So, It's Sea Opal Glass

First off shall we flash back to yesterday's 'opal' piece for a moment. After a conversation with one of my readers and twitter/etsy friends and a bit of the old google magic, we determined that what I have here is in fact sea opal glass. While it is sometimes referred to as Opalite which makes it sound like an actually rock, it is in fact man made glass while an opalescent quality while true opalite is actually a rock and a blue one at that. Oh and to further complicate, there is an iridescent paua shell also called sea opal. The point is the mystery was solved and the one of a kind necklace was listed properly described. If the seller that sold that to me in the first place was still active on etsy, I'd be pretty pissed about the misrepresentation of the piece, but they're not and there is nothing for it but to move on...so I shall.

The only other things I managed to make yesterday way a Salome anklet. That's the one that I made that laces up and is covered in bells and coins. I had several people mention that should I make pieces with just bells that they would like that, so that is what I did. Problem became evident early on in it's creation. You see the coins are light and easy to attach at picots, but the bells have quite a bit more heft and in the other pieces were at strong points in the design. So this time I had to find a better way to add them. Sometimes my mouth gapes at a new tatted piece on etsy where they have hung heavy objects from picots...I mean they do realize that it is a single piece of string right? Maybe it's because I'm so rough on my own things that I have become paranoid, but I ended up stringing the bells over the the ring, the same way I did with the sea opal pendant. I figure better safe than dealing with a broken picot and an instantly ruined piece.

My legs were in no condition for a photo shoot yesterday, so I gave my feet a little attention last night and I'll get them taken today. I guess I need more mannequin parts to take myself out of the photo equation. It is wrong that I've thought how wonderful it will be when my daughters are old enough to be slave labor models? Anyway, if I get a chance I might also start drilling elytra today. Too bad it's such a time intensive process since I cant just drill the lot of them and they need to be individually and carefully clamped to insure a nice hole. Of course this is why I paid so little for the lot of them...I wondered why they were selling so few for so much on etsy. It now makes perfect sense, those ones are paired and drilled...you are paying for convenience.

One last thing, the facebook giveaway will be closed and a winner chosen a little later this morning. I do have to say that the one thing I absolutely get out of these giveaways is an ego boost from the entry comments. Also laughs, I occasionally get those from the comments as well. There is one entry that is comprised simply of the word 'locomotive'. Why? No idea. I absolutely adore reading the comments. I got one that shared how one of pieces survived an encounter with a one year old. There were some about how I inspired them to take up tatting or revisit it as the case might be. These comments are the reason that I will continue to do giveaways. They allow people an opportunity or excuse to speak out and the things they share are priceless. So, thanks for all the entries.