3 down and 3 to go

3 more finals and then my brain can focus on tatting.... and take a break from all the craziness!

I have been doing some painting, but I'm wiped out so I'm not going to post pictures of them yet.... especially since they aren't done yet. ( and when I say "they" I am referring to some wooden jewelry/ trinket boxes that I was decorating for yet another birthday party for one of Livi's friends)

I did however come up with this super cute idea tonight while thinking of teacher's gifts.  They are going to be earrings.  The design is actually Baiduri from Jon's Elegant Tatting gems, just not the whole round...

Both are size 40 Lizbeth Charcoal.  The one on the left I added antique  copper  Pearl Ex  to  Mod podge and then  painted the entire piece.  On the right, this one has only been painted with Mod Podge.

But I didn't stop there, because I plan on these being earrings, I not only painted them with mod podge, but added some of Jacquard's Pearl Ex pigment in with the mod podge before painting.  I've done two so that you can tell the difference.  I rather like the effect over all.  I makes it look really shiny (though you can't tell that it's shiny due to the scan :o(  ).  I would definitely not do it to just any piece of tatting.  But for this occasion, I think it looks nice.


Also... try not to drool too much.  And certainly don't get your hopes up too much, because I'm still working at it.  Just being able to do something once doesn't mean a whole lot.  But... here's my first real attempt at dyeing thread.  I've tried doing a little before with hot water dyes, but only very small batches and only messing around.
This however turned out beautifully.  I only did one though.  Really I just didn't have enough white thread to make another hank. Plus, the hanks are not exactly the easiest things to make. I don't think they are easy anyway.