Reproductions and Chainmaille

So, back to tatting this morning. Over the weekend I made this necklace. This is one that was inspired by another necklace. I spied this one in several etsy listings for the most amazing vintage dresses, many of which I wish I has the resources and a good reason to own. The photo below links to the shop. But, I digress, for this piece, I started backwards. First I got all the chains put together to see what size frame I had to work with for the small bits in the centers. Before I got round to those though, I opted to add a tatted chain of Victorian sets as well. I tatted the chain directly onto jump rings so it would hang right and I'll tell you ending a chain with no ring is fiddly.

The medallions were a pain in the neck as well. At first I was trying too hard to mimic the tear drop shape from the original necklace here. Sure, I could have done that with a single ring, but I wanted them to really replace a gem so they needed to be more intricate. I went though at least a half dozen designs before I settled on this one. Obviously I did not make an exact copy of the other necklace, but it was fun to try and reproduce the feel of it. I also made up some matching earrings yesterday just before I got them both listed.

Then I got bored again. I know I should be doing some number crunching to find my most sold items and making things to stock up for the holidays, but I'm just not feeling it. Then I had a brilliant, time killing idea. I decided to make a tatted scarf. Yes, I've made them before lots of them actually. This time though I decided to make a tatted chainmaille scarf. I've played around with the idea of tatted chainmaille before, as I know others have and it really is a natural progression creatively. It's simple yet intricate and repetitive, the perfect time killer.

This is a 4-1 European weave otherwise known as the easiest weave in the world...yeah, I'm not certain that's true, my maille skills are limited. You tat four rings, then tat a fifth around them to make four rings on one ring. Lay it out just so and make other five. Then you make another ring to connect the two rosettes. On and on you go. This is the perfect side project. I can pick this up and put it down at will. I figure I keep adding to it until I run out of the hand dyed sock yarn I'm using. I thought about doing it wider, but it seems just fine for something you'd wrap around your neck a couple of times. I was having such a nice time with it that I might even make this my next instructable. Either way, this is what I'll work on until the shop wakes up again...silly sleeping shop with so few sales...wake up shop, wake up! Shockingly, that did not work...oh, well, back to the scarf then.