Motif Nine

Another simple earring pattern - with not so simple thread. This is my own pattern, one I have been using for a number of years, but the copper metallic thread is new. It is a pain in the tush though, as it likes to do things like shred and tear and break and make rings not close easily. I would only do something small with this thread or I'd be screaming and throwing shuttles out the window. It does, of course, have a very unique effect and look, so it is worth some patience. That's very easy for me to say, in theory - but at this moment those are the only item in my entire stock made with the metallic thread because it is such a pain - LOL. I end up avoiding it like the plague.

Motif Eight

I burned my thumbs on a cookie tray the other day and they have both blistered up. I was in a hurry and using a towel for a potholder and I didn't realize right away the towel was wet in spots - the heat came right through the wet towel. Yeeeeouch! I didn't realize how much I use the bottom of my right thumb for tatting until it hurt to do so. I am adjusting - I have three shows coming up and the tatting must go on!

I often come up with patterns when I am trying to match an element in another piece. The bottom of this earring is in an old edging pattern my grandmother had in her collection, and then I added the top because I wanted the earring to be a little bigger and hang a certain way.

The thread is Caron Wildflowers - a little soft for tatting, (according to my preferences, anyway) and that makes it difficult to tat with even tension. But the variegated colors are gorgeous.

Motif Seven

Well, this one is...different. Not a lot of tatting, but then, I guess I am a jewelry designer first, so sometimes I have to translate the tatting into what I think is a cool jewelry design. At least there are rings. The rest if it is what I call "twisted stitch," although I'm sure there are other names for it. It's achieved by just doing one half of the ds.

Motif Six

This is part of a doily from the book, "Tatting: theory and patterns" by Jan Stawasz. As I mentioned in the last post, it is fun and interesting to take something and make it into something else.

Doily ----> Necklace. Fun!

I love olive green and plum together. Colors are another interesting way to enhance designs, and in jewelry, they are a large part of the overall effect of the piece.

The beaded chain is actually just beads, even though it looks kind of like tatting from a distance. In a close up view, you can see the beads are woven to form what look like rings and chains, so it matches the style of the tatting and looks uniform in the piece.

Etsy Buy Handmade ElizabethsLace

Motifs Four and Five

Ooooh two motifs all at once - I might make it to 25 yet...

This is another flower I created (I'm fond of lace flowers, yes). Again, it's not a new design, it's one I've been using for a number of years. But the other day I was starting one of these flower in olive green and plum, and I completed the center of the flower, and then thought, "well maybe it look nice if I just strung three of just the middle of the flower pattern together and made a pendant out of it," and low and behold, there was motif number five. You could even string a bunch of them together and make a bookmark.
So, when designing, you don't always have to come up with brand new patterns each time; use parts of an existing pattern but arrange them together in a new way, or just use part of a large pattern like a doily for something else like a necklace - that's coming for motif number six, which I will try to post over the holiday weekend sometime.