Almost There

Great Gatsby people! Yesterday afternoon the entrants on the giveaway passed the threshold for prize number three. You didn't stop there though, this morning as of 7 the entrants stand at 81 and we've only started day three.

A pair of The Queen's Feet barefoot sandals have now been included in the giveaway and I have no doubt that you will reach the number needed for the ankle corsets very soon. So, I have to wonder now if I should have set the bar even higher. I have seen a lot of blog giveaways and I assumed that my numbers were already quite a stretch. Is my giveaway structure actually that clever? Are the prizes just that inciting? Am I just that cool and I didn't know it?

I'll probably never know for sure what has made this giveaway a success already, but it is. Sure, the entries started with very familiar names, but more recently the names are entirely new, which is of course the hidden motive for any giveaway, exposure to a new audience. The sale portion of my event is not doing so well though. So far, only one sale tied to the event. I had hoped that this would help jump start my sluggish sales, but it's not over yet, so I'm still hopeful.

One last thing for today, I put together two different hair clips and listed them yesterday. I know I want to come up with at least one more design for this line before I stop making them.

This one is called Crimson and Clover. I asked for name help over on twitter and that one was perfect for this design that combines three different tatted flowers. The black one is a four leave clover design and I added a crystal to pull the whole thing together. Again, this is new territory so I struggled with attaching it to the clip. I opted to stitch the piece on using the tail. It slides a bit on the clip, but not much. I might add a dot of glue for security, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

A Flower For Your hair

I have to say Monday was a huge let down after the flurry of attention I received from my tatted footwear over the weekend. On top of that my husband is gone until Wednesday evening at a conference so I'm alone wrangling the children who oscillate between sad and uncontrollably crazy. Oh and they both have a nice little cough to add to the challenge.

During their nap, I sat down in front of twitter and bounced ideas for a new tatted item off those inclined to pay attention to me. I decided on doing some hair pieces. I have generally avoided the hair accessory idea since there are many others doing the small bobby pin flowers. So I knew that I needed to come up with something different and bold. This project sent me back to the 40's, where I found a vintage carnation pattern worn in the hair. I held it in my hair with my tatting needle when I was finished and snapped a picture with my laptop. I left off the final row of the pattern since I was using size 10 thread, it was already quite large.

Once I was finished with that one, I tried out a magnolia pattern I had found online, but it was a single shuttle pattern that lost something in my translation. The attempt taught me a technique that I used to modify yet another vintage flower motif into a three dimensional design. I ordered up some barrettes and hair combs and when they arrive I will figure out how to attach the flowers to them. I might even embellish with some feathers to make them more of a fascinator than a simple hair clip.

I've got one more easy flower idea on deck, then I want to try my hand at a three dimensional rose. I've seen a few about, but I'm still trying to figure out the basic construction so I can design around that. I also want to see if I can create something inspired by a dahlia because I know someone who might like that a lot. I'm probably making it harder than it is since I refuse to buy modern tatting books. The last thing I want to do is steal patterns intentionally and make things to sell with them. I don't even like to look at too many patterns for fear, I'll unintentionally borrow too heavily from the designs. That's why I love vintage patterns so much, I can use, modify and completely rework them without stepping on anyone's toes. More on the flowers as I get them done and don't worry I haven't forgotten about my anniversary event, I just don't know what it is yet.