Happy Halloween

Another long weekend in the can. We had a nice movie outing, dinner with friends and the annual massacre of the pumpkins, but what I fear most is how today marks the beginning of the holiday season. This day alone is packed with Halloween things and a birthday. There's another birthday tomorrow and they don't stop the rest of the month. Much of our immediate family has birthday's in the months of October and November. This coupled with the regular holiday mess makes for one stressed out Pamela...you have been warned.

I did get some tatting done here and there over the weekend. I did up the new earrings in bells and coins and plain and got those all listed. Then I made up the Center Medallion pendant in navy blue, green and lavender and got those all listed. I've also been pretty good about making up a couple of small snowflakes every day. I figure I'll work on more this week and should have enough stockpiled to begin giving them out next week.

I do have one mask that needs remaking, so that's in queue for today should I actually find any time to do so. You see there is regular schooling, then I take the girls to their father's work for trick or treating. We then return home to a birthday dinner with the family for my mom and then more trick or treating. With the cleaning I'll have to do this morning to make the house presentable again, I'm not certain I'll have much time for anything. In fact, I'm tired just thinking about it and since I had to pay bills this morning I am also feeling poor and I don't have enough time to walk on the treadmill this morning. Wow, I am a fountain of complaint today, hope it's all out of my system now, I have things to do.

Deconstructing Doilies

So, let's see...I finished up the new cuff design. It was not a well received as the first, but I like it. This of course means that if it manages to remain unsold for four months, it is mine. I like the way it comes over my hand a bit and it's comfy.

I managed to also get a couple of snowflakes made for the coffers. I meant to take a picture of them so you'd have an idea what I was yammering on about, but I didn't. I guess I save those for when I am ready to start giving them away. Then I got an idea in my head regarding the first doily bracelet design...start the deconstructing.

First I went with a simple center piece that should make a lovely dense pendant. That was of course simple, but then I started to deconstruct for a potential pair of earrings and that took several iterations, including these two to get what felt right. One was too wide, one too narrow. In the end I settled for four outer rings. This in interesting only because I fought it. I hate round numbers in jewelry...I have no idea why, but they turned out great with the blasphemous four.

Then I wanted to add something to them and asked the internet, coins or bells? Apparently there is no easy answer to this question. The answers were very mixed and so in the end I decided to make it both ways. One pair with coins, one pair with bells. I'm, not quite finished with the last pair, so that's what I'll get done today. Then I'll get the lot of them all listed and I was thinking about making the same pieces in color, though what color, I don't know yet. I will certainly take opinions on that matter. What other colors look good with tribal, bell dance type outfits? Well, I guess that's it for me, have a great weekend all.

More Doilies

I had a fairly uneventful day. I got the last necklace that needed to be remade finished and back up in the shop. Then I spent some time trying to suss out the simplest snowflake pattern I could for the free gift with purchase idea. Of course I just ended up sticking with the same one I used years ago when I did sell them in the shop. It's just a variation on the simple flower pendant that I did one of my Instructables on. I figure if I knock out a couple of them a day in black and white as per your suggestions, I should be able to have enough on hand as gifts without taxing myself with them.

Later in the afternoon I decided that I really would go ahead and try another doily bracelet. This time I went back to the very first pattern book I ever bought, Anne Orr's Classic Tatting Patterns, and the first large doily I ever made. Okay, it was the only large doily I ever made, but it's huge and it took forever. Anyway, I used the center of the design for this one. Based on the size I knew I wouldn't be able to just do a smaller one on the side, so I did a half or partial one instead. In the picture I still have another row to go and I attached it to the side as if one was overlapping the other.

Since the last row is so loose, the resulting cuff has quite the frill to it and this one won't just wrap and lay flat like the other. Of course if I wanted it to behave exactly the same way, there would be no point to using a different design to do the same thing. I should have this one finished, photographed properly and listed later today. After that I really have no pressing plans again. I should get back to the gift project, but I just haven't been feeling it lately. Boy, us creatives are whiny, fickle people. It's a wonder we get anything done without a deadline staring at us. Well, off to it then.

Dark Doily Necklace

Well, that was a day. I got the new necklace done and listed and I must say it is quite the bold statement necklace. It might even be too bold for me, but I still really like the way that it turned out. I'm sure there is someone out there that would wear the hell out of it and I mean that in a good way. I didn't get around to any of the other things I thought I might do though.

First there was the dreaded lost package email. Lucky for me the customer was quite reasonable. I get so afraid that all exchanges of this sort are going to dissolve into rudeness, accusations and demands. That in itself is a sad commentary on previous customer interactions in traditional retail I suppose. That being said most of my customers have been beyond wonderful. I guess we just remember the worst experiences the most vividly. This issue was resolved late yesterday evening with package being found though, so yay!

In other more pleasant news I lucked into a feature in yesterdays etsy fashion finds email. This time it was my ivory ankle corsets under the heading of luxurious lace. If you don't get the email here's a link to it. I'd like to say that this feature brought tons of traffic and jump started sales, but as you probably guessed at the beginning of this sentence, it did not. Still it is always nice to be noticed and given that nod. I appreciate every single mention my work receives. Every single one.

I'm still working on remaking a sold necklace so I'll be on that today. Maybe I'll get around to playing with more medallion patterns or maybe not. I'm also thinking about making up some small snowflakes to give as gifts with purchase during the holidays, so I might make some of those.  I asked whether people prefer white or my more signature black yesterday and the results were split, so your opinions on the matter would be greatly appreciated as well. I don't want to make them for sale as there are plenty of other sellers doing so, but I thought they might make a nice, 'spend this amount and get a gift' gift. So, yeah, I just don't really feel like over planning the day right now. I think I'll just go with the flow...whatever that may be.

Dark Doily

Funny story. Before I started schooling for the day I finished up the doily cuff and posted that it was done and would be listed after school was wrapped. There was interest in it so I excitedly began work on another set of medallions based on the bracelet but with the intention of making it into a bib necklace hung from a chain. After schooling I got the cuff here listed and continued work on the necklace to be. This is when it gets funny. I'm working along, paying little attention to what I'm doing and when I'm just joining the last rings together I realize that I had added a hook and made another bracelet instead of the intended necklace piece...oops. Sure I could have undone back tot he hook, but that's so much extra effort.

Lucky for me the initial interest in the piece was not feigned and the first one is going out to a new home today and I now have a second one already listed. Of course I started the necklace attempt again and that should be finished and ready to list today. I do also now have one necklace in queue to be remade as I had finally made a sale after a week long drought yesterday morning. If I get those two thing accomplished, I was thinking I might try out a few other medallion patterns and see if any of them is also suited to this cuff concept. Other than that I expect a nice event free day.