I'm Still Here!

Wow, this must be one of the longest time between posts, is it?  I'm still here, making more pottery, researching and writing at the moment and also doing work placements.

(if you're here to see "real" tatting, scroll further down the post!)

As you'll see I'm incorporating tatting with ceramics!  I have laser-cut some rubber mats that I use to press into clay.  The first little green cup is made with my Snow Crystal design.  It's a hand-shaped slab cup (not thrown on the wheel).

The second mat I made has two designs on it, one drawn from another type of lace (which you can see a bit of a the top of the image below) and the other drawn from my Flocon d'Or design.  The lines on that one are much finer than the Snow Crystal design and I wasn't sure it would work with clay but I was delighted to find that it worked great and the detailed design imprinted very well.

I made a bigger slab mug this time to test the new design.

I glazed it a few days ago and I'm waiting for it to be fired.

Cross fingers, it comes out well with the glaze!

And lastly yes!  A bit of tatting in thread too!

I'm working on a hanky edging with my one-shuttle edging pattern

which can be found here.

It's the second time I've made this edging.

There's also a video on how to make it here.

I do like a one-shuttle edging, simple and relaxing to make.  

I hope you are all doing well.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Why I Love Tatting

There are many reasons... but one of them is how easy it is to carry a little shuttle in your bag or pocket and when you have any time to spare, are waiting, or are travelling, you can get your little shuttle out and tat.

I was on the train and grateful that I had a shuttle in my bag and worked on trying to create a new one-shuttle edging (I only had one shuttle).  I  felt maybe I was getting somewhere... but then ran out of thread!

So really a minuscule amount of tatting but just so you know I'm still thinking about it and miss having more time for it!

Best wishes,

Frivole

A Bit of Beading for a Change...

I had a gift to make for someone's birthday... so I went for a beaded bracelet.  I had not done any beading for a while and I really enjoyed making it.  It didn't take very long to make at all.

In fact I liked it so much that I made another one in different colours...

I used magnet clasps...

but then ended up changing it for a lobster clasp on the second bracelet.

Any of you use magnet clasps?

They are so easy to attach...

but I find they are also easy to just knock as you wear them

and then the bracelet comes undone!

Is it just me or has anyone else had that experience?

Back to the topic of ceramics,

I glazed several of my pieces.

Not all successful.

But it's such a learning curve!

One little pot has now become our butter dish:

I'm continuing to practice with throwing.

Here are the last couple of pieces I made last week.

I was particularly pleased with the round pot:

And I had a special order from my son for a handle-less tea mug

with the specific shape as per below:

I'm happy I'm finally managing to make thinner rims.

Tomorrow, I'll turn and tidy the bases and send them to the kiln... And then try some more!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Ceramics (and a tiny bit of tatting!)

Still busy enjoying ceramics at the moment.  Throwing is getting a bit better though very inconsistent!

The little cups at the back have tatted snowflakes stamped into them (like the vase from the previous post).  I have now glazed them and they are waiting to be fired again.

First time throwing "off the hump"

The pieces below are waiting to dry

before finishing off the bottoms

so they can then be bisque-fired.

I also attempted a pot with lid.

It turned out looking very "pearish".

So I tried a second time...

to make a pear...

And even shaped the top like a leaf.

This one is waiting to dry enough so that I can cut the lid.

Can't wait to see what it's like inside

and if I've managed to make the walls thinner.

And to finish,

I'm trying to make moulds of lace to use in pottery.

This was one attempt:

It's not going to work for what I wanted...

but I can still press clay into it and get a pretty good imprint.

I'll try it when I'm next there and show you.

See?  Lots of pottery... but still tatting!  :-)

Best wishes,

Frivole

Snow Crystals Ceramic

I got to glaze the pots I made just before Christmas.  I tried three different glazes.  When you dip the pottery in the liquid glaze and pull the pieces out to dry before firing, they look rather similar.  All three of those colours looked like various shades of pale grey... but what a lovely surprise when they come out of the kiln!

If you remember from the previous post about this, I'd pressed one of my laser-cut snowflakes into the still soft clay.  The laser-cut snowflake was drawn from my Snow Crystal tatting pattern.  I like the thought of combining pottery and tatting.

And here's a close-up of the flower pot

glazed in "apple green":

This week I'm planning on making plaster moulds with some of my tatted lace so that I can make lace pieces out of clay which I'll then apply to the surface of the pots.  That's the plan anyway...  we'll see how that works out!

I've also had a go throwing pots on the wheel... very unsuccessfully to begin with but I'm improving.  I have a few pieces waiting to be fired and can't wait to see how they come out.  My thrown pieces are still a bit too thick and chunky but I hope that with more experience I'll improve and be able to make better ones.  I didn't have much time to play with ceramics last term so I'm enjoying it now.  But it's also time for research and writing this term so I'll have to try to get the balance right.

Best wishes,
Frivole

Other Lace

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and that 2019 is off to a great start for you.

I've been asked to do a presentation on my lace so as part of that, I've been digging out other types of laces I have made over the years.  This is just a small sample I'm taking with me tonight but I thought it might be interesting to show it here on my blog as well.

The little bits of tatting need no explanation but here are some close-ups of the other types of lace and what they are:

These are some Irish crochet flowers, leaves and scrolls.
These elements then need to be linked together with a background stitch...
but mine never made it to that stage!

This is some needle lace.
Experienced needle lace-makers would no doubt use much finer thread than what I used here
but these were some practice pieces.

The roll of lace you can see in the bottom of the photo is
a length of torchon lace which is the very first type of bobbin lace
I learned to make when I was a teenager.

This is Bucks Point lace (bobbin lace)
with a shadow-embroidered bow and little bullion knot rose on the fabric above.
This is the lace I used to hem the sleeves of a christening gown I made for our 4th child.

And finally the pieces on the right of the first photo
are Honiton lace (bobbin also)
This is definitely the finest lace I ever made
(fine in the meaning that the thread is the finest I have ever used to make lace).

I know many of you tatters, will also be other types of lace-makers too, I'd love to hear what other laces you make - please leave a comment!

Best wishes,

Frivole

And the Winner is?...

Sorry everyone, unexpected events got in the way and I was not able to do the draw on Sunday as planned.  But here I am Tuesday morning, and in fact I don't think there's been any new comments since Sunday so you still have the same chance to win.  I shall go enter the number into the random number generator and let you know who the winner is.  There were 43 comments.

Drum Roll.......

And the winner is:

Number 38

and that is N. Maria

(Please contact me with your mailing address)

CONGRATULATIONS!

I will be shipping the earrings to you this week.

I was spoilt too this week as I received a lovely parcel from Germany which contained not one but several treats!  Some beautiful tatted flowers and a wonderfully scented candle and also this really cool candle holder...

It looks so pretty when you light the small candle inside.

I love it.

Thank you so much!

This may well be my last post until after Christmas

so I would like to wish you all a...

I hope 2019 will be a happy, healthy, and creative one for all of you.

Best wishes,

Frivole