Golden Tiara

This is another little tiara that is a slight veriation on a theme. I have used Alcazar Viscose Rayon No 0489 which is like a shiny buttermilk cream together with Madeira metallic gold-3, Mill Hill gold glass seed beads and gold bicone cystal beads.
I have stiffened the tatting with PVA craft glue, slightly diluted with water, ready for assembly, but I'm not sure if it is quite stiff enough. I find that by the time I have handled it putting it onto it's wire it will lose some of it's stiffness. I will try some hairspray when it is assembled, but if it is still not stiff enough I will redo the whole thing with "neat" glue.

Anyone for cricket?

Another design for the portfolio! I have now started making my own sugarpaste and am saving myself a lot of pennies! I have been making the petal paste for the sugarcraft flowers for quite a while but the roll-out fondant icing is new for me. This is my second mix and each one is getting better. I think one more slight adjustment to the recipe and I will have got it just right!

Little Red Tiara

I did this tiara with size 20 floretta cotton as the beads were quite big, but it took a lot of stiffening. In the end I had to use full strength PVA craft glue and take time to wipe the excess off all of the beads. It worked though, it is lovely and stiff!

An 80th Birthday Cake

Another one for the cake portfolio!

Re-designed anitque lace

We were asked by Georgia Seitz, during the online tatting special on 29th Feb, to try to adapt antique edgings using modern tatting techniques. This is my version of one of the laces from that class. I did the top row of block tatting first, then the pink row of alternating self closing mock rings - small SCMR first, then large SCMR, followed by a small chain. The bottom row of bigger blocks came last. When I have written the pattern out I will put it on my blog.

Block tatted rainbow

Georgia Seitz asked if any of us designers could come up with a block tatted rainbow, so this is my version. I have done the pattern for it but it has now gone to Georgia for the online tatting class. Once the class has done the rainbow I will publish the pattern for everyone else.

Purple Allum Tatted Flower

Materials:
Size 20 purple tatting cotton. 1 shuttle. 6 inches of 20 gauge green wire. 6 purple seed beads. 1 large green bead (as seed pod). PVA craft glue.

Method:
Small petals - make 2.
Wind 18 inches of thread onto shuttle, but do not cut from ball.
R 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 cl, RW
*C mp 3, start SCMR 3 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 3 cl SCMR, 3 lj to next p.**
Rep from * to ** all round until 6 points have been made and lj to mp.
Cut and tie ends, dab knot with glue.

Medium petals - make 2
Wind 20 inches of thread onto shuttle, but do not cut from ball.
R 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 cl, RW
*C mp 5, start SCMR 3 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 3 cl SCMR, 5 lj to next p.**
Rep from * to ** all round until 6 points have been made and lj to mp.

Large petal - make 1.
Wind 22 inches of thread onto shuttle, but do not cut from ball.
R 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 cl, RW
*C mp 7, start SCMR 3 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 3 cl SCMR, 7 lj to next p.**
Rep from * to ** all round until 6 points have been made and lj to mp.
Cut and tie ends, dab knot with glue.
Make one small ring with 9 long picots separated with 1 ds, cl, tie & cut ends.

To make up:
Tat all pieces required.
Glue seed bead to one end.
Glue the rest of the pieces in the following order:
Small ring, bead;
Small petal, bead;
Medium petal. bead;
Large petal, bead;
Medium petal, bead;
Small petal;
Large green bead.

Sample Wedding Cake

This is the sample wedding cake that I have done for the bridal display in the beauty salon window. It was very strange icing polystyrene cake dummies, they were so light that they wouldn't keep still! Give me a real cake anyday! :D), mind you, that might have something to do with the fact that we always have cut-off bits to eat - the bits I take off to level the cake.

One for the future

I have not posted any tatting recently but that does not mean that I have not been doing any. I have been designing a new flower for the Birthday Flower Book that is being produced for the Palmettos Tat Days. For those who have not heard, this is going to be a tatting pattern book, containing tatted flower patterns, that can be sold to raise money for tatters who would not normally be able to attend the Palmettos Tat Days.

One of the conditions of submitting patterns for the book is that they are completely new, having never been previously published or even shown to the public.

Once the booklet has been published and out in the public domain for a while, anyone whose designs have been used, can then put their patterns out into the public domain as they wish.

I have now submitted two patterns and am keeping my fingers crossed that they will be accepted.