"But, really, why does anyone create? You feel a... a restlessness inside, a need to make something new, something no one has ever seen before. You want to add to the beauty and the richness of the world with a gift, an offering that is uniquely yours. It's an act of selfishness and generosity, all rolled into one."

-- Bruce Coville,
The Last Hunt

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Unbreakably Beguiling

After my disastrous experience with embellishments the other day, I pulled out what was left of my stash of doodads and selected all of the ones that could work with the "Beguile" earring pattern. I found four, so that's how many pairs of earrings I made.

First, the one made with the same thread I was trying to use before, "Helm's Deep" by LadyShuttleMaker. I think what upset me most about the broken doodads was the loss of so much precious HDT.


This time I used a hammered pewter circle with a bronze-tone finish for the center, with beads and findings to match. No way these things could break just by having tatting joined to them.

The next pair also uses a LadyShuttleMaker thread, "Hosta Leaves". This is such a lovely, soft combination of green and lavender.


These earrings use wood centers, but just plain circles, fairly thick, completely unlike the fragile things I tried to use before. The beads are a very pale lavender in a satin finish. I usually prefer to connect the tatting to the earring wires with split/jump rings; I think they hang better that way. In this case, though, the best color of wires I had on hand for this thread were these niobium ones, and I didn't have any split or jump rings to match. There's nothing worse than mismatched findings, so I just attached the wires directly to the tatting.

Next up is Yarnplayer's "Stardate" thread. This colorway is also essentially green and purple, yet it is in a way the complete opposite of the one above. I find this a very exciting colorway.


This thread is size 30 instead of 20, so I used it with a pair of slightly smaller doodads. The beads are a very dark gray, almost black.

Finally, I used Krystledawne's "Of Berries and Fairies", another favorite colorway.


These doodads are just like the first ones, but with a silver finish. The beads are a very pale blue.

This is a nice pattern in that it is very easy tatting that only takes an hour per earring, yet the embellishment in the center makes it look very special. I also like that you can make that top ring that it hangs from as an SSSR so that you don't have to hide the ends.

I almost forgot to say that the pattern is by Marilee Rockley, from her book Up and Tat 'Em. There are also matching necklace and bracelet patterns which are a bit more complicated.

10 comments:

  1. You are a quick tatter! It would take me forever to tat these pretties - and you did them so beautifully. Nice, Miranda...
    Fox : )

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  2. Gorgeous- I'm so glad these worked! Helm's Deep is my favorite HDT but I think I might have to try the Hosta Leaves too.
    You do lovely work and it's wonderful to read your tips and ideas (jump rings, etc.) and have the benefit of your expertise.

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  3. I think these are the prettiest tatted earrings I have ever seen : ) Great job!

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  4. They're all so pretty, but Helms Deep is definitely my favorite! Great use of doodads!

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  5. All your earrings are so very gorgeous!!! I love your color choices!!! :)

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  6. Your earrings are gorgeous and the beautiful colours well done
    Margaret

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  7. A lovely collection of earrings in pretty colours, too.

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  8. My favorite set is the third pair in Stardate, with the flower doo-dads! The photo-enlarge feature is good for showing how you used the double jump rings. Do you have a trick for opening those? Even with a special tool I have problems with that.

    I agree with Fox that you are a quick tatter!

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    Replies
    1. It's not just a matter of having the special pliers, it also takes some practice with them. I've had plenty of rings that I had to discard after I ruined them!

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  9. The earrings are totally awesome! Love all the colours!

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