Almost Done

Another day spent mostly tatting on this necklace. I still have one more day of work left on it as well. I'm sure I could have gotten it finished yesterday if I had chosen to, you know, not eat or do anything else at all. There was no rush though, so it'll likely be finished today and then popped back into the shop.

I am noticing that this time around the tatting is a bit tighter than the last time I made it, so I'm making a conscious effort to loosen it a bit, so the size is at least close to the same. Since the piece is actually laced up though, it's a bit better that's its smaller so that it can be worn by anybody.

I'm kind of hoping that I get another order in the shop when I finish making this piece so that I have a good reason to keep on tatting. Of course I think I might actually have a new idea for another of this type of piece, maybe it's finally time to make something new.

For Your Neck & Wrist

I wish I could, in good conscious, begin today's post with a happy Monday sentiment, but I can not. During the weekend the household cold/illness worked it's way through the remaining members in good health taking down the youngest on Saturday. Me, it took the longest to overcome. I started with a slightly irritated throat and a rare cough...I thought I had escaped the worst of it, but no. This morning I awake to a sensation that could only be something dead in my throat, an overwhelming malaise and a host of other symptoms. The world does not stop for me though, I must keep on moving...I do not however, have to like it.

I owe you some pictures it seems. I finished up the embellished neck corset. I know my picture skills leave a bit to be desired, but for this piece there is good news. It was created as basically a photo prop, which you might have guessed means I shall be sending it off to a real photographer in the near future. I should get the neck corset back with amazing pictures that do the work justice after that. So you will not see this sitting in the shop any time soon though the unembellished version may eventually end up there.

Next up we have the wrist corset. Yes, I know I might be taking the whole corset description a little far, but it laces up the back too, so I'm keeping it. I had planned to try this look out ages ago when I made my first neck corset that was made of just the spine motifs. The spacing was never quite right, but with the new versions and their split ring sections, it worked perfectly. I added the victorious edging to this one to match the other neck corset I recently made. They too have a date with an entirely different photographer. I am going to try and get a few more of these wrist corsets made up though, because they went over so well on the facebook fan page.

Now, I am perfectly certain that I am forgetting to tell you something this morning, but the illness is winning and everything is a bit of a fog. You can of course remind me if I promised you any updates that I have not delivered. Yes, I'm sure I could go back and read Friday's post to reveal that information myself, but that kind of sounds like work. I can't imagine that today is going to be a whirlwind of activity, but I will try to get some tatting accomplished. Please forgive me if tomorrows post is simply full of random nothingness though.

A Bit Of This

It seems to have been another of those time portal sort of weeks. At first it seemed to go on too slowly and then it suddenly comes to an end. I debated a lot over the week whether I should do a giveaway for the Wunderkammer's first anniversary. Since that blog features other peoples work and not my own, I couldn't really give something of mine away and I was feeling too lazy to solicit others for donations. I think you've figured where I'm going here, I did nothing. I did write a short anniversary thank you message and featured the same four sellers that I did in the very first post, but that's it. I know, it's all anticlimactic especially given all the fuss I made over this blogs anniversary. You can stop by today and leave some love though...that would be great.

In between working on the embellished neck corset, I finished up the super colorful piece I teased with yesterday. It's a convertible piece and this is just one of it's uses. It can also be worn like this as a hair piece, as a necklace, bracelet and anklet, heck I'm sure you could tie it just about anywhere. Now we'll just have to wait and see if folks like the idea enough to buy one.

Further stalling, I decided to make some earrings using my cameo pattern. I used size 20 thread and mucked with the stitch count a bit and they were small enough to wear. There was of course less room to hang goodies in though, so I just hung a swarovski round and some crystals. I also made a pair in white with a large crystal and a glass pearl, but those won't be listed until later today.

Finally, much progress on the neck corset. I finished up the first row of the necklace section which I had decided would contain the bulk of the beads. They are so very shiny. At each tip there is a sterling silver teardrop and the small silver beads dot throughout the edge. I did also manage to get the split ring sections done, so all that is left is the small clovers that act as webs between the points. They too will have some silver beads in them. The beads while light have definitely given the piece some heft both physically and visually, I think. I just hope it's not too much heft.

I have an open house for my daughter this evening and a bit of preparing to do for that and the weekend should be busy with family birthday parties and a bunch of other nonsense. So, what I'm trying to say is if I don't get the neck piece done today, it's gonna be a while, so I'm going to try and rush on it. There is of course no actual rush on getting it done, but I am an impatient person. Well that and I want to get back to the wrist cuffs and a few other ideas that keep spring up while I work before I forget them completely. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever slow down.

Yet Another Neck Corset

Let's see first off, I did get some pictures of the new neck corset/collar/necklace piece. Again, I really didn't get the magnitude of the thing until I got it laced up. It is just another of my pieces that I personally have no place to wear. Seriously, no place. Once I get around to the matching cuff bracelets, this piece will likely be heading off to another photographer. That doesn't mean it won't eventually make it into the shop, but I have to tell you the price tag on these suckers will not be for the faint of heart. Like most of my larger creations, they were created simply for the process. You know, the 'I wonder if I can?' whispering in my ear, not to move a hundred pieces.

I spent the rest on the day making a recently ordered mask and a pair of ankle corsets. The ankle corsets are far from complete so that will be most of my day today. I do get my supplies in for the embellished collar, but we apparently live in the neighborhood of delivery limbo. We tend to get our packages at eight in the evening and even with the curtains open and the lights on, they rarely even deign to knock on the door. It is seriously annoying to have to constantly check the porch to see if a delivery has come... I'm looking at you UPS. Ring the damn doorbell, it's a freaking button not a torture device. How hard is that?

Anyway, so there's the ankle corsets, then onto the cuffs, then perhaps some more remaking as I also sold my headband and that's another time consuming creation. Oh and I need to get a pendant made up for the intatters exchange. At least that task will be quick. It's sort of funny, every time there is a lull in my sales, I want to complain a bit, but as I have discovered in the past and really should just think immediately, use the time you're granted wisely as you never know when you'll be swamped again and can get nothing significant done. You know, like now.

The Collar Prototype

I suppose I was overall quite pleased with the new collar/neck piece/throat corset, whatever. Then I put it on...wow, now I'm impressed with myself. Ego aside for a moment, it lays perfectly, fits well and since I am on the small side, it's worth noting that it should fit anyone so long as they're not smaller than me. Lacing it up worked just fine and yes, though it's just cotton lace it seem to have quite the posture collar effect, though no where near as extreme. My husband mocked that I am not dramatically made up enough to sport this thing. At first I was a bit annoyed, but truth be told that just means it is perfect as a photo prop and I am not a model.

I spent quite some time pouring over my fire mountain looking for the right embellishments. I wanted a bit of bling, but let's face it, this thing won't need much. I opted for sterling silver beads to adorn the top and bottom edges and peppered throughout the necklace portion. I thought about adding beads to the split ring sections, but decided that it would not only increase the difficulty level, but also make the piece slightly larger and perhaps heavy enough to slouch and we don't want that. I also ordered up some silver teardrop beads to hang from the tips. Hopefully they will be just the right weight to lay well, though I confess, I'm worried about the points on the shoulders making them hang all weird looking. Since I ordered supplies, I now get to wait patiently until they arrive.

Never a patient person, I have already begun work on another collar in this same family. The neck corset section will be the same, but I'm adding different edging. If it works, I have one more to try after that as well. I also discovered that the same motif combination makes a bold wrist piece as well. So there may be sets coming. Of course these spine motifs are time consuming and each piece needs several. I still find it amusing that I created it just to avoid working a vintage pattern with thread spaces...I hate thread spaces. I might take a bit of a break today to make up some smaller pieces just to keep the store fresh since the silver flower piece has already sold. When ordering supplies, I went though my box of 'stuff' and saw a bunch of random beads that could certainly make for some sweet one off items, particularly some green beads. So busy day ahead

Presenting The Tatted Throat Corset

Aargh...what a weekend. It started out with me and both of my daughters catching a cold bug. My husband remains unfairly healthy for the time being. This resulted in a less than restful weekend, yet I still managed to get a lot done. We went out of town to get our Holiday shopping all done and all the children in our lives are sufficiently spoiled. All that's left for us to do is pick up a few gift certificates and we're finished with shopping. The sad side effect of all this shopping is my shrinking paypal balance. No more impulse shopping for me I'm afraid.



The big news for the weekend is of course the completion of my most recent project, the tatted throat corset. I finally finished it up yesterday, slathered on a bit of makeup and got some pictures taken just before I lost the sunlight. In a rush to get feedback, I uploaded the pictures to flickr and posted them on twitter. This is the single greatest thing twitter has done for me. Instant feedback and views pour in just as soon as I post a link to something. While I'm still not perfectly settled on a price for the piece, I will get it listed today. Though it was just a repeating pattern, it was quite time consuming and I think the final piece reflects the time spent on it.

I also had a middle of the night project idea. Of course this was one of the many sickness induced wakings, so I'm not sure that the idea is sound yet. I think I figured out a way to make my tatted goggles work, if the idea wasn't just delirium. I plan on making a removable goggle cover of tatted lace. That way, I don't have to working about the glue and rivets that I know nothing about and stick to my skill set. Hopefully I get around to testing out the idea this week after I get a bit more sleep.

The Tatted Neck Corset

The prototype is complete! After a few days of work and a rough patch at the end when I couldn't decide on keeping or tossing the top edging, I have completed the tatted neck or throat corset, clearly I haven't decided which to call it either. I took all the pictures on my mannequin head which had a ridiculously long neck, but I assure you it is comfortable and fits like a dream on my real human neck. I laced the ribbon directly through the rings and though the ribbon I used here was a bit thick for easy lacing, it worked better than expected.

I shall begin work on the final piece in black today, so there's a small chance I'll have it ready in time for Mondays post. It's going to be a busy weekend though, so don't hold me to it. Working on this piece has again given me a reason to love the twitter community. I asked for opinions on the top edging and was given many very quickly and my flickr saw quite a few more hits than usual as many more stopped by to see what on earth I was talking about.

I also got a note from the steamteam friend, Olorle who bought one of my prototype sale pieces. He had completely a gauntlet using the medallion. You can check out his creation on his blog, here: http://bruisedwonderland.blogspot.com . It's always great to see what is created when a new set of hands takes over. I also recently sold a necklace to another etsy seller who embellished it almost beyond recognition into an incredible steampunk inspired piece. The seller is suewoojewels.etsy.com and I was surprised when I found the piece listed as I was stalking the tatting. I had actually forgotten that when I sold the piece to her she had said she was going to embellish it. It reminded me that I still haven't decided on a medallion or edging for the my Tatting Challenge. I plan on having the next one after the holidays to take advantage of the down time, but I'm a little afraid everyone will have forgotten about it by then. i guess I'll just have to keep mentioning it so it stays on the brain.

One last thing for this Friday, I was tagged by another blogger. While you are probably aware that I do not play these tag games, I do like to acknowledge those you like my stuff enough to bother tagging me. This time it was thespottedsparrow. You can find her blog here: http://blog.spottedsparrow.com/. Maybe one day I'll feel it necessary to share random facts about myself, but I just can't get into the chain letter nature of this stuff.