Friday, October 31, 2008

I'm tiptoeing...

through this new venture. I don't know how to add pics to a post, though I don't really have any to add since my camera battery is busy recharging.

Today I worked on a new tassel head. I made the beginnings of the skirt yesterday out of a multicolor yarn I picked up in Washington last year. It's burgundy and teal and green and gold and purple. Totally love it.

My sis Daisy and I discussed what direction I should go in on my tassel heads. She thinks I should stick to the whimsical kind, and she's probably right since the whimsical one I have on etsy right now is drawing far more lookers than any of the others. So-o-o, the head I worked on today is purple and green and yellow with some black and gold thrown in for good measure.

I picked up some plastic beads at Walmart yesterday, a big honking bag for a couple of bucks, and a bag of marble beads too. I'm thinking I can use each of them in tassel heads. Problem is the hole's not big enough to run the cord through as I usually do. What I'm thinking I'll do is attach wire to the cord, run it all the way through the head, pulling it down to where the cord is through the top bead. That way, it'll have the look of a cord running all the way through and I'll still be able to use the smaller hole beads.

I also worked on a lamp today. I put it together from pieces and parts five or six years ago and have never been fully satisfied with it. One of the feet broke off the other day, so I had to take it out and glue that back together and thought since I had it in the shop I might as well take it all apart and glue it back together more securely this time. (That was what I didn't like about it originally. I'd tried to hold it together with a threaded rod, and it just didn't work.)

Also finished a Christmas tassel. I'm making one for my sister Ginger and one for my SIL. We picked up the makings on one of our trips into Austin a couple of months ago, so I thought I ought to get started on them. One down, one to go. (I'm so sick of them I doubt I'll make the one I got for me.)

This is me signing off.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

My first post

Okay, here I am slogging my way through blogland, a real neophyte. I read so many that are beautifully written and exciting to read I tremble to breathe the same air.

Right now, I have no idea what the purpose of this blog will be. I just opened a shop on etsy. So far I only have a few tassels and a pillow listed. I have more ready to go on, but it seems to take so long right now to do it that it feels more an annoyance than I want to endure for long.

This afternoon I worked on a tassel head that was coming along beautifully. I totally loved it, and it was all done except the final layer of gloss. Then I picked up the wrong spray can. So my beautiful tassel head now has one side that's...white. It would be impossible to recreate the finishes I used on the piece: a fantasy marble on the top ball, a faux tortoise on the next bead, another fantasy marble on the wheel, and a yellow and black check pattern on the bottom. Since it's all glued up--firmly since I use gorilla glue--I guess I'll finish spraying it out white and maybe do a fantasy marble on the entire thing. Doncha just hate when that happens?

Maybe tomorrow I'll get some more things listed on etsy. Still have three pincushions, a couple of memory bags, and a linen pillow I want to list.