I Am No Model

I started the day playing with the giant square motif like I planned, but nothing was coming to me, so I picked up an old tatting book and played with another pattern instead. At first I thought I was just going to use a small piece of the design as a pendant, so once I was done with that I screwed up my courage and went to taking pictures of my new mask.





 I had decided the way to go with this was really good lighting and a black background. As you might guess, I have no actually photography equipment save for a camera with a remote and a tripod. So I improvised. Usually I take pictures against a black white wall with the window open and the light on. This time I went upstairs with the east facing windows, opened one up and draped a black table cloth over my television. The light didn't hit directly, but was nice and bright. Then I proceeded to take dozens of photos of myself feeling a bit like the fool. After all that, I spent at least an hour playing with the photos in gimp, which is like photoshop, and I emerged with three pictures I felt okay about.

What is actually exciting to me is that I think the pictures actually show the mask almost how it is in person. When I attempted photographs of the last fancy mask everything just seems washed out. There was no sparkle, no reflection in the sequins and you couldn't even make out the embroidery at all. Along with these pictures, I used two that I already showed you for detail pictures and I got the mask listed. I was incredibly nervous about listing it though. I guess because the last one had garnered so much attention. I am anxious to see if my meager photography skills can get that much for this mask. It is of course something I will just have to wait and see about. I certainly believe this mask deserves at least that much attention, but then again that it not up to me.

After all this, I did get back to some tatting. I went back to the design I worked on earlier and made it up into a nice cuff bracelet...that I didn't get pictures of. Then I stumbled upon the use for the big square motif. I added multiple, heavy silver chains to it on the sides to form a short necklace...that I didn't get pictures of. I just wasn't in the mood for more photo shooting. People are always so kind to me in regards to my appearance in them, but that doesn't mean that I enjoy doing them...I do enjoy the compliments though. Today I should get the new pieces up and hope for some sales to busy me. Otherwise I think I will get to making up the embellishment free version of the mask. At least now I know I can get usable photos of it all by myself.

Oneironaut

I was going to start this post with what is likely already a familiar rant about the temperature being far too high, but I was going to let it go. Then I was going to say at least I'm not in Phoenix, but I just checked their weather for today and it will be no hotter than here which made me depressed. Man, I used to adore summer.

I did get quite a bit of tatting done yesterday and even some pictures. Here's the bracelet from the pillow edging. I did end up doing a few, very small changes to the pattern, but mostly because it had some head scratching stitch count differences in sections. Mostly I just evened things out a bit and changed some joins. The name, Oneironaut, is a reference back to its pillow origin and refers to a dreamer, or lucid dreamer. No, I didn't make it up.

Then I got the necklace version done up. Right before the last section of the last row, I realized that I had added an extra center ring in the first row, so I had to cut that out and rework the previous row. I was tatting and tweeting at the same time and this can lead to distracted mistakes especially on a new pattern I haven't yet committed to memory. This one also went through more than one photo shoot since I botched the first completely. The necklace is actually a little too long for me to wear on the base of my neck where it sits perfectly, so I had to clasp it in the lace for the photos. It should however fit average sized necks perfectly, so I figured I didn't need to change it. The listing does note that I can make it a couple of inches shorter or longer. That's just one repeat so it's pretty easy.

There was one more variation on this pillow pattern, a square. I made one up yesterday, but I'm not entirely certain what to do with it. I definitely need to tweak the pattern a bit, things don't lay well at all as is and it's a way too big for a pendant. I was thinking of making a necklace similar to my Vive La Reine piece which is also a square, but I'm not sure yet. At any rate that's likely what I'll be fiddling with today as I again hide from the heat in my air conditioned cave. I'm also still working out the concept for the mask photos I still need to take. My hair is freshly cut and I think I might have some ideas. They will likely be much less compelling than the pictures of its predecessor, but we'll never know if I don't just try already. So there you have it and off I go.

Nothing Much

Well, it's another too tired morning. Even though we packed it in around ten, the rest of the neighborhood just kept right on blowing stuff up sending patterned light, booms and pops right into our room at unpredictable intervals. I have no idea when the noise and lights gave way to sleep, but it certainly wasn't soon enough for my taste.

We spent the rest of the day exposing our children to the entirety of the Lord Of The Rings film trilogy. I think they actually became invested in the story despite it's dramatic length. We took a bit of a break for meals and this unfortunately pushed back the last movie to the point where we were unable to finish it for the day. They did want to know when we would see the last hour, so I suppose it was a success. To be fair, it was asking a lot of children to sit through that many hours of movies, but it was like 104º outside, so we certainly weren't going anywhere.

As for tatting, I was fortunate to sell a few small things during the day and I busied myself with remaking them while we watched the movies. I also made up the new bracelet design from the antique edging, but as you'll notice, I took no time away from Middle Earth to get pictures. The first attempt was too short, so I gave it to my oldest daughter. The younger sister then had to have one as well, so a pink was made for her. Will they destroy them? Yes, they will, but the design was fairly straight forward and not too much time went into making them happy, so it was worth the effort.

Hopefully today will be a bit more focused and productive. I have beetle wings to drill to finish a necklace and then I wanted to make the necklace version of the bracelet I made. I've got pictures of that to take and I may even attempt mask photos as well. The tricky bit with this mask is the sparkles. I just don't have the requisite photography skill to properly highlight them in a picture. I might wait until tomorrow on those anyway since I'm heading to my sisters house this evening for a much needed haircut and the more put together  I look, the better the photos will be. Well that's about it, but I didn't want this to be a completely photo free post, so enjoy this closeup of the fancy mask and have a nice day.

She Is Complete

Yes, it is done. Friday was devoted to crystals and embroidery and Saturday I finished with the embroidery and began the slow task of reinforcing the sequins. The bits I had sewn in the center were properly done, but the eyes and the outside edge I had initially done with the stitching going over one side of each sequin. I realized as I worked with it that even though it looked fine, my hands and the thread kept catching up the sequins and that just wouldn't do. I spent much of Saturday remedying that by sewing down the sequins on each second side. My fingers were horrible sore, but it was worn it as everything lays perfectly and when I was done I knew the mask was complete.

I posted some photos of the completed mask on Sunday since I always need immediate feedback when I finish a large project. I got quite a few of these photos, but nothing modeled yet, so it won't be listed until I do.Yes, it will be as expensive as the last Masquerade mask. It did take far less time since much had been learned from the first go round, but it was still five days worth of work, over 50 crystals, hundreds of hand sewn sequins, hours of painstaking embroidery and honestly I think this one looks better that the first one. So the plan is to try and get some modeled photos myself some time this week. If I fail miserably, which there is a good chance of, I will try to outsource the photos. Once I do have some though, I'll get this one listed and move on.

The husband is off for the holiday today, so it should be a down day tatting wise. I do have an idea for a new bracelet using an antique edging I spied yesterday. I wanted to move onto something smaller before I attempt to remake this mask in just lace. I even thought about making a similar mask in white with color accents to mimic a sugar skull mask. I had some initial design thoughts, but there are a few more logistics to work out before I begin since using multiple colors adds quite the kink in my free flow style of work. This one will have to be properly planned out first and that just sucks some of the fun out of it. That also means it goes on the bottom of the pile of projects unless I get crazy inspired or someone gives me a reason to work on it. So that's it from me today, I'll be in the cave hiding from the heat. I hope you have a nice holiday if you're in the States, otherwise happy Monday.

Sequins and Crystals

I got to take a short break from the mask yesterday as I did some housework. Oh, don't worry it was just laundry. Then I opted to remake a necklace that I had sold. The tatting distraction was nice since I really do begin to lose my mind whilst sewing on individual sequins one by one. That fact is just one reason why this mask has far fewer of the sparkly disks than its predecessor. I opted to trace a fill in portion on each side as well as a nice zigzag around the side on the eyes. I also ended up reinforcing the sequins I had already sewn to the bottom edge. They initially warped the scallop, but once I sewed them flatter, the shape returned. I want to say that I'm finished with the sequins, but there is always a chance that once I think I'm finished I'll go back and add some, so I'm finished with them for now.

Next up I started work on the Swarovski crystals. The last mask had them only on the center motif. This was partly because it was a last thought to add them and partly because I only had a small baggie of them on hand at the time. After I made the lace maille pieces I ordered a dealer pack of them, Yes, that's a lot and yes, it wasn't cheap. I like to buy supplies in bulk when I think I will use them often so for this mask, I'm going to town with the crystals. I started in the center like the first mask, but this time I will add them around the entire mask where rings meet. Will this mask be gaudy? Well as one of my facebook friends said yesterday, nothing exceeds like excess!

Once I think I'm done with the crystals, I'll start on the embroidery. On the last mask I used silver filament. It stretches and breaks and leaves an uneven line unless you are very careful. I am not very careful. I work fast and deliberately and I am aware this is not the filaments fault, but it does make us fairly incompatible. I still use the filament when it is the best choice for the look I want, but for this I will use something else. I have this great three ply silver thread. I separate the individual threads and use those instead. Each thread does have a tendency to unravel at the end if I work with too long a piece, but it stands up so much better to my abuses. With the speed I've managed to keep on this project there is a real chance that I will have a finished product to show you come Monday. Just don't get mad at me if I don't. I also thought about immediately remaking the mask while the design is still fresh in my head and leaving it completely without embellishment. Since I made a much more complete design this time around I though it looked lovely just as lace too. If I can replicate it without too much frustration, then the plain lace once can enter the shop as a repeatable design. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one too.