Browns

First off, I got a couple comments regarding the dog eye patch project that basically said I should do it anyway. I'm not going to for a few reasons and I thought I'd share those. The reason I got the request in the first place was because I had already made an eye patch and it's listed in the shop here. Of course that one is for people and was a special request itself, but the dog one would be no different except it would have been sewn to an existing patch. So honestly there is no good reason to make another patch and list it as a dog patch in the shop. It really is the sort of thing that has one buyer in all the world. Part of the reason my etsy shop is so important to me besides the obvious, I need income, is that it gives me an excuse to try new things, both my ideas and customer requests and keep making. I've designed hundreds of pieces that I never would have without an outlet for them to go to good homes. The crazy ideas are great, but not if they just gather dust.

Moving on...I didn't do much yesterday, but make some stock up for pieces that I was relisting. I did get out the brown thread and make some brown versions of those same pieces though including these earrings I made with some gears for dangles. I've acquired so many different supplies that get so little use, I thought it would be good to get something slightly new at least.

While digging for the gears I did also run across the crystal I need to make the white version of the back drop necklace that I didn't think I had, so it is entirely possible that I will tackle that one today. I'm also hoping that today or tomorrow will bring the ribbon I need to finish the sash. I guess that's all for me. No big weekend plans for us so I might get some tatting done to share on Monday. So then everyone have a pleasant weekend.

For A Dog

As expected, I did no tatting yesterday. We gave presents, we shopped, we ate, we got our phones checked out at the Apple store and we came home. The husband appeared to have had a good day. This does not mean that I don't have an interesting story to tell though.

Before we left for the day I got an interesting query. Without going into too many details, the request was one for my tatted eye patch, but for a large dog who was losing her eye. Quite honestly I balked at the whole idea partly because I've actually repaired lace destroyed by a dog. So I shared my concerns with the customer and after some back and forth we settled on a modified version with the lace attached to an existing eye patch. By the end of the day the project request was rescinded due to new circumstances. Of course this is only the surface story, it's the one under it that I really wanted to tell.

I've been presented with a great many odd requests over the years, some became popular pieces like my mask and other times the request was met with so much skepticism on my part that I never even tried to make it happen. Now of course often that reaction was the correct one. After a while you begin to understand the lace and what it is capable of becoming or doing. I generally know what is truly impossible. This eye patch query put me in a strange position though. While others agreed it seemed kind of crazy, they all encouraged me to do it because it sounded cool. Eventually I believed it was actually possible and once I did the method to create it became clear. So I suppose the moral of the story is, don't give up on an idea just because it seems crazy. Think on it a while, ask someone else if it's crazy. Work through how it could be done before you emphatically deny its possibility.

I'm actually kind of bummed that I won't get to make one now, but I'm not going to do it just because. It really is a project that needs a reason to be created, but at least I know that I could have done it. So today I have nothing planned as I wait for the arrival of my ribbon to finish the bridal sash. I'm toying with the idea of making a bridal back drop necklace as well. I figure that might flesh out my wedding section in the shop. Of course I'm not sure I have a crystal that will work on hand and I might have to go shopping for that. Yeah, I guess I really don't know what I'm doing today, but what it turns out to be is likely to be less interesting that what I almost had to make.

The Sash Grows

I honestly thought this piece was going to take much longer to construct, but once I had the pattern down it really worked up quite quickly. Here we have the tatting all done with seven repeats of the medallion. Since they're all facing the correct way I'm pretty proud of myself. I also think I worked out a good way to attach the ribbon. On each end I skipped the long, twisted crossed picots at the edges. That leaves me with a section that the ribbon can fold over. I'll sew the ends down and I think I might add a bit of embroidery there to give it a nice finishing touch, but I won't be sure of that until the ribbon arrives. I thought I might be able to find it in the fabric shop, but the one we have in town is sad beyond the telling of it, so online works better.

Once the tatting was done I started work on the crystals. Again, I found a nice pattern to sew them on. By that I mean I got a nice order to work in, up one side and back up the other. I even worked out how to go from crystal to crystal without cutting and tying the thread. I wove through carefully chosen stitches to make that happen. It still took hours to sew, but again, I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. It has a nice sparkle, but not an overwhelming one. It's perfectly clear that the focus is on the lace. Of course now that that's done, I have nothing to do with it until the ribbon arrives.

Today is the husband's birthday for which he took the day off work. So as you might have guessed we'll be off adventuring the day away. So unless I want to tat in the car, I'm not working on anything today. I will still be thinking on how I'm going to best present this piece to be photographed though. In the end I'll probably just wing it as always, but it's nice to pretend to prepare anyway. So have a good day everyone.

A Bridal Sash

One more large necklace has landed in the 'ready to ship' pile yesterday. That just leaves me with a set of slave bracelets to make, but they are listed as a custom fit bridal pair, so I'm still deciding whether or not to make a pair up. It seems if anything should stay listed as a custom piece, it's this sort of thing, or maybe I was just avoiding more remaking for the day. Those collar necklaces are big and exhausting.

So with my dial firmly set on stalling I opted to seriously consider a suggestion that has now been made by several people, the bridal sash. Honestly, I had no idea what that was when it was first suggested. I've been married for almost 14 years now and really have no desire to keep up with  bridal trends. I've since learned they are quite the popular accessory and their construction is a section of lace, beading, floral designs or appliques attached to a long length of ribbon for tying around the waist. So basically a larger version of the headband I already made. I wasn't sure I had a design that would work under my belt until I made up the ottagono bracelet. It's dense, strong and has several places to sew on crystals to make it the right degree of fancy.

I started on it late yesterday and took this photo oblivious the the giant mistake I had made. You don't see it either, do you? I only caught it as I tried to join the second motif to the first. The center clover is in the wrong configuration. I guess I thought that it wouldn't matter whether it was a "+" or a "x", but it did. The joining was awful and it became just another piece of lace hacked from the working thread and tossed in the trash. I did manage to get the work redone last night a little past the point where I discovered my first screw up.

The plan is to make a section consisting of an odd number of motifs probably 5 which would give the design about 11 inches. Though I'm a tad worried about the beast way to add the ribbon and it would be better hidden around ones back so I might make it longer. The decorative sections seem to vary in size on the other ones I've seen. Once  I make that decision and the lace is done I'll sew on crystals to the center of every small ring and another to the very center of each motif. That should supply sparkle without overwhelming the lace. Once that's done I'll have to head to the fabric store for nice ribbon. So this project if likely to take a few days. Then there's the small matter of photographing it, since my own wedding gown hardly fits and is silver. Oh, and I can't tie a lovely bow to save my life, so that's gonna be drama even if I find something to photograph it on. Of course I'm getting ahead of myself, it might not even turn out in the first place, but at least I have another project and you guys can stop making the same suggestion, thanks.

Ottagono, The Bracelet

Most of the weekend was pretty busy with family adventuring. Movies to see, Brave and family haircuts from my sister which meant a full afternoon of all the cousins at the house. Luckily I managed to achieve a few things on Friday that I can share. First I finished a gray version of the new pendant necklace. Again I thought about making it up in another set of colors, but changed my mind. When this one was finished I had three pendants to play with and after a few minutes I realized that I could in fact get a bracelet out of the design.

The bracelet required some interesting design changes. I had to add several joining picots and eliminate some rings altogether on the two side medallions. Even then it was still bulging a bit at the joining sides and I was worried it wasn't going to work. Lucky for me, I never consider a piece failed until after I press it. If the iron doesn't make the lace behave, it never will. This one behaved just fine. I must say this is one of my favorite cuff designs so far. The twisted, crossed picots make it one of the densest pieces of lace I've done in a long while. It's also a tad bit longer than I usually make bracelets, so when I wore it, I had to hook it further into the lace. I don't think I'll be offering to size this one because that would be the biggest pain in the neck.

This morning I have just two more pieces in the shop that need to be made and then it will only be the large fancy mask that is listed as a custom piece. I also got one sale in yesterday so I have a piece to remake and get listed as well. I'm personally hoping for a wonderful, eventful week full of sales, surprises and the husbands birthday. That last this is real, the rest are just wishes, but they could all be true.