Boring

We had a nice normal morning of schooling followed by a nice jog and yoga. The day felt about as routine as possible. I bet you're thinking that since it started so normal that I must be leading up to something interesting that happened. Nope, completely uneventful day, completely uneventful week really. Though I did manage to read an entire book trilogy in 4 days, it was the Wayward Pines Series if you're curious. The previews for the upcoming television show intrigued me, so I gave it a go. Of course now I imagine that the show will only disappoint me.

Aside from that all I managed to tat up was a pair of bobbies. That's bobby pins, sometimes people ready that word the wrong way. The picture is them not finished though. The one still needs its second round and they both need their center bead. At least it's a picture right. Well here's to a more eventful weekend. Something has got to give sooner or later, right?

200

I dislike being ill. I know, it's just a cold or something equally mild, but it is still annoying, uncomfortable and I lose my patience with the children who are also sick of course. So this is my public plea for this cold to hit the road already, I have crap to do. Oh and my kitty picture to make it all better...that's the tribute for health right...one cat picture sacrificed to the Internet?

Cold or no, I did get a few things accomplished yesterday. I started by using the latest design to make a necklace and earring set in white. I have a similar piece in the shop already, but I do really like the way the motif looks in the larger thread, very bold, yet elegant.  Then I received all the hat and veil making supplies I had ordered so I was able to finish remaking a sold hair piece I had begun work on the day before. This was an awful lot of white to hand out at the top of the shop, so I did a bit of moving around and then remade one last piece, a necklace in brown. This brought my shop listing total to 200! Now while I am quite proud of myself for sheer production quantity, I would of course love to see that number plummet with the sales of many things. I'm just typing that in public so the Internet sales fairy sees it.

While I was still on the white kick I had the idea to use the motif I made up from the 70's book I showed you awhile back. I made it up in white and attached it to a bobby pin. My idea to make it more 'bridal' while also hiding the huge silver pad was to cluster a few freshwater pearls there in the center. I might also add a couple coque feathers to the back side, but I'm not certain yet. I finished the piece late last night and that's when the cold really takes a toll on brain functions. I also think I really got the pattern down this time. If you remember, I made it up after looking at a simple illustration without stitch counts or joins, so it was all guess work. I might also add the design to a lapel pin in another color with swarovski rounds in place of pearls. I do need to keep working if I want 200 to hold...which  don't really.

One last bit for the day. Etsy has recently started rolling out coupon codes and though I don't have them yet, I think the plan is to have them out in time for the official holiday shopping season. Now, you know I don't like sales as it devalues the work, but I am looking forward to using this ability for possible return customer discounts as well as fan and follower special events. So if I get them in time, I may try out a Black Friday/Cyber Monday thing. I will of course let you know if that is going to happen. I hope to return to you Monday morning healthy and bragging about many sales...again that is for the Internet fairy...be well.

So Much Creation

Well thanks to the summer heat finally arriving in extreme style I got a hell of a lot of new tatting done. I turned my house into a cave and we barely left the cool darkness. Though in all honestly I much prefer the brightness, but with a tiny bit less heat. Though I am not complaining as it gets much hotter and when it's 113 I'll miss 95.

So I wanted to start with the last thing I made first. Do you remember not that long ago I said there was a new mask idea brewing. It has been brewed. It was the last thing I did last night so it hasn't had a proper photo op yet. In fact all you get is this blurred out partial image. It started with the same edging as my recent elytra covered necklace. My swatch was sitting on the desk and the idea struck me. The first round almost made itself with just some slight 'tat it and see' moments over the nose. The second required a little more patience and a bit more pattern rewriting to get it to lay flat, but it was relatively easy. Of course I think I just understand the mask construction now. It should get it's photo shoot today and get listed.

Already listed are I think four different color combinations using the brass and black bobby pins I got in on Friday. In fact I ended up adding a new section to the store for just the hair pieces. At least the ones that don't belong in the wedding section.

There was also another one of a kind necklace, this one with greens. I ended up using a smaller thread on this one, but it turned out just fine. I used up a bunch of beads and a stamping I thought I was never going to use. Most of these things were from beading challenges they used to have on etsy. You'd order up a collection of supplies the same as everyone else and see what you could make with it. Never came anywhere close to winning, but the supplies stretched my imagination and really help with my jewelry designing skills.

The last thing to show you today is another bridal necklace. This one was made after I made a pair of bobbies in white and cream on the brass. I used the same basic design as the 'Oh My' necklaces, but these flowers have two layers and the brass round in the centers. I really like the sort of antique feel of using the light cream with the white. It also theoretically means that it can be worn with a wider variety of white shades.

The side effect of my prolific creation is that the number of listed items in my shop is now higher than it has ever been, currently at 150. I am making far more than I am selling and I actually have many more little pieces whirring in my brain. Of course many of these are one of a kind so this is not a maintainable number as I can't just remake them as they sell. I am also getting a much more varied selection of styles and color palettes that will hopefully appeal to more people.

The other side effect of this last week is no matter what I do this week, I'm likely to look like a lazy bum. I can't possibly keep this level up for much longer so I will inevitably crash into a streak of nothing new for weeks while I rebound. I apologize in advance for the amount of boring I will soon embody. At least you can look back on last week at be a little impressed for a while.

Tatted Bobbies

I don't know if you ever fully appreciate how awesome you all are for putting up with my nearly manic depressive swings. I think a fragile, but easily inflated ego must be required of all those that create. We soar with the good days and crash at the drop of a hat. Lucky for me though, I have nice stable family and well...all you people to help keep me even.

Monday was a fine day around here. There were kind words, new customers and I finally worked out the last piece of the bobby pin puzzle. You see I had purchased some silver plate bobbies with a glue pad on them. They seemed the best quality to work with though I honestly had no idea how I was going to get my little flowers onto the end without either showing said glue pad or actually using glue. I think glue is fine and dandy, but it would still eave an unfinished looking back and I would be constantly afraid that they would be pulled apart once they leave my possession. So I tried a few different methods including cutting out a little ring of cloth to sew it to. Not happy with the results there at all. It's sturdy, but I wanted these to be inexpensive and adding the sewing adds to the time it takes to make them.

So what I ended up doing was tatting a single ring and putting it behind the pad. Then when I added the back row of petals I pulled the need through the stitches in the ring before I went into the picot. This effectively sandwiched the glue pad between the ring and the flower. No glue required, these suckers aren't going anywhere and it increases my creation time only slightly. Of course I still have to sew on the crystal. I did try just adding a bead to the center, but I wasn't happy with that either. Too much glue pad showing behind it. They are sussed out now and since they work up fairly quickly I've got three pairs done. I might get a few more color combos done today or later this week, but I don't want to make too many colors and waste crystals since they are the one thing I forgot to order more of this last go round.

I also worked on making some new colors of my Victoriana pieces, the necklaces and earring. I got the grape purple and a silver color of Lizbeth when I was ordering some for a custom order and even though I find the thread slightly smaller than others of the same size and it's a little stiff for my taste, they are lovely shades and I might as well use them. I need to assemble them and get photos today. You know it is funny that all it took was a single sale to get all this creative energy back. All the comments yesterday helped as well, thank you. Well I'm off to it for the day, enjoy yours.