Here Be Dragons

Well, a dragon, anyway.

I really, really, really wanted to go to Tat Days this year. My parents live in Atlanta, so it would have been extremely convenient for me to get to Toccoa, and I so want to meet all of my online friends. However, it is not to be; my sister has this little graduation thingy that weekend, so I'll be in LA instead. She's going to be a CRNA-- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. I think most people have some idea of how hard it is to become a nurse at all, so you can imagine how grueling it is to achieve an advance practice nursing degree. Her graduation card will therefore feature this triumphantly soaring dragon.

The pattern is by Anne Bruvold. I used Jane's Hand Wound Thread technique to achieve a very subtle shading. The threads are DMC size 80 color 701 (Christmas Green) and Sulky Blendables color 4021 (True Teal). I also added a few beads to the pattern. The seed beads are size 11 Delica in silver gray. I'm not sure if the eye beads have a specific name; they're just a good quality round glass bead that I got from a local bead shop, and they make great eyes for all sorts of critters.

I still need to figure out what else to put on the card; I can't have the poor dragon soaring through empty space! I'm pretty sure there are going to be mountains against the horizon, which I will make with colored papers. But there's got to be some other scenery as well, and it would be nice if some of it could be tatted. I'd love to do scene with a dragon and a lake and some trees, but that won't fit on a card; it will have to wait until I have a larger canvas to work with. Meanwhile, I'm open to suggestions. I'm also undecided as to whether or not the dragon should be breathing fire.

Finally, I need to thank everyone who has offered me sympathy for the loss of my beloved cat, and to apologize to everyone who has tried to communicate with me and not gotten an answer. Life is slowly returning to normal, and I'm trying to get caught up with everything, including The Thread Exchange and my blog reading.