Garnet and freshwater pearl necklace

Some jewelry I just made in the last week.

Mermaid's Treasure

This necklace is made with apple (sponge) coral, freshwater pearls, and 14kt gold plate beads.

Ocean's Fire Necklace

This necklace is made with apple (sponge) coral, lava stone, and sterling silver beads.

Ocean's Fire Earrings

Earrings to go with Ocean’s Fire Necklace above.

I made these hamburgers and french fries after reading directions here.

I made the bun cupcakes from a pound cake recipe that’s been in my family for decades.  The meat was a recipe for brownies from here.  The fries were short bread cookies, also a recipe that’s been in my family for decades.  The frosting was a vanilla canned frosting bought from the store (the only thing I didn’t make).

Without further ado, pictures of the hamburgers and fries:

It’s been a while since I posted.  Sorry about that.  Been doing a lot and this poor projects blog has languished.

To make up for that, here’s some pictures of a new necklace and earring set I made.  It’s made out of apple coral, very pale smokey quartz, and 14kt gold spheres.

Hope you like!

New Necklace

This is one of the peices of lace I gave away last year.  This one went to the prize box for the SCA event I didn’t get to go to.                                                                                                                                      

 This is a drawn thread/cutwork piece.   It only had a little build up in the corners, and a bunch of ‘bundling’ in the threads that were left behind  after I pulled the other threads out.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I’ve done a lot of thinking about where I am and what my goals are where my lace making is concerned. 

First of all, I was the front runner in this Kingdom of doing the type of lace that I do.  People were making exquisite examples of bobbin lace before I got here, but I was the first to start doing pulled and cut thread work in an SCA manner.  People may have been doing hardanger on their own, in modern life, but as hardanger isn’t period (that exact style, as I’ve been able to find so far, but I’m still looking, so I might find something that shows different in the future), they weren’t doing it for SCA purposes.   Since I’ve been here and entering in A&S competitions and teaching others about it, more people have been picking it up.

At this point, from what I know, four people (including myself) are doing the lace.  Or at least have learned the rudiments of it (whether they continue working on it or not is up to them).  There are at least 3 people outside my direct ’sphere of influence’ (including two Laurels) who are thinking about taking this type of lacework up.  (One of these Mistresses I know for a fact was directly influenced from the first A&S competition I entered out here.  She doesn’t remember that it was me who displayed my beginner sampler, but yesterday she told me she saw somebody display something two years ago at Candlemas and that’s what got her interested.  It’s kind of satisfying seeing how my work is inspiring others.)   And there are a handful of people in my Barony who are waiting for me to start classes back up so they can learn.

I have given away two handkerchiefs and a napkin.  One of the handkerchiefs was a pulled thread/cutwork handkerchief, and it was for a prize for a big event out here I wasn’t even going to (and didn’t get a thank you for… *Shrugs* Oh well).  The other handkerchief was the flamingo handkerchief posted in  the last post.  And the napkin was for a ‘prize chest’ for our Candlemas a year ago.

There is a little bit of stuff that’s gone out.  And I’ve displayed or entered a bunch of A&S competitions with my lace, so people are getting more exposure to it.  I really think it’s due to my entering in competitions, and teaching classes, that has gotten more interest in this type of lace. 

I really want to get more interest in this type of lace.  Spread the addiction joy.  That kind of thing.

 So, I’ve decided on a bunch of projects.  This is probably a 2 or 3 year plan in getting everything done.  First, I’m going to make a few bookmarks that have a square of reticello in it (only one square so they will be quick to get done).  These I’m going to give away at A&S competitions for people who make uber spiffy stuff.  I want to get at least three of these done before Kingdom A&S in two weeks. 

Next, I’m going to finish the project I’m working on now, and, if it turns out good, I’ll make it into a pouch, to give to my Laurel.  Then I want to make a few handkerchiefs, of varying difficulty (some relatively easy, some more difficult) to give away for various uses (like prizes for competitions, largess baskets, things like that).  Finally, I  want to do a specific lace handkerchief as a reproduction piece. 

 I’m sure there will be other lace projects as well.  I need to finish making the set of napkins out of the cut work (have two done).  Then Conall was wondering if I would do something on a table cloth (no, NOT a whole tablecloth of lace, but inthe corners of it with some reticello elements).  A few things like that.  There’s some things I want to do for the reticello in a modern sense too.  I want to make a few samplers and frame it (with nice mats, a contrasting color under the lace, that kind of thing) and see if I can’t sell it as ‘art’. 

So, I’ve got a bunch of things to do.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue to do well with the lace.  Because, if I can’t, well, then all my plans are for nothing.

I will be uploading lace for a while.  I’ve got a lot of it to do.

The pics in this post are of the infamous “flamingo handkerchief”.    It was actually my first reticello work, and even though I didn’t have the idea about reticello at the time, it turned out not so bad.  Yes, the little bit of embroidery on the sided of the handkerchief are ‘feather stitch’.  You know, cuz I couldn’t use feathers, or embroider feathers on the handkerchief at all, yet this put something ‘feather’ on it…

Note:  The flamingo handkerchief was part of an elaborate ‘joke’ that was given to the Baroness of Dragonsspine.  It was something that got started a while back, that people have run with and were having a lot of fun with.   This specific project was because Her Excellency had started a “Flamingo Guard” to keep anything flamingo away from her.  So, one person on the Guard decided she had to find all the loopholes of the charter, and got people to make things that were pink, black, and white.  She asked me to make something, and this was my contribution to the cause.  For my efforts, I was given the “bird flu” –  An embroidered patch with a pink flamingo on it, which I wear proudly at every event I go to.                                                                                

I think I’m getting the hang of how to do this thing.  We’ll see.

The next pictures are the napkin I completed and entered into the Outlands Kingdom Arts and Sciences Competition last year.

Here’s some pictures of a napkin I made a year ago.

I’ve decided to make a blog of all my projects.  Over the next few days, I’ll upload all my lace photos.  After that I’ll do jewelry and other things as well.