

New Blue Jellyfish

I've been trying to engage in more exercise in the mornings. First I do yoga with the kids which is both amusing and relaxing. Then I go walk on the treadmill for awhile. That has had precisely two effects so far, sweat and exhaustion. I assume that once I really make it part of my routine, it won't be so bad, but for now the exhaustion part has caused me to stall in the mornings and not start tatting when I know that I really ought to.

I very nearly forgot that I had the new jellyfish to get photographed and listed. I did manage to get it in the shop
though. Even better, while sharing it on the Facebook page, the only owner of one, so far, shared that it had arrived safely and it sounds like she is pleased with it. This is a huge relief. It is honestly terrifying to send off particularly large pieces into the unknown.

Aside from getting the jellyfish listed, I also managed to follow the rest of my day plan despite the early morning, exercise induced, laziness. I remade a mask for the shop and got one snowflake made up. The only thing I did not get round to was starting a new jellyfish. I did ask over on the Facebook for color suggestions and I got many. That, unfortunately did not narrow down my choices, but made them more diverse instead.

Today I have one more piece from the shop to remake and then the requisite daily snowflake. So it seems that unless something else comes up I should be able to at least start another jellyfish today. That is, if I can decide on a color scheme after being given so many options. My summer vacation from homeschooling is quickly coming to an end so I really must take advantage of the time while I can.

The Biggest Jellyfish

Yesterday was a sort of a wash of a day and mostly that was my own fault. While my husband is our 'computer guy', I tend to be the one that fixes things that don't have circuits. So yesterday morning I sucked it up and went to fix something that I had been avoiding, broken drawers in the kitchen. You see the geniuses who built the kitchen stapled in the brackets for the drawer slides and since they're cheap ones, they keep breaking. So first I have to pull out the staples, injuring myself, then I have to install new brackets which means crawling inside cabinet spaces that are not quite big enough. The screws don't like to bite the laminated wood in there, so more injuries as I try to get the screws in. So suffice it to say, the morning started out poorly and painfully.

Of course following the fixing of two drawers achievement, I got the new Sea Nettle jellyfish listed. It was a bit harder to get photographs because it was larger and barely fit in front of the coffee table where this was taken. It still took me some time to settle on a price and I'm pretty sure because of that price it is going to stay in the shop for a very, very long time. I'm pretty proud of it though, so that's okay.

After this was was up in the shop and I took a few moment to absorb the letdown of listing it, I went back to work on a small blue one. I started it on Sunday, so it should get finished sometime today. After that I'm thinking maybe a purple or a green one. I'm just trying to keep busy with these while I can I guess. Finishing them gives me a sense of artistic accomplishment that remaking old designs does not, at least for now.

Let There Be Light

Well I had quite the day yesterday. I started out with a pair of earrings that needed making and then I moved on to my first problem of the day. I had acquired small LED lights that I wanted too use in the jellyfish. They twist on and off and are fairly small, but also kind of chrome in color and just hanging them inside would make them very obvious and I couldn't have that. My first task was making a light cozy. It only took a few tries before I had the right shape and now it hides in the oral arms of the jellyfish much better. I added a hook to the bell and to the light, so that it can be removed and the batteries can be changed. It's so small the battery won't last too long, but that's was we sacrifice for size.

Speaking of the jellyfish, they both got listed after this little problem was solved. Also, wonderfully, the blue one already has a home.  The other one here is still waiting for one. Honestly I am in complete shock that either one of them sold so quickly. I struggled with pricing on these a lot. It's always difficult to price for skill and time when you also want it to not be too expensive. When I settled on a price I could live with, I assumed that they would just sit in the shop as an art display for a long time until they found just the right person. I guess for once, just the right person had already seen it.



I'm also still at work on the larger on in vintage ecru. The bell is complete and I finished one oral arm yesterday with an additional row. I think that put my clock at about 4 hours just for that one part. I think for this one I will do 4 of them, but the others will have only the two rows. Then once they're finished it's onto the tentacles. There is a small chance that I will get this one finished over the weekend, but I'm not holding my breath. Once it's done I will try to make another smaller one in blues, though to keep each piece as individual as possible, I think the colors will be changed up a bit. I may just reverse the two bell colors. I am still just giddy that one has a home and here's to the others finding one as well.

The Bell

I really did keep my nose to the grindstone yesterday. I started out with a pair of tatted kitty ears to make for an order, but as they were finished fairly quickly I was right back to the new, larger jellyfish design. I did end up cutting out more than on new row as it wasn't behaving at first, but I still managed to get the bell portion completed.

Since it is much larger than the original ones, I need to make much longer hyperbolic sections for the oral arms. I started with the longest one just so everything after that would seem easier, but after three hours of tatting it, I'm still not done. Of course I'm also doing at least the longest one with three rows rather than the two of the originals, again because of the size difference.

While I did get the supply I was waiting for, it was rather late in the day. I did get to check and see if it would work and I think it will, but it will require additional tatting. I don't want to share until I'm positive it will come together, so you'll likely hear about it later today if you're on the facebook page, or tomorrow if not.

 I do have an order to make first thing today, then it's back to the original jellies to see if I can in fact get them ready to list today. If all that is accomplished it's back to hyperbolic tatting for the rest of the day. This new jelly is going to take quite a bit more time to get together. Hopefully it will be worth it. I suppose if nothing else, it has definitely given me something to distract me for awhile and something new to post about.

Bigger

I really didn't think I'd get round to doing anything new yesterday, but i did. I was fairly determined to finish the mask I was making for an order and I got in done in record time. That's actually pretty surprising because it's been a very long time since I sold a mask and thus a very long time since I've made one. With that all sorted and ready to go int he mail this morning I had some precious free time.

First I was just going to waste it since I'm in a holding pattern with the current jellyfish. The supply I'm waiting for should be here sometime today and if it's early enough I might actually get them listed. It is far more likely that I get my order in late in the day and won't start listing until tomorrow. Of course that all depends on if I can bring myself to actually put a price on them. I got scads of price advice on the Facebook page, but I still feel add about such a large price point.

I think I got off track there. I was going to stall, but instead I started working out a new, even larger jellyfish pattern. I started working with the vintage ecru thread to start with though. I think I have enough prototype information to go ahead with a final piece even though I am still working out the pattern as I go. After this picture I managed another row, but it is still far from complete. The larger the bell, the longer each additional row is and it's at a good 6 or 7 inches across already. It's curving nicely though so I have high hope that if my order comes late in the day I'll get at least the bell made.

Before that though I did get a small order in yesterday that I will need to get taken care of as well. So today it's order, jellyfish, then secret supply. Hopefully everything goes according to plan, but I'm not holding my breath.

More Jellyfish

My, was I busy over the weekend. I was very determined to create some more tatted jellyfish. I managed, by working all day Friday and some of Thursday come to think of it, to finish the one in camel, spice cake and vintage ecru. There always a bit of a challenge using different brands of thread, but I think it added something to the piece.

I asked about pricing on my Facebook page and boy did I get a lot of opinions. Most of them were was higher than I assumed people would suggest. I guess I thought at least a few people would low ball the price because they wanted to own one, but I'm guessing they just kept silent instead. I'm still not set on a price yet and there is one more addition to the piece I'll be trying out later this week. I'm hopeful that I'll get these in the shop by the end of the week though.

Yes, I did say these. I spent the rest of the weekend work on a blue version as well. Of course the colors aren't particularly accurate in this photo because I took it with my phone and my phone hates teal and turquoise. The top of this is dark ocean teal and the other two are hand dyed, the lower bell is turquoise and the center is a light greenish turquoise. I mean, the picture is close, but not quite there and I added a filter to it to get it a bit closer to correct.

I'm off most of today, out of town with the family, so I likely won't get anything of interest done. I was also quite fortunate to get a couple of orders over the weekend, so any time I do get belongs to getting those taken care of. I guess that means a couple of days of boring blog posts, but at least I got to start the week with two pieces to share.