Another Love...

of mine is calligraphy:  nibs, fountain pens, gorgeous inks, smooth paper… the ink gliding on the surface and drying with patches of dark and light… lovely.

I also like to write in journals but lately have been struggling to find journals with ink-friendly paper.  Every time the disappointment of putting the tip of your nib on the page and seeing the ink spread and feather.  I purchased a few books recently in my search for a new journal and none of them contained paper suitable for ink.

So… I decided to make my own, with paper I do like!

This is a simple binding technique called "coptic binding"

Here you can see my four signatures sewn together.

What I like about this binding method

is that the book lays flat when you open it.

Makes for much easier writing.

I made covers for my book (which is size A6)

by covering some cardboard with decorative paper

(some of you may recognise this design)

Here is my book all sewn together, with the covers.

It's not perfectly lined up but it's not too bad for a first effort.

The holes in my cover are too big because I didn't have a hole punch with smaller holes so I will equip myself for the next book.  I didn't make too many pages for it because it's nice not to have to wait years to fill a great big book and instead be able to change and start a fresh one after a shorter period of time.  The beauty of this is you can choose everything about it:  the size, the number of pages, the type of paper, the covers - great!

The colour of the decorative paper is more accurate in this photo.

I started writing in my new journal.

Happy!

Now I never need run out of journals with suitable paper… I can just make myself another when I've filled this one.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Lovely HDT

I have been asked questions about Mirabelle by a lady who is tatting it for the first time.  It's inspired me to tat it myself.

I have a box containing many skeins of beautiful HDT I have collected over the last few years.  Many I have not even tried yet.  I decided a little while ago that I should not buy anymore (best not to look at all the beautiful colours if you don't want to be tempted to buy!) and use some of my stash.  The thing I found though, is that unless I'm working something small, I don't want to use my HDT in case I run out and then, because they are one offs, I won't be able to complete my project in the chosen thread.  So I find, most of the time, I go for Lizbeth of which I can easily purchase more.

I thought Mirabelle would look pretty in one of those HDTs - this one doesn't have a name but is made by Monica Braxton of Nag Studio on Etsy.

It's a rather pretty mix of colours I think.

Working on this caused me to re-think again the problem of thrown rings.  In this case, the TR is made after the bigger ring facing the centre is made.  TRs tend to suffer from a bit of gap underneath and a tendency of being a little floppy.  I find starting the next chain with the second half of a double stitch helps stabilise the TR… yet it's not quite perfect to my taste yet.  On the Mirabelle above, I tried different solutions for each of the TRs around the snowflake.  It's not really that visible but there are tiny variations on each.  It still requires more thinking.  I don't know if there is a perfect solution but I'll keep trying!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Ice Dance

Were you wondering where I'd gone?  Nearly two weeks since I last posted, that's too long, isn't it?  I've just been busy mostly tatting lots of earrings really so didn't want to keep boring you with more of the same.

But today I have something new to show you.  It is Robin Perfetti's latest offering and it is called Ice Dance.  Robin has taken the plunge and opened an Etsy shop where you can find this pattern.  I have enjoyed all of her designs so far and wish her all the best in her new venture.

This pattern does require some concentration

as there are a lot of directional changes!

We're enjoying some lovely, sunny, warm weather here in the UK though the leaves have started to change colour.  I'm making the most of it before it turns cold!

Best wishes,
Frivole

Mellow Fruitfulness

My son and I took our dog a long walk tonight.  I love that time of day when the sun is setting across the fields; the light is so beautiful.  We remembered to bring a bag with us and collected some lovely, juicy blackberries.  As my son said, the stings from nettles (there always seems to be some around blackberry bushes) and blackberry thorns are a price worth paying for being able to collect this beautiful fruit.

Most of this batch of blackberries is now cooking in a cake in the oven.  I shall gather a lot more to make some jam soon.

You've probably seen them enough by now but I thought this latest pair of Mimosa earrings went with the blackberry-blue-pink theme of this post.  I like them in this colour way, very soft and romantic.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Happy with it!

Ok, that's it.  I'm happy with this design now.  This is the pair which I will send to a friend.  I like the brass earring findings I received in the post this morning, they compliment the earring colours so much better than silver.

In the pair above, the trefoil is made using SCMRs and I like the shape this creates but I decided it's probably unnecessarily complicated and in the next pair I'm making (below), I've tatted regular rings for the trefoil but attached the trefoil to the chain for extra stability.

I've used both tiny size 15 beads and size 11 for extra interest as well as the pearls in the centre.

I made a pair for my daughter last night and she's wearing them today.  She only wanted one colour of seed beads but I like using two colours and different sizes.  Notice she had the perfectly matching tank top!

Thank you for your answers on "stiffening" in the previous post.  It was interesting to read what other people do.  I'm going to go with unstiffened.  After all, this is lace and it should be soft to the touch rather than hard, shouldn't it?  I have been wearing a version or other of these earrings for many days now and I have found that the ring of pearls works very well and they keep their shape very nicely as they are.

As for the way they hang, in the end, I decided to go with a small jump ring to attach the lace to the finding.  That way it's metal rubbing on metal instead of a small tatted ring and I think the jump ring allows for better movement of the earring when worn (as seen in the bottom cream pair).

I've not had any luck selling actual lace in my Etsy shop (well, just a very few pieces over the last four years) but I decided to put a couple of pairs in there anyway to see if there's any interest.  I concluded long ago that people much prefer tatting the items themselves (hence patterns are very popular) rather than buying ready-made lace.  Maybe I'll have to write the pattern for this one too?

I find this design very versatile and for the last week or more I have been wearing a pair every day (today is a short turquoise one, as seen in the previous post).  I like the short version and I like the long, you can have more or fewer beads, it can be tatted with just one round for a smaller earring or two for a bolder look.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Still working at it

I've continued playing with the earring design (one of them anyway).  As you can see, I've made lots of samples with tiny variations on each.  One problem is how to attach the findings for best movement, positioning, finishing of the item, etc.  Should I make a tatted loop or attach a ring into the tatting?  I'm trying different options.

I'm happy with the solution I've found to tat with the pearls in a circle in the middle - that's a winner and something I will no doubt use again in future designs.  I tried the earrings with a trefoil at the bottom and without.  I decided I like both versions.

This morning I received more of the little pearls I'm using in this design so tatted yet another earring in colours for a friend (she loves olive green) and I think the new bronze pearls I got look nice and blend in better with the green.  I decided to make two rows around the pearls in this one and I like that too.  Now I'm trying different ways of treating the trefoil to give it more stability.

The cream pair I've been wearing yesterday and today.

I'm making progress on this and enjoying the process.

And the last question, which you may help answering, is whether to stiffen or not stiffen earrings.  What do you think?  Those of you who make tatted jewellery, do you prefer tatting in its natural state or do you like to help it a bit to keep its shape when worn by stiffening it?

Just adding beads in the centre of this design already does give the lace more weight and stability which helps keep the earrings into shape when worn.  But I still always wonder about stiffening.

Look forward to your answers!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Flitting...

Yes, sometimes I feel like a butterfly:  flitting from one pretty thing to the next!  I have a fair amount of projects to complete yet I still get distracted by other lovely tatty things along the way.  When I saw Robin Perfetti's new snowflake design, I just had to make it straight away.  I have really enjoyed Robin's previous designs and this one is just as pretty and satisfying.

I also found her tutorial on how she designs using her iPad and a Kaleidoscope program really interesting and a great read (also to be found on her blog).  She uses the snowflake above to illustrate the different steps she goes through from the iPad drawing to the finished tatted motif.  I tried the app (fun to make random images) but found it quite challenging to get enough control for specific tatting-looking images so I am amazed by all the lovely designs she comes up with using this method.  Mine is all pencil & paper and a lot of trying and cutting!

The centre part is tatted with DMC Cordonnet Spécial in size 20 in écru and the second round is tatted in Lizbeth.  I found my tatting to be smoother and more evenly worked using Lizbeth.  I thought I would like DMC just as much but in the end my preference is for Lizbeth.

Now I must really try to get some of my WIPs finished!  A couple of doilies (maybe three even!), the earrings from previous post, the mystery flower project…

Oh, and I nearly forgot to say:  I'm back home!  We had an absolutely wonderful time with friends and family and did lots of exciting outdoor activities.  It was a "special" long holiday this year for me and two of my children and we really made the most of it.

But brrrrr!  It already feels like autumn here in the UK!

Best wishes,

Frivole