Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Small Oval Pendants


I bought some small oval metal pendants (1-1/2” x 1”) at a craft store for the purpose of putting tatting in them, although I had to remove the oval gem in the center so I could insert my black velvet paper background.   (You can see the original pendant in the last photo below.)

 
PENDANT 1
Lizbeth Spring Garden, size 20
The doodad was sewn on afterwards and not tatted in.

This pendant was a total surprise, as it was not planned at all.  I was merely practicing the basics of making a ‘fluffy’ round rosette with picots (like those pretty ones Allison has been posting about recently at ‘Allison’s Tatting Blog’  http://tattingfarmchick.blogspot.com/2012/09/frilly-rose-pattern.html ).

I stopped after the ‘picot round’ because  I ran out of thread on the ball. (I knew that would happen; I was just trying to see how the rosette is generally constructed, as I’ve never done one before.)   Also, the chain with the picots was not ‘tight’ enough,  so I would have stopped there anyway.

However, I thought that this little ‘scrap’ of tatting would fit nicely into the small pendant (although I had to stretch it a little to make it fit the oval shape), and it looked good  in these colors.  Then I thought I’d add some bling with a little ‘doodad’ which has convenient holes in it for sewing onto the tatting.  

This is what I love about tatting!  What might otherwise have been a scrap piece became something useful and attractive!
 
PENDANT 2
Lizbeth Turquoise, size 20
With simple tatted chain in the filigree ‘rim’
 
This pendant WAS planned and is a tribute to Rachel Jackson (The Piney Woods Tatter http://pineywoodstatter.blogspot.com/),  who inspired me to learn to do the interlocking rings.
In addition, Rachel seems to have perfected the concept of ‘layered tatting’, where she beautifully enhances a tatted motif (or even commercial jewelry),   with several rounds of overlapping and interwoven tatted chains.  She also artistically uses beads to  enhance her designs.   She has a way of visualizing how she will ‘construct’ this layered work, and creates one-of-a-kind pieces!  She especially loves to enhance exquisite brooches (such as cameos) that she finds at estate sales.  Her work is amazing!    

 
I obviously didn’t do any fancy ‘layered tatting’ on the metal rim of my pendant here - just one row of chains to ‘match’ the interlocking rings; but I’m fascinated by the concept and hope to try it sometime.   This would be the ‘foundation’ row.

Here is the original pendant.  I’m always on the lookout for pendants with pretty frames around them,  having empty or ‘removable’ centers so I can put my velvet paper inside as a backing to my tatting.
 I  prefer that the pendants come with bails attached, and appreciate the larger bails, so that a variety of necklaces  can fit through them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Although I love Fall and am glad to see some cooler weather come in (maybe a little too cool?),  I’m not happy that it’s getting dark earlier in the evening.   It is difficult to believe we’re quickly approaching October!



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Pendants - All Kinds!

Featuring:

- First Doo-Dad
- Interlocking Rings
- Interwoven chains
- 2-Layered Flower


Here is my first doo-dad tatted item – a pendant -  and I give all the credit to Sue (“His Kid”) 
http://hiskid66.blogspot.com/2012/09/doodad-snowflake-patterns.html

I was amazed how quickly Sue designed three snowflake patterns using these round doo-dads, and then wrote up and generously shared her patterns with us!

However, I am in pendant mode at the moment, so I altered Sue’s snowflake pattern #1 by simply leaving off the thrown-off rings (therefore only one shuttle is needed).  Then I did a chain over the picots for a scalloped effect.  No cutting and tying is  necessary to start the second round.   

It was fun to tat around this doo-dad, and I had no problems.  Sue’s  knot counts fit around the doo-dad perfectly in Lizbeth size 20 thread.   And this motif fits perfectly onto my little black velvet discs!

Thank you, Sue, for all of your influence here, including helping me  find the doo-dads at Hobby Lobby.    I now have a new pendant pattern,  thanks to your hard work in designing the snowflake!   I love this and can’t wait to do it in  many colors!
 

LAYERED RINGS, INTERLOCKING RINGS, and INTERWOVEN CHAINS

Motif #5, Third Round 

Variations of chains tatted around interlocked rings
Tropical Punch and Vineyard Harvest
 These motifs show different chains added  to  the basic  interlocking rings, (depending on placement of picots) which  I first saw and admired on Rachel Jackson’s blog (the Piney Woods Tatter) :http://pineywoodstatter.blogspot.com/

Three of these motifs have interwoven chains (utilizing two shuttles) attached to the interlocking rings,  and the motif  in the upper left  has a simple chain going over the picots.  These are techniques that Rachel often uses in her work.
A special thanks again to Karen Cabrera, from whose video I learned how to do the interlocking rings using a shuttle.   (http://entrelanzaderas.blogspot.com/ )
The interlocking rings have been my ‘go to’ pattern for the past couple of months, (actually an obsession) as I practiced and practiced to perfect them.   I have MANY ‘sets’ of these basic rings, waiting for further enhancement, to be made into pendants. 

 
TWO-LAYERED FLOWER
Motif #6, Third Round

This sweet motif (also in Tropical Punch) is a very easy pattern which creates two layers in one pass.  Jon Yusoff  links  to the pattern in her  August 9, 2012 blog post: 
http://tatsaway.blogspot.com/2012/08/experiments.html   

TATTING EVENT COMING UP
We have a big tatting event coming up next weekend (Sept. 29-30) – the Erntefest at Old Economy.  http://www.oldeconomyvillage.org/     Old Economy Village  has been weathering its financial crisis and  is now  being run by many dedicated volunteers who have stepped up to the plate after  the Commonwealth of PA cut funds to several historic sites in 2009.    It’s a picturesque and interesting place to visit, and a very pleasant site to demo tatting.   

Tatting Anniversary
The Erntefest (“Harvest Festival”) event will be my 22nd anniversary of my very first session tatting with our group in 1990.     

So much has happened in 22 years!    I never would have believed back then how tatting was going to take over my life, or that I’d have something called a blog, and that tatting would become popular again and go in amazing new directions! 

We’ll also be back at Vicary Mansion and Old Economy in December.  Therefore, I will have to go into ‘pendant production mode’ to build up my inventory!   I have many patterns now to choose from!