Metal & Lace

Another day, another long day. Started education for the 5 year old. Though that's not entirely accurate as I've been teaching her informally, you know like a mom should, since she cared to learn anything. This was a bit different and the challenges tot he process began to reveal themselves. First, her sister...who would like to do everything her sister does. No, that's not a bad thing really, but means I need to get two of everything so she can have the same stuff as sissy. Other challenges include, the household chores that still need to be done, sorry kids, I have to change the litter now, keep writing. You get the idea. Then there's the simple issue of keeping both myself and her motivated for such a large chunk of time. I'm sure we'll ease into it, but I don't get how it's possible with one adult and 30 of these small kids...what brave people kindergarten teachers must be.

During nap time, I got to again work on my challenge piece for the steam team. I guess I was particularly excited because I actually finished the piece already. I ended up choosing to modify the same pattern as the "chain" for the center section. I then decided it needed something to hand from the bottom. This meant a search through my bin of supplies. After much digging, I opted for a couple of gray swarovski rounds for the sides and did my best impression of a wire wrapper to add them. It still needed something at this point, so i dug some more and found a large clear crystal drop. I did an awful, but utilitarian impression of a wire wrapper and added it to the center flower.

I was going to stop there, but decided to go ahead, iron up the sucker, get a clasp on it and get a few real pictures. It might sound weird given the huge and elaborate collars I make, but I was afraid this one was a bit much. It's bold, long and a bit heavy, but I really do like the way it turned out. My husband still thinks I ought to add crystals to the divots in the filigree piece, but that's another skill set, like wire wrapping, that I don't yet really possess. I think it looks fine the way it is honestly.

The necklace has put me in a pricing quandary, which is why it's not listed for sale yet. I rarely make pieces with so many components. Hell, I don't even remember where I got that crystal let alone how much the thing cost me. It took a couple of days to make, but that was more design time than actual tatting. So, I have no idea when I'll work that out and get it in the etsy store. There are a couple more pictures of the piece on my flickr if you'd like to see more of the piece until it gets to etsy.

Not sure what I'll work on today. I sold a mask that need remaking, but I also need to run a few errands. I can't remember how long it took for me to settle after I moved the last time, but I'm ready for all this address changing and home improvement store tripping to fade away. Yeah, I know, it's gonna be a while.