I don't know how I ended up on that page... not an unusual occurrence when surfing the web but I found
Nina Libin's website. I had heard her name before, probably in connection with Tat Days but had never really seen her work. I would say it's more beading than tatting, in the sense that you see mostly the beads rather than the tatting, but it's very interesting. And of course, I had to give it a try!
This is one of her free patterns which sadly doesn't have a name... just a number. You can find it on her website.
I don't have that many seed beads (size 11) so I worked with what I have and this is the result. I think the shape is lovely and I will be tatting it again. The first one (the blue) went a bit wrong and the outside chains were a bit too tight. I added a couple of stitches when I made the green. I'm not sure what is the size of the thread she recommends (metallic embroidery thread). The blue is tatted with DMC cotton perle 12 and the green is tatted with Lizbeth 40. I think the Lizbeth works out better.
Surprisingly, there are about 150 beads in only the one earring. I'm not a huge fan of working with beads (mostly because I find it slow-going, from having to string the beads to having to stop when you tat to wind and unwind the shuttles to slide the beads) but I find Nina's designs very ingenious. I need to get more seed beads!
And then I tatted the little necklace of the previous post for myself and I'm wearing it today. I used Lizbeth Wedgwood Dark with some black pearls and I like how it turned out.
Best wishes,