New York

What a weekend. So Friday afternoon I got a special payment in my paypal. I prepped a very large box of lace and put it in the mail. This morning it should be in New York on its way to a fashion house and quite honestly I am a bundle of nerves. You know the ones...will they like everything once they see it? Will they really use everything? Will it really get seen by all the people I am imagining that it will and will they like it? You see, I think this is one of those, everything on the line, sort of moments. It could mean everything or nothing and I won't know until it happens. As you might have guessed I've been giving this a lot of thought. I'd been keeping the whole thing at arms length, but shipping the package made it real...very real. So a few more details for you then, the show will be held at The Standard Hotel in New York city on the evening of the 13th. I'm still keeping a few details in for now, I guess I am still playing it close to the vest. I don't know whether it will be televised or streamed online, but given past events, there will be pictures soon after and likely YouTube videos as well. So I guess we'll see how it plays.

In other less interesting news, I did make up a few more simple one off over the weekend. I'm almost out of these metal bits I've been working around, but they are no nice for making up something quick and easy. There is another one up made over a tear shape in red as well. I think I am going to be working on getting some stock built up on a few pieces, you know just in case this whole fashion show business does attract a few extra eyeballs.

Then I have new project to work on that was presented to me over the weekend. We had a lovely night out with friends again. I tell you, it's almost as if we have a social life. Anyway, there was a request for an even larger bells and coin piece and I've been working out what base could create the desired silhouette and still hold the weight. I think this might need to be a new design, but first things first, getting that stock made and worrying about things in New York which I cannot control. The next two weeks might as well be months.

And Gone

 I listed the new necklace right before I started schooling and by the time I checked my phone a half an hour later, it already had a home. Every time I make up a one of a kind piece and it flies out like that I start wondering if I should go ahead and source similar supplies so it can be basically recreated. Though then I feel guilty for calling the first one a 'one of a kind'. Maybe I'll just look for similar bits of filigree, but not exact and call it version two or something. I did really like the way it turned out.

The rest of the day was quite busy with orders to make. I'm not certain who turned the blinking  'Open' sign on in the shop, but it was hopping all day and mostly with pieces that needed making. Either they were listed as custom or they specifically asked for a custom color. As a result of all the extra making I needed to do, I opted to let my family see the house the way it usually is and not the way it is when I clean well. Dinner went well with the family by the way...loud, but well.

I also got the other one of a kind piece listed. It's another simple one built around a mystery stone. I haven't a clue what it is, but there are lovely black veins running through it, so I chose to do a simple black edging to match. I also picked up a bunch of these snake chains in my last supply order. I'm actually thinking about adding them to some or all of the pendant listings and raising the prices, but I haven't quite made up my mind yet. Would it be better to keep the piece under $10 with a simple ribbon or would they sell better a few dollars more with a nice chain? I might just change a few and see, or maybe list a pendant or two both ways and see which does better. Not that I have a whole lot of extra time to play with any ideas, but it's out there now.

So the weekend will belong to some remaking and if I get some extra time, some supply sourcing, changing listings for chains and maybe even some more one of a kind pieces. I know, I set the bar high, but you've got to keep swimming or you'll drown...or is that just sharks?

The Purple Cabochon

From a pure productivity stance, I had a near perfect day yesterday. I got most of a mask remade before I even started schooling. Then after I finished that, the sun had burned off enough fog to get pictures of the two new pieces. I got one of those listed, saved the second for today and then started to work on another one. My grandfather went out a couple of times during the day to adventure which allowed me time to run around and get a few other things done unencumbered. I even managed to get the dishes and laundry done and by the time I had wrapped up the new piece and my house tasks I received an order that needed making, keeping me busy the rest of the day.

So back to the new tatting. I had received these filigree settings for cabochons in a previous grab bag, so I bought some cabs to go in them. I initially intended to make a repeatable design, but I found some more copper filigree bits in the grab bag and another one of a kind piece was born. The stone was called 'mountain jade' which I have a feeling translates to, dyed piece of rock, but it's a pretty purple. I got some in green and red as well, but I have used up all the filigree pieces that match as well as all the copper chain I had, so the next cab piece will likely be pretty different. I also used some flora thread I had bought on a color searching whim. It's not my favorite thread to work with, but again the color was perfect.

While I was working on the new piece, I also managed to break a size 9 steel crochet hook. The hook tip just snapped right off and shot into my lap. So that makes a crochet hook and a tatting needle that I have managed to snap in twain. Either I am much stronger than I look or I have used these things to their literal breaking point. I guess I need to shop for some stronger tools...or work less. Yeah, I'm shopping. I'm using the size 8 now, but if that one goes, I will have a seriously bad day.

Tonight I'm hosting the family dinner for everyone to spend time with Grandpa, so I might try to get some cleaning done, though I have really let go of the illusion that the house stays clean for family. I mean really, these are the people who lived through all the messes of my childhood. I can't really be fooling anyone with a temporarily clean floor so do I really need to bother. I already got all the listing pictures taken for the new purple piece, so that one and the other one from the day before should get listed today and I will be working on the order I got yesterday evening for the rest of the day. Maybe I'll get to play with another cab, but who really knows?

Romantic Tatting

So a funny thing happened yesterday after I noted that my finger had healed up nicely. I was picking up a misbehaving kitten...I'm sure you immediately guessed that there was a claw incident and you guessed right. The silly kitten leapt from my arms using my palm as a springboard, ripping it across the palm. So there is yet another bandage on my hand and I spent yet another day learning a new way to hold my tatting needle lest it cause me further pain. Seriously, it's like my hands are under attack.

Of course I persevere and after I remade a couple of pieces and sold another one of a kind necklace, I decided that I needed to make something new, no matter how simple. o I dug into that grab bag of supplies and came out with a mystery stone flower, a couple of silver leaves and a teardrop wire base and made this simple piece with ivory thread. Then I got another mystery stone, this time a round one and a matching wire base and made another inn black though I didn't snap a picture of that one yet. I really do love how the grab bag challenges my sense of color and design in simple ways. It helps my work outside my comfort zone and stretch myself a bit. So I now have another bit of romantic tatting.

I also received my house guest yesterday afternoon so there was much visiting. My sister came round with her kids for a spell and my children were in rare form, performing...well, everything. Heck they were playing video games and started playing the music they unlocked so that they could show Grandpa the dances they could do to them. It was a perpetually entertaining afternoon. I will try to get the two new piece photographed and listed today though the fog here has been relentless, barely burning off after noon, so the lighting is an issue. There are also just a could more pieces left to remake for the shop before I am caught up. They are bigger ones of course, so I am stalling. Some days I just like to make thing that I know I can get done quick and easy. I think this is one of those days.

Nothing To Say

I hate when I wake up in the morning to write and I know I have absolutely nothing of value or interest to share about the prior day or the one about to happen. I know that I will still down to write anyway and that as I do I will blather on about whatever comes into my head while I write. I do this because writing is my routine. I do it because it is what I have done for nearly three years now and the offloading of my thoughts is cathartic. I do it so that I do not have to blather on to my husband about lace and etsy and all the other things that one might call me obsessive about. Of course I also do it because there are a few people gracious enough to be my sounding board even when I have nothing interesting to say.

Speaking of gracious people, thank you so much for all the finger injury suggestions. It finally healed to the point where I can paint on some liquid bandage and work without it bothering me. Though after I remade a couple of pieces yesterday, I opted to work on a few extra Wunderkammer features instead. I figured that with my visitor here it would be more polite to tat and look up while talking than to stick my face in my computer to get those done. I got all but Friday's feature scheduled so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't end up with too many sold items between now and when they post.

So that's about all I suppose. I will try to get caught up on pieces that need remaking, but I doubt I'll have the creative space to work on anything new. I would really like to at least finish up the shoulder jewelry concept piece, but I fear that the break from it did not revitalize my energy for it, but rather convinced me that it was ultimately going to fail. Of course I won't know that for certain until I finish it, so eventually I'll have to suck it up and get back to it. And there you have it, three paragraphs and nothing to say.