Up and Down

I have a good news, bad news situation regarding yesterday. Although that really makes it out to be much more than it is. Maybe minor success, minor failure. I did avoid that blasted casual game all day. I didn't touch it, not once, but I only managed to get a couple more color variations done before my mind wandered off and I didn't get the lot listed at all, I didn't even get to the point of pressing the pieces. The blue one up top there is actually two different shades, but my phone camera is incapable of distinguishing them, so you'll have to wait until I actually get my rear in gear and use the real camera before you'll see them properly.

In more up and down news. I received two request messages yesterday and they were written ever so wonderfully. At first I was a bit embarrassed that I might have guilted them into writing like that, but then I decided that even if I had, I was glad of it and I hope I might have done the same to others with my rant. On the down side, I woke up to another rude request in my etsy shop for a pattern of a finished necklace...in French. My French is, shall we say, awful, so I had to use a translator to tell them no, I don't care if you 'preferais le faire moi meme' I'm not giving you the pattern. Two against one for civility though, so still feeling good about the day.

I also recently received this photo of the Thread Studio at the Denver Art Museum which is displaying a pair of my ankle corsets.

 

Hopefully I left the picture nice and big, so you can click on it and view it better. It really is a lovely display and I feel so humbled to be part of such an exhibition.

I just have one more minor success to share, though you likely don't care all that much. I finally finished the entire cannon of Sherlock Holmes stories. That's 56 short stories and 4 novels and apparently it took me just under two months to do so. I really didn't think it was taking that long, but it really was a lot of stories. Now, if I was still in school I would likely be writing one hell of a report right now, but since I'm not, I'm not certain what to do with my newly acquired knowledge. I guess I just pick something else to read and move on.

I did get a couple of orders overnight, so I have plenty of tatting to get on with. Hopefully being busy will get me back into work mode and I will actually get the two color necklace finished and listed. I have the whole weekend before I have to confess if I don't, so there's a good chance.

More Things Finished

Well I was half right about about I'd get up to yesterday. I did get the choker completed and listed, though only after stalling for a spell in the morning. It takes me longer to get around to listing things that require I show my face in the photos. I mean when I think of the sheer number of photos of myself I've managed to put online in the last six or so years it turns me all shades of red. Don't even get me started on what I discovered after uploading feet pictures for barefoot sandals...it's disturbing.

So anyway, after that was done I stalled some more. Then I finally got an order in the shop so I remade the sold piece. It was one of my interwoven three color bracelets that are a bit of a pain to make. The pattern itself is pure simplicity, it's the often strange joins I have to make to make it work that cause the difficulty, not to mention making sure I join on the right side. Since they are different colors, if I make a mistake I get those annoying color blips at the joins. At least it gave something to do that I hadn't done in a while.

It wasn't until late in the evening that I heard back from my large order. This one is to the same museum store that my last really big one was to that had the Steampunk show. It still hasn't been finalized, but I expect that some time today. So I'll just get a jump on those pieces. They've ordered multiples of several pieces so I have plenty that will need making in the next week. Of course that also means I will likely be quite boring in the coming days.

That's reminds me that I failed to remind you of something. Quite some time ago I was approached about adding a piece to a textile exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art. The exhibit opened yesterday called, Spun: Adventures in Textiles. I, of course will never get around to see it, but if that's your neck of the woods, I have a pair of barefoot sandals on display with their section on tatting that you can visit for me. I hope to get some picture from them soon and if I do I'll share. That's interesting right?

Found Again!

It's always wonderful to get a little unexpected attention. I get 'etsy finds' emails daily and I can't tell you how many times I've looked at their theme and thought, 'why not me?' Well, yesterday was Mardi Gras and their email theme followed that theme and as I scrolled down with that familiar thought, there was my white mask. Woo and also Hoo! If you don't get the email, here's a peek at it and clicking will take you to a image of the whole email if you're curious.

The day then of course brought a mess of new eyes to my shop, not tons of sales or anything, but those eyes favorited many things and that equals a very good day. The day wasn't all etsy finds though, I also made up the awareness bracelet and got that in the shop. I didn't have to make too many adjustments from the original, but I did add a hook to one end for easy wearing. The first was tied on to avoid using any metal, but the hook makes wearing it that much easier. As it has been pointed out, I can also easily change the color of the ribbons to match any cause one might want to support while still wearing a fancy lace bracelet.

I also managed to finish up one of the masks that needed remaking, but there are two left and I woke up to an idea for one of the bits I recently picked up on clearance, so I'll likely be distracted with that this morning. I do adore being busy. I have also been dealing with an increase in youtube subscribers and folks acting shocked that people are still tatting, including other tatters. I've been sending people in droves to Intatters to see the humongous community. It can't be too much longer that the shock begins to wear off because every time I visit Intatters the list of new members is mind boggling. Well, I'm up later than usual so if I missed sharing anything, sorry and I'm off to it.

More Hexagons

Not only did I actually get the two new pieces I showed off yesterday all the way to listing, but I turned the circle bit I mentioned into a piece as well. I really wasn't certain how I was going to finish the bracelet, but in the end I went with the tried and true lobster clasp. Someone said something about it maybe being a bangle and while that thought did cross my mind, I'm not sure how the lace would handle being stretched over ones hand repeatedly and I since I personally always lose bangles, we'll just stick with the clasp.

The circle piece just needed something interesting to hang in the center of it. I grabbed something random out of my Fire Mountain boss bag and hung it from a nice snake chain and got myself another nice one of a kind piece. Of course I can make the circle again, but it will have some other bit hanging in the center.

I also worked on the necklace I mentioned yesterday using the little hexagon. I re sized it again and worked it into an undulating pattern. I actually got the length finished on it yesterday, but I haven't decided how to clasp it yet either. It would actually make an interesting headpiece or even a headband as well as a necklace if I simply attach ribbon to the ends, but as usual I'm hemming and hawing about it. I should make up my mind today and I might get it listed as well.

Ooh, one last thing for you today. I was over on the etsy checking out some new changes they made when I saw this article linked on the front page, Needlework From The Drawers Of Daughters. I will admit that the content didn't resonate that much with me as I don't really collect lace and I don't have anyone in my life that tatted to inherit pieces from, instead I create my own with a fresh life. That being said the article is highlighted with some lovely pictures of tatting and the related items at the end featured both myself and the talented Krystledawne. If you get a chance also read some of the comments as a few folk make an effort to remind the world that these are not lost arts or ones simply relegated to someones great grandmother, but living, breathing, evolving ones with creators from all walks of life and corners of the world. As much as I respect the old lace, I think that new lace and its many makers deserve a little more love, don't you?

Well, That's Good

Well, I've got good news and...well some other good news. First off the much talked about lost package has finally wound its way back home with nary a door bell ring or knock. I found it leaning on my porch after I finished schooling yesterday. It was a tad banged up, but the contents were perfectly fine and there was no indication of why it went astray. The address remained correct and perfectly clear and written in pen next to it was the word 'refused'. I'd dwell on the mystery of the two weeks between the delivery confirmation and the refusal, but it doesn't seem much worth the energy as it's back now.

The other good news is the lovely article that posted yesterday on Geek Mom. It was requested by one of my good twitter friends, Brigid Ashwood. You really ought to check out her art as well. It is just beautiful. Anyway, the article is superbly written and just another little bit of exposure for me and the lace.

Oh, I almost forgot what was in the lost package. I had made up three pieces in ivory that I've never had in the shop so I got photos of them yesterday and got them all listed. My favorite is the ivory version of my newest mask, 'Such A Sad Love'. Instead of tigers eye beads, this one has pearls, but otherwise it has the same embellishments, crystals, seed beads and the metallic embroidered edge. I actually did remake this one for the second package without the embroidery, but since none of the masks were used you didn't get to see it. A nice side effect of having to remake this piece is I now have the design nice and memorized, so I might get a few more of these made up in different shades with different embellishments.

I do still have a few things I am remaking and no, I haven't gotten any offers since the runway show unless you count the creepy spam questions I've been getting on formspring the last couple of days. I am looking for a fairly high profile site to do a giveaway on, though the few I've looked as so far don't really fit what I'm looking for or I'm just not awesome enough or they only do giveaways for paid sponsors. Maybe I'll just wait until April when all my anniversaries are and just hold one here.

Shifting Focus

Ah, the day after, the morning after. I took some time out yesterday morning to toot my own horn by posting a link to yesterdays blog post in all my usual haunts and I saw a few more posts online about the show. The only one I will share with you this morning was by a fashion friend that I know from twitter. This is the only post so far where my lace is mentioned, she even kindly included a link to my shop. The blog post is here at Broke & Beautiful. I did also get an interview request from another friend, so when that is up, I will link you to that as well.

So what now? I am experiencing the inevitable letdown that occurs after one has focused so much energy on one singular event. This morning I find myself a little rudderless. I do have a few pieces left that need remaking and I am focusing on that for the time being. I don't want to dwell too long in the light of all the kind congratulatory comments or the fall to normality will be much more painful, so I'm just moving on now.

While I was in a holding pattern waiting for packages to arrive, I did make a couple of custom pieces I can share though. I think I mentioned that I had two headbands to make based on existing necklaces. The first here was any easy remake. I threw off an extra ring in the center of each motif rather than attach a bead, which is what I do with the necklace version. I also joined an extra picot on the small outside rings to keep the structure tighter.

The second one was based on my 'A Scandal In Bohemia' necklace, but rather than try to take the shape of the necklace, I just appropriated a single element from the design and repeated it into it's own undulating design. I  then wrapped the design around at the end for a nice place to add the ribbon. I keep saying that I've going to put these headbands in the shop, but the ones I have put in the shop seem to just sit there. I think it might just be a cost thing as they are just as expensive as the necklaces, but less ornate seeming in their use. Yeah, I don't know.

So the Wunderkammer is back and I am just slowly remaking a few things. The shop is pretty dead which always seems to happen when I have big news to share so I might play with some one off pieces though honestly, I'm not feeling the creative spark at the moment. I think I need a little refocusing first.

Look At Me

So tired. We tend to host the family meal events since we have a bit more table space than the rest of the family. I originally thought this was a great thing. I don't have to go anywhere, I still don't really have to cook, I just babysit a turkey all day, but in the end it is so much more work. I have to clean the house first, then set up for everything followed by cleaning everything up again, so even not having to cook, I feel like I did way too much yesterday and the cats only let me sleep in a half an hour this morning, so here I am already.

I obviously have little to report tatting wise, but I do have a couple of things to share. First off, I totally forgot to share that the day before Thanksgiving, when we were out fetching pies, a treasury I was featured in made it to the front page of etsy. I know, I've been there before, but it is always a nice surprise, always. This one came from the treasury here which had already garnered me quite a few new hearts for the shop and many new views as well. The treasury was made by akaCINDERS who is a wonderful twitter and etsy friend with not only wonderful taste, but a lovely shop as well.

Next up a feature that I was alerted to by my Google alerts. Have I mentioned lately how wonderful that little feature is? Wonderful. Anyway, this one is on a blog called, This Is Just Cool. I had not heard of it, but it looks like it features a wide variety of things, not just another etsy seller site, so that is is of course very awesome. I get extra excited anytime tatting and my work can get potentially exposed to a brand new audience. Oh and thanks Just Cool for not putting me on your sister site which is apparently called. This Is Just Stupid...I appreciate that.

We have more family time this weekend, the traditional putting up of the Christmas decor and hoping that the new kittens are not tree climbers. Actually, that's a real worry as we put the tree in the loft which has a balcony and I really don't want to see if a kitten can land on it's feet from 18 feet up. I did get a mask order on Wednesday that I really need to get on just in case people do start shopping soon. Speaking of which, do not forget the code through Monday is THANKSGETTING2010 for 10% off in the etsy shop. I think that's quite enough self promotion for today, oh and before I forget, Thanks for the chuckle from the comments yesterday Jane, my husband now understands why I adore you!

Hmmm

I had hoped for more response from the pattern yesterday, but I suppose the little moth is not nearly as useful as some of my other patterns so I'll let it go. Here's a peek at what I just recently did with the moth though. I am still waiting for more thread to do the other custom one for the customer, but this one is done save for the hardware. The lack of interest does however give me an excuse to not bother with all the other bits I was going to bother with. Sure, I really didn't need an excuse, but now that I have one I'll take it.

I have little else to report as me day was spent getting that last mask made. Now all the masks listed in the shop are made and ready to ship should my sales actually pick up, which I give them permission to do...any time now. Once I was finished with that I made a list of the remaining pieces in the shop that are listed as custom. There were 7 out out 175, so not too bad. My current goal is to get those all made and ready to ship as well. They are all larger pieces, but if I do manage to get them all made the next step is to start making seconds of the most popular pieces. I'm not certain how I will determine that since it changes all the time, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Oh, I do have one other thing I've been meaning to share. Next time you're in the book store head the lifestyle magazine section and flip through a copy of Gothic Beauty. Look for the article on RockLove, page 6 and 7 and take a close look at the earrings and ring on the model. Yep, they're my tatting designs...in silver. Those are the tenebrous earrings and my simple Celtic weave ring. No, I don't know when the collection is due to actually launch, but when I find out I'll let you know. If you're not heading to the book store, you can spy the image here on her blog as well.

Strike A Pose

Okay, first off how it is not Friday yet? It feels like it's suppose to be Friday and yet here we are on a Thursday. What good is a bloody Thursday anyway? Apparently its good for complaining about, but I digress. I got yet another little treat from my Google alerts yesterday, there was a nice little post about me on Craft Gossip's jewelry page which is new for me. I have of course graced the needlework page repeatedly with various free patterns and tutorials, but the jewelry mention was quite pleasantly unexpected. Thanks to Stacie Hooder for the nice write up, I really appreciate it!

I did get photos done of the gray and black mask as well. I opted for modeled ones since someone I know is creeped out my mannequin heads...she knows who she is. I do admit they look better worn, but sometimes I am just feeling too lazy to get dolled up and make faces at the camera. I mean there is a good reason I never had a modeling career, okay many good reasons. I shudder at the thought of someone walking by and looking in the window as I pose like this. Sure folks say the pictures turn out okay, but I still feel like a bit of a fool taking them.
I slacked off for most of the remains of the day, but I did do a little custom work. I was asked if the new moths could be made onto a lapel pin so that the original commissioner could get a few more like that, so I tatted a moth to a pin. As I remarked on twitter, it was a bit like an entomology experiment and thankfully a relatively successful one. I'll be working on adjusting the pattern to a smaller size today as well as putting more moths on sticks. I'm also still mulling over another mask pattern though honestly I hope the shop picks up soon so I won't have time to work on more. Well more so I have actual sales, but six of one right?

One last bit for today that could have been posted yesterday had it happened then. Apparently I made the front page of etsy with this treasury at 1 am est. I was of course fast asleep and I didn't even get the usual instant link at facebook so if it hadn't been for the handful of congratulatory messages I received at etsy I would not have known at all. Lucky for me craftcult takes screenshot so I can pretend I saw it and this is what it looked like.Crossing my fingers that this wasn't the last of the season as I have been getting a crap load of 'you're in my treasury' messages from sellers as they put together all the Halloween lists. Again not a huge boon to sales or anything, but even in the middle of my night I received more than 60 new heart or people favoriting my shop. So thanks etsy for the bit of love...keep it up!

Look At Me!

Well, I might not have gotten much of significance done yesterday, but that doesn't mean I have nothing to share. First up on today's 'look at me' post is the Steam Tuesday feature at Overbury Ink. Every Tuesday, Nancy puts up a feature on a different artisan that focuses on Steampunk or NeoVictorian art and promotes the post all day long on twitter. I was lucky enough to be chosen for this weeks feature and it is up here.

Next up also from the 'look at me' files is a tiny little bit of etsy's front page. Rotating near the top of the page are links to different features. Each time you visit the page or refresh the images change up, but are a small number of repeating images. Currently one of those is a link to Halloween treasuries and thanks to Azcra Woodward's amazing picture with the perfect aspect ratio, my Crystal Moon mask is one of those images. A hearty thank you to dbvictoria for letting me know and catching this screen shot for me or wouldn't have known at all. You can of course try to catch it like I did by refreshing the front page of etsy until it shows up, but I have no idea how long it will be in rotation. The only sad part is that while the image is credited as my item, there is no link to me from it so it is unlikely to bring me any direct traffic safe from those who look me up after seeing it and even then I will have no idea where they came from.In other news, I did get the new brown and red mask named, 'In Absence Of The Sun' and listed and began work on another in gray and black.I almost started a brand new design, but smacked myself a few times and settled on just making an existing design in the chosen shades. Well that's how it started anyway. I was going to just make the Babe With The Power Mask, but as I started the second round with the black thread I decided to change it to more of an outline and now we have yet another mask design albeit very similar to the other. Fortune smiled on me though as a name for this one was easy to decide...it shall be 'You Remind Me Of The Babe' since it will indeed remind you of the other mask. I should get it photographed today and its creation has spawned a few other ideas as well. I shall throw them against the wall and see which ones stick.

I Saw That Coming

The day was a slow crawl of making and teaching. No major sales, no interesting anecdotes,nothing. I was hard at work getting the days school taken care of, cleaning again and getting those ankle corsets made up. I had little time for anything else until the children napped.

This is the point in the day where all those sales from the day before left me starved for attention, a condition commonly suffered by Leos. So I went on a google trip of discovery. Well first I checked out and tweeted all the recent treasury collections from etsy that I was included in. There are quite a few as Halloween is already in peoples minds and my fancy mask was pretty popular. Then I went a-googling. What's funny is when I did a text search all I found was the same old links that I am familiar with, my shop, blogs and a few old features from more popular places. When I did an image search however, I found a treasure trove.

What I discovered as I scrolled down the page were a bunch of little collages or collections of my listing images that I never put together. Clicking on them revealed several articles including my work from exotic locals. Well, exotic to me anyway a few in Russian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Portuguese and Spanish. I think there were more as well, but you get the point. They're all a little dated, but I never knew they existed. I also ran across some tatting blogs with pieces made from my free patterns and even a few just talking about something I had written, which was a little surreal to say the least. I am disappointed in my google alerts for not finding an alerting me to all this goodness. Perhaps some settings need tweaking. It is nice to know that I did make wave however small, a few months ago...yep, that sates the ego for a spell, but just a spell.

I fear today will be more making as I did not finish the ankle corsets and I have at least two necklace that need remaking. I was thinking about making up some simple daisies as earrings and a pendant to list later. I can knock out fairly quickly and I'll keep the shop fresh. Speaking of fresh though, if you haven't stopped by etsy lately, they're widening the shop pages in a slow roll out, so you can head over and see if you can see it yet. Let me know what you think of my announcement section and new tag line above the banner. I made some adjustments to fit the look better, but not everyone can see it that way yet.

Tatted Wrist Spat

It seems every time I am asked to do an interview, I am asked to do several interviews. Sure, I seem to be asked at different times, so I say yes, thinking they will be staggered events, but what always seems to happen is that they overlap in such a way that makes me appear to be one hell of an attention hound. That is not necessarily untrue, but, well...I didn't do it on purpose anyway. So what I'm trying to say is that there is another interview with me up. This on is on the Creative Women's Network and focuses on the business aspect of my tatting world. So if you're interested in what I have to say about that sort of stuff, there you go. I must confess that there is at least one other interview that I have recently given, but I am uncertain as to when that one goes to print. I'll let you know of course and you'll mutter, 'attention hog' or something less PG under your breath.

I was still ankle corset making yesterday when I stopped all of a sudden. I had been asked in the last interview about steampunk projects and had mentioned that I might do a wrist adornment to match the recent tatted spat. I thought why not try now. Starting was fairly easy. I went with a shorter center section with thoughts of adding a row of dark gray on the top edge as well as the bottom. Now I've reached a bit of a snag. To make it fit the wrist, I could only do one row of the outside motif, so I'm adding a simple edging and I've reached the corner. So I need to figure out the nicest way to turn it. Of course, I just now looked up at the picture and I think I've got the answer.

After that I'll add the black edge, though this time it will likely have a bit more frill over the hand. As usual, I'm just making it up as I tat, so we'll see how it turns out. I also haven't decided whether it needs to be made in pairs or if a single cuff is fine. I probably won't make that decision until it's done. So, I'll work on that today and I might get a second matching convertible piece done to list and then I'll have a coordinating set to offer. Ooh, maybe a mask is next as well, though it might just have the matching shades not necessarily the design elements. I also need to remember that I will run out of the light gray and it is discontinued. I suppose if I need to, I can replace it with white in the future, but I still have a couple of balls left, so light gray for now.

Things To Share

Without doing much myself, I have quite a a few little tidbits to share with you this Monday morning. On Friday, I started a formspring account. I'm not sure why I did so as I am a pretty forthcoming persona and I don't think there is much left to ask me, but it is there if you should ever want to ask me something that doesn't necessarily belong in the comments of a blog post. You can go here or there is now a link in the ring column of the blog. So far the response has been underwhelming, but it's only been a weekend. Also added to the left column of both of my blogs are 'subscribe to' links for both blog readers and email subscriptions. I actually got asked to do that on the formspring, so I had to figure it out.

Next up, I was featured in a SteamPunk Mother's Day gift guide on Lilly's Workshop blog. It's a lovely list even if the steampunk isn't your bag. Also in the feature department this weekend is an interview on the Steamed Blog. It is full of some less than run of the mill questions, so you might not have heard it all before. Also at the end of the interview is a giveaway for my original cameo pendant. They will draw winners on Friday, so get over there and enter if you're at all interested in winning one of those.

See, that was a fair bit of news and I did so very little to make any of it happen. Home school starts back up today and I am hoping the scheduled classes allow us to ease back into a bit. We're also having a bit of a rainstorm continued from yesterday to further the mood of entrapment and doom, so here's to a day full of levity.

On the tatting front, I fear I am still in production mode though my last order has not yet been paid for, I have opted to make the ankle corsets anyway. It never hurts to have more pieces ready to ship should the buyer not return soon with payment. I did order a new supply yesterday to use in my work. Jewel beetle elytra, more commonly known as wing cases. These shiny things will adorn some tatted pieces just as soon as they arrive all the way from Thailand. See, I got a pair of earrings made with them as a gift, though I was slow to warm up to them, they are amazing to wear. Lightweight, but solid and the colors are striking, they should make fine additions to some crazy collars, earrings, bracelets, heck, I'm even thinking of using them on a mask. Only time will tell if I'll gone loony or not. In the meantime, more remaking pieces and trying to get back into the creative groove. It was a nice pseudo-vacation, but it's over now.

Well, Would You Look At That

Apparently I wrote a bit too soon yesterday as almost immediately after I published yesterdays blog post I got a nice email from a French customer who had just received her order. She had taken the time to scan an article in a local magazine and sent it to me. Why? Because that's where she found me in the first place.

It's the same basic write up that I've been seeing in other fashion blogs since one of my facebook fans mentioned my work on a fashion networking site, but this one is in print. I mentioned it yesterday and wondered if this is what has actually been shared with me, what else might there be out there that I don't know about. It's actually quite a lovely thought. So thank you again to both the fan and the customer. This sort of this is a day maker!

I was slow going on the embellished collar though. My oldest daughter has come down with something,but since I home school this only means that I need to have more patience with her as we work. Also trying to keep her in rest mode is nigh on impossible as nothing is really different. All that being said I did get all the spine motifs worked up and I adore working with the sterling beads. I thought they would be just like seed beads, but the shine and the feel of them, they really have a different look. I have gotten further and started adding them to the first row of the necklace portion, but alas the light was gone by that point in the evening so no pictures.

The one thing that brings me down about a large project like this is the lack of instant gratification. I had really gotten used to making pieces up that were finished quickly, that I could get pictures of and list the same day.To that end, I often take small breaks during the large projects to do something completely different. Yesterday it was bust out with the spring colored threads and make something with a Celtic edge. This is actually a piece I've made before in a different color combination that is currently in a secret location awaiting revealing. I'll be adding a bead to the center today and I might get it listed so you can see what it actually is besides ridiculously colorful. They are all the hand dyed threads that I got from Heather. Perhaps together they are overkill, but I needed to make something to take the edge off of all the black. Odd, since I love working in black...maybe it's the weather messing with me. I might make another of these in a different color blend, perhaps purples when I need another break today and here's hoping I don't catch whatever he child has, even though it is probably inevitable.

Les Grands Arcs

Alright, day two of fake single parenting. Most dramatic change is how much I need to squeeze into the magic nap hours just to feel like I got anything done, you know, for me. Between the hours of 2 and 4, I worked with mad fingers to finish the other necklace I was working on. I even managed to find a new sweet spot in the house for light to take pictures. This piece was based on a doily from a vintage book titled, Starlight Doily. I believe I talked a bit about how I needed to work the edge portion without the middle just the way written. Then I had to rip away an entire row and then designed my own top row. Then I rewrote two points to be smaller than the three front points.

This one sits a little lower on the neck than my other collar pieces, so it's even more comfortable. It does require a large space to live on your chest though. I think this might spawn a set of ankle corsets as well, but it will require even more modifications to make that work as well. I did get this one listed and pictures of the other choker taken to be listed later today. I try to space out new stuff a bit, so I can take a break later.

I got a really nice little email yesterday telling me that I inspired them to start tatting and she had posted a short piece on that in her blog. I also got an order for a brides jewelry, barefoot sandals, slave bracelets and a necklace. These sort of things are so wonderful to me. I mean, to be a tiny part of someones wedding is really special. Sure, I wasn't a tatter when I got married, so I bought my jewelry at the mall. Even still, I have those cheap pieces of jewelry in a special box and they are in all of my pictures of course. After I announced that order on twitter with a similar sentiment that it made me feel special, I was further honored with quite a few messages informing me that they too planned to use my pieces in their weddings. Wow. So thank you everyone for making me feel all warm and fuzzy all over.

So, I have wedding pieces to finish and a few other pieces to make all while playing single parent. Yeah, I might not get much done. I love my kids, but man are they getting combative. Off I go then.

Bubble Lace

I continued to have one of the best days online yesterday. No, really...it was really nice. Of course it started with the beading gem feature, then I had a prominent place in The Michon Jewelry 5th day of Christmas gift guide. Really quite pleasant. Then as I tatted my fingers off, I got a sale off of twitter.

As my shoulder began to ache for just a bit too much speed tatting trying to remake all that had been sold recently, I decided to go ahead and spend some time designing. Using my brain more that my needle if you will. I thought back to a necklace I'd seen in the front page of etsy recently. You've seen them before I'm sure. One attaches a piece of vintage lace or more likely a mass produced lace applique to a necklace, perhaps adding a second to the other side and there you have. As a lace maker, I've never been too impressed with the skills it takes to make them, but I do like the look. So, I decided to make my own with hand tatted lace designed specifically for the purpose.

I started with the half Starburst motif and tatted it to another to make new shape, a bit of a zigzag. Then as I placed it on the mannequin, I puzzled on what to make the second piece to give the piece the proper balance. I went with a simple split ring design using the same stitch counts as the motif. The hard part was actually working with the chain to create the asymmetric look. Once I got everything properly measure out, it all fell into place.

I should get the piece listed later today and we'll see if my version gets any love. I want to try out a few more motif ideas, but I like to see if the concept falls flat or flies first.

Oh and there was one last little 'yay!' for the day. I uploaded one of the pictures me and my daughter took for Poppy's Wicked Garden to a flickr group of some friends fashion blog, The Demoiselles. You, know, my modeling gig with my new top. Anyway, they were picking a winner from the current crop of photos and mine was their choice. The photographer being 5 might have cuted them over the edge, but whatever...I won. I'm not the most fashionably forward person, but their blog is honest speak and they are most wonderful people, so I'm pleased. Oh, what did I win? A pair of panties...awesome ones.

So, I'd like to extend a thank you to karma for the great day that I had. I really needed that one. Now, it's back to the production line with the tatting. The Holidays come but once a year and people only shop like this now, so I must take full advantage. I paid the bills the other day...and yeah, I'm getting back to work now.

While I Was Away

In case you were wondering, I got out of jury duty because I have an appointment next week to finish my root canal. Not my favorite way to get out of jury duty, but this was going to be a long trial so I'll take it. When I got back, I was so excited to see all the comments left regarding my tatted spat/anklet thing. I spent the evening looking through the myriad of shoe options you amazing folk left for me. Wow, you are great and I think I found the perfect pair for displaying the spats as well as a couple of others I now want for no good reason other than they're pretty.

I also got some fab ideas for future pairs. I think I'm gonna go ahead and make up the second one for this pair and then get to work on a longer pair that will go up the leg a bit more as well as down the foot more. Then next on the list will be essentially the shoe equivalent of my slave bracelet, because I like the idea of a barefoot sandal too. How soon you can expect to see these creations is anyones guess however. I seem to be always biting off more than I can chew.

Also a lovely surprise I discovered after jury duty was the spread of my tatting instructable. I had already had a lovely comment the other day from the needlework editor of craftgossip that she was posting the tutorial there, but I returned to find my google alerts had even more postings. It is also now featured on the Craftzine.com blog and at The Point NYC website. And to think I thought I was going to have problems getting the word out on that one. I even had one of my twitter buddies give it a shot using an embroidery needle and she shared her first try. I have to say I'm impressed not only with the first attempt, but that my instructions were clear enough for a beginner to create the piece in just a few hours. I am also so glad that she shared and I hope that anyone who attempts this pendant, my scarf pattern or my mask will show me the results!

I will, in the future, offer more patterns and projects for you to digest, but I want to space them out a bit. I've already got an idea for some more beginner techniques to share that will take people beyond the flower pendant, but again I'm in no hurry to create my own huge library of learning. For those of you who want to learn more right now, I have a few sites to suggest. First Bella Online, I've picked up tons there, lots of links and patterns and whatnot. Then there's HandyHands Tatting where you can find some lessons and get supplies. Last, if you're looking for some personal help, try etatters ning network. It's beginner friendly with tatters from all levels. I know, another place to "join", but you can get some one on one help as well as browse a growing library of tatting pictures for inspiration. I think that's it for now. I'll see what I can make up this weekend to share with you on Monday.

Addition: Gina the Tatting Goddess also suggests this board for needle tatters as well. Thanks Gina

Slowest Week EVER

This has been the slowest moving week in recent memory. Maybe it's because I'm getting so much press lately coupled with no sales, maybe it's because my favorite holiday is sitting at the end of the week or maybe it's because I'm all nervous about my things being sold in person at SteamPowered even though I won't actually be there. I'm sure it's a motley combination of all these things, but I feel like the weekend should already be here. Let me back up a bit though and explain the press comment.

The week started out with me receiving my artist comp copy of Belle Armoire. My most recent article contains a pattern for my tatted cuffs and I got all giddy when my article had a cover mention. The cover art was from Bonzie, also of etsy fame. Then after I published my free tatted scarf pattern, it was picked up by the needlework editor of CraftGossip which sent me a little extra blog traffic. Then last night I was informed that I was the featured etsy shop on Fashion Me Fabulous. I thought that was plenty, but this morning I got a message that one of my tatted masks was featured on Rare Bird Finds. What makes all of these mentions so great, is I did not know about any of them except of course Belle Armoire. They were complete, pleasant surprises and I'm quite shocked at the convergence of so many fortuitous events.

I was going to complain about the lack of sales as well as how nervous I am about the afore mentioned convention, but I've decided to accept the trade off for the unexpected attention. I do have a funny little story to tell today though, an anecdote if you will. I found myself sitting in the dentists office yesterday for a half an hour. I reached into by bad to pull out my tatting needle and thread only to discover that while the small ball of thread was present, the needle was not. I decided that since the ball was small enough to act as a make shift shuttle, that I would again attempt to shuttle tat. The result of this was a string of sadly formed rings and a not so subtle reminder of why I am a confirmed needle tatter. The moral of this little tale is that while I receive a occasional accolade for my tatting skill, I have so much more to learn. When people tell me that they could never do what I do, I just think that there are probably many things they can do that I cannot. I will still try to 'get' shuttle tatting and eventually I might succeed, but for now I will stick with what I'm good at.

Que

Yesterday started out much calmer than Monday, but soon spiraled into a bit of an eventful day. But first I wanted to catch you up on something I didn't share yesterday. I met a lot of amazing artists when I did my tatting challenge and one of those artists was Waterrose. She creates beautiful embroidered felt cuffs and rings and she also keeps a very nice blog. She had approached me for an interview for her blog and I of course complied. Now, I've done quite a few of these blog interviews at this point and they are all pretty much the same stuff. I'm grateful for each one of them, but they get fairly redundant and boring. This piece is different. The questions she poses are unique, well thought out and frankly made me feel uncultured. So please check out the piece and share some love! http://waterrosez.blogspot.com/2008/10/artist-series-totusmel.html

Now back to the eventful day, I had been approached a little while ago by someone on etsy to have one of my masks featured in an article they were writing for an Italian website. I was a bit hesitant as I assumed it was some elaborate scam, but I provided the details requested and promptly forgot about it. Well yesterday whilst looking through convos, I checked the link she had provided prior to her article and low and behold it was now updated and there was my face plastered on the front page of the design section of this website Style.It. Of course then I had to scramble around to all my ports of call attempting to get someone to translate for me. Thanks to twitter and the forums, I was provided with progressively better translations. The most readable one, I think, from SteamTeam:

Halloween is at the doors. In the anglo-saxon countries they begin the preparations of customs, disguises, you decorate. Here it is relished the world of the gothic Victorian one, with an imaginary one of mysterious appointment, ruthless lady, men from the sharp canines... An atmosphere of inextinguishable affectation (to care of Francesca Fornasari)
Mystery in glam
A refined mask embroidered that frames the I turn, to impersonate the part of the mysterious dark lady... A secondary bijoux realized to hand from Quevedo. It is gained on http://totusmel.etsy.com and coast 58 dollars (43 euro about).

Other than that, it was just remaking a couple of sold pieces and crossing my fingers hoping my box arrived at its destination safely. I did get word this morning that it has safely arrived and now all my worrying can focus on whether or not it will sell in person as this is the first time it has been attempted.