"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

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Quicker Than Expected

Between the assembly of the dragonfly pond and having to do annoying things like go to work, I haven't had too much tatting time this week. Nonetheless, the necklace from Marilee's "Nouveau" set tatted up much quicker than I expected.

I learned a new technique with this pattern, too: the half-moon split ring, which you can see above each of the small motifs. I've done half-moon rings before, but it never occurred to me to use the technique on a split ring. That's because Marilee is a design genius.

Here's the first small motif connected to the larger one, with the second small motif waiting in the wings.


This thread is purple, not gray. I think it is the white background combined with perhaps overly harsh lighting that caused the camera to wash out the color, and no amount of tweaking on the computer would fix it.

And here it is with both sides completed. I used a different background this time, and the lighting is a little better, so you can actually see it's purple. Still not the exact shade, but much closer.


This afternoon I'll make the matching earrings and put everything on the blocking board (as you can see, the necklace does need a bit of that), and tomorrow I'll attach the chain and clasp.

There's nothing like a deadline for motivation. Remember I told you I recently took up belly dancing? Well this Saturday-- that's two days from now-- the studio is having their anniversary celebration, and my beginner class will be putting on a brief dance. At our level, of course no one expects us to have fancy expensive costumes, but I do want to have something a little special. This thread, if you could see the color in real life, is the same shade of purple as a certain top that I like to dance in, and by sheer luck my hip scarf happens to also be the same color as the top. I didn't buy the top and hip scarf together; it was purely by accident that they match. But since they do, I'll go with it and add some matching purple tatted jewelry.

As the newest person in the class who will be dancing, I expect to make a complete fool of myself, but at least I'll be well-accessorized!

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