More Earrings

These are "Grand Aura" by Marilee Rockley, from her book Up and Tat 'Em. I used "Withered Vine" HDT by Krystledawn, with Miyuki Delica seed beads in pale green and pale lavender (in fact, they are so pale that you have to look really closely to tell them apart) with a "silk" finish. The larger beads are amethyst.

When I went to the bead store to pick out the large beads, I was thinking of getting something in a light green to sort of blend with the thread and the seed beads. In fact, I found some almost as soon as I walked in that I nearly bought. I'm really glad that I kept an open mind and kept looking (I think I looked at every bead in the store). When I saw a strand of Czech glass beads in a dark purple, I knew that was the color I needed, but they only had them in one size, and I needed two. I turned around, and there were the amethysts!

It makes sense, really; the thread is from Krystle's "Vineyard at Dusk" line, and that's the purple that goes with it. Goes to show what a great sense of color Krystle has.

These earrings are a birthday present for my sister. (As far as I know, she never reads my blog, and even if she does there will be other things in the box as well that will still be a surprise.) Picking the pattern was the hardest part; I knew as soon as I had the idea which thread and seed beads to use, but it took me a couple of days to settle on the pattern.

The ring at the top is the last element made. Since it's just a single ring, not joined to anything else, I decided that this was the time to try out finishing with a single-shuttle split ring to hide the ends. It worked beautifully, and I will definitely do it again whenever I have the chance. Unfortunately, there aren't that many patterns where it can work. But where it will work, it's definitely the best choice-- you finish tatting and your ends are already hidden! How much better can it get?