Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Motif 11 - Tatted Jewelry

Sipping Dream by the Fire tea and surfing tatting blogs has been a guilty pleasure that has distracted me from today's Tatting Tea Tuesday post. Huge apologies, Tat Land!

But I have been tatting. Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley has been at the top of my list.


One Shuttle Glamour Earrings
Designed by Marilee Rockley
Tatted by IsDihara


Motif 11 - One-Shuttle Glamour Earrings
These intermediate level earrings are quick to tat, use around two (2) yards of thread and yield a big, sparkly bang for the buck. What's not to love?

The ones pictured above use Lizbeth® 20 Rootbeer Float (#150) and Sea Island Citrus (#161), size 11 seed beads, 6mm and 4mm round beads and Swarovski crystallized 4mm bicones. Goodness! How fast my bead "garden" grows.

A question for more experienced tatted jewelry-makers: Are split rings always preferred over jump rings to attach findings?

Thank you, Marilee, for getting this pattern booklet published. It is a treasured addition to my tatting library.

Whether you're tatting jewelry, snowflakes or something else, may you all find time to dream by the fire and create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

9 comments:

Carol Schockling Lawecki said...

OOHHH your earrings look lovely in these color theads/beads.

When you say split ring preferred over jump ring, do you mean the metal split ring? I use a little jump ring attached with picots, then add the earring finding onto the jump ring. It has been working well for me. I just finished tatting some earrings like this. I should put a picture on my blog.

Happy Holidays!

Valerie said...

these earrings are lovely! i love the pearls you used, very elegant.

Crazy Mom! said...

Jump rings pull apart - BAD.

I always use split rings. And once you get the special pliers,

The earrings are really pretty!

Jane Eborall said...

Depends how you're joining to the metal finding. Personally I use the rings which are like key rings as they don't leave a gap. I then double join to those. I've never trusted a split ring in case the thread wriggles out through the hole. Pretty earrings. Lovely colours.

Miranda said...

Let's define the terms. Split rings are the ones that look like mini keyrings. Jump rings can be either open (meaning you could slide them onto the tatting) or closed (a full circle of metal with no opening).

I never ever use the open jump rings. I don't feel they're secure enough. When I need to slide a ring onto the tatting, I use a split ring. They are easy to apply with the specialized pliers (approximately $8-9) and much more secure. I also sometimes use the closed jump rings. You can join the tatting to them if you want the ring to lay parallel to the tatting. Or if you need two rings between the tatting and the earring finding to make it hang right, you can attach a split ring to the tatting, attach a closed jump ring on the other side of the split ring, and attach the earring finding to that. I can e-mail you photos with examples of all three if you want.

Gina said...

I prefer the metal split rings and I prefer to tat onto them when I can rather than sliding the tatting onto the ring.

Red said...

I've been having a ball w/ Marilee's book too! I've never used split rings in jewelry, and I don't think I ever would - I see their use as more for tool-type things, not jewelry. I use jump rings, but not in picots - every time I've tried in picots, the thread breaks, so I put them on after the piece is finished, and put them through a ring. That way the tatting thicker than any possible opening in the jump ring, but I also spend a good deal of time making sure the jump ring is a tightly closed as possible.

tattrldy said...

You did a great job on the earrings, they look fun to wear. I haven't ventured much into the world of tatted jewelry so I'll also listen to those with more experience.

The tea sounds yummy! I'll have to look for it and give it a try.

Merry Christmas

God's Kid said...

Great color choices for those lovely earrings!! :)