Last night I shared this tatting-in-progress pic on my Instagram (
projectsbyjane). Now I know me well. Many of my in-progress work end up forever in-progress. Have you looked in my tatting container? It's horrible. Tangled thread and so many in-progress motifs. The problem with tatting and also with crochet? All that stupid end threads you have to hide. Ugh. All my in-progress tatting just need the end threads hidden!!!
Well, instead of finishing up all my old in-progress tats, I made a brand new motif - with a black and red Lizbeth #20 thread. A lot of tatting are variations of doilies. You know who doesn't need a doily? Me. They are dust trappers and with so much stuff in my home collecting dust, the last thing I want is one more dust trapper.
So my tatted doily is my new pendant. This tatting is easy to make. You know what's the hard part? Putting in the two split rings. Ugh. Is there an instrument out there to do this insanely difficult task? I had to do it with my eyes closed for fear the rings would fly into my eye.
I made a few small mistakes with this tatted pendant but they were so minor I didn't feel like unpicking and fixing them.
I only have a few necklaces to choose from and I picked this surgical steel chain because it is not too thick for the delicate pendant.
I found it hard to photograph my tatted pendant in my balcony. So I held it in my hand and stuck it out of the "window". There's no window, just an empty space with window grilles which I had pushed to one side. As you can see, I have a maker's hand. Crinkly and slightly rough and my hidden index finger has a forever peeled skin look.
I wasn't entirely happy with my shot so I tried something else. I let my hand dangle out of the "window" and got this shot. Too bad the wind made the pendant move around.
To prevent the pendant from flying around, I leaned as far out as I could and placed the pendant against the wall outside my flat. With my right hand, I fumbled with the setting and took this shot. And that was when I realised if I had been more careless I could very easily have plunged to my death because I was leaning out of my "window" and with my exceptionally long torso combined with my large head, it would have no chance against gravity.
Alright, back to more tatting. (I've got tatting fever) and I promise to stay away from my open balcony!
It's beautiful! The colours and the shape ;D Tatting is fun, but yup, I dislike hiding the ends. When I get real lazy, I just snip off the ends (oops).
ReplyDeleteThanks Christel. Sometimes hiding the ends destroys the motif because I pull too hard. I use a dot of glue on the ends just to play safe. p.s. i've made 2 more tatted jewellery, will show in my next post.
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is quite artistic, Jane - probably because of the wind option ... or maybe because of the possibility of death by torso aspect? Not sure, but at least one of them is contributing to the artisanal aspect :D
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty necklace - if there are mistakes in it, they're not noticeable. When I have to attach split rings together (which I do with surprising frequency, come to think of it) I use the tip of my seam ripper to nudge ring #1 open, then I angle it so it opens the ring even more. About 10% of the time I can slide the other ring in immediately - usually, though, I just have to take the rings to the mat and wrestle them into submission. I don't always win, either. Those things are TOUGH! ;)
Stop dissing your head! Your head is just fine! Can't you just use a flash on your camera for better lighting instead of risking your life hanging out the window!
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