Something gothic this way comes - Part 2

It's coming! Would you like to see another sneaky peek? Here you go:

All will be revealed tomorrow.

Something gothic this way comes - Part 1

I'm going to be very secretive in this post.

A few days ago I had an interesting idea for a tatted piece. I started planning it out and soon realised I had all (or nearly all) the required materials to make it up. Great! I got to work immediately. After a while I had to transfer the tatting from my normal sized shuttles to my lager ones due to the length of the piece, which is fine but it slowed me down as there is no hook attached to the end of the shuttle to connect the picots. Several knots, seed beads and hours later I have now finished the base and am feeling very happy with the result. Here's a glimpse:

I'm not going to spill the beans just yet but I am going to say that it has a Tudor / Renaissance / Gothic vibe about it and will look great at parties! I now need to buy a few bits and bobs to finish it off and then I'll show you. This piece was really fun to make and I hope you like it when you see the whole item.

Heather x

Currently reading: 'Assassin's Creed: Renaissance' by Oliver Bowden

Currently listening to: Vedergallningen (Vengeance) by Garmarna

Musing on a sunny Saturday morning

Well this week has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I've been working on several projects. One has been posted, another is half way there. I've bought some more seed beads, I cant wait to use them! Ideas are coming out of my head quicker than I can make them. In other words, I'm a very busy girl.

A few days ago something happened that was a great shock. I'm afraid I can't go into details but that night I ended up consuming copious amounts of chocolate. The experience has left me feeling very angry but at least I now have two different companies investigating. I can't do anymore about it so I've tried to put it to the back of my mind.

On a brighter note, I've now reached 1000 'likes' on my facebook Fan page here. Thank you to everyone who has become a fan. It is greatly appreciated. I'm thinking about doing something special for you all next week but you will have to wait to find out what that is.

Here endeth my 100th blog post.

Heather x

Currently reading: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Currently listening to: Kitty Jay by Seth Lakeman

So many ideas, not enough time!

Hello to one and all. How was your summer? I had a very nice time up in Herefordshire then in Devon. I've taken loads of pictures so I shall do a holiday blog soon.

Apart from that what have I been up to? Well, I'm working on an alchemy request at the moment. I've tatted up the prototype and am just waiting for some gemstones. I'm really excited about finishing this piece! When it's done I'll post some pictures here for you all to see.

I've started working on two 3D pieces. This is one of them. Can you guess what it is yet?

I'm also been working on some Celtic earrings and bracelets, one of which is listed on Etsy here. This one is silver / grey and medium purple. A black and purple set will be available soon.

I'm also tatting a wedding coaster. Check out the rest of my coasters here. I've added a few 'choose your own colour' listings in case you don't want black.

Heather x

Currently reading: The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
Currently listening to: Shadow Of The Raven by Nox Arcana

New idea and new items

Hi everyone. Hope you are having a nice weekend. Lots going on over here.

I've been thinking about new markets I can get into. There are a few ideas bouncing around in my head, one of which I'm trying out at the moment. The other I had the idea for last week and have done the first piece. Here is part of it:

Ta da! I've decided to enter the world of coasters. I recently bought thicker yarn which is ideal for this as you can create a fairly big motif  in a short amount of time. I don't think I'd ever attempt this on my usual finer thread but who knows. I shall be listing sets of 2, 4 and 6 and I'm also planning on doing white ones for weddings. What do you think? I'm going to create a few more tomorrow and then I'll start listing them around Wednesday.

Now on to my newest listings. My tatted choker is for sale here on Etsy

as is the salmon pink version of my Mina earrings.

I'm working on some other colours using this design. These shall be listed soon.

That's it for the moment. Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Heather x

By Jove, I think I've got it!

My many hours of trying to design a choker have ended. I think I've finally got it!

Ta da! One gothic choker:

This piece has practically taken forever to get right. You may remember a prototype I showed you some time ago. Well I realised that the satin ribbon wasn't working well with the sewing machine; it kept shifting. This got me thinking about other types of ribbon. I needed something stiffer. I decided on velvet for the front and satin for the back, which creates a nice soft feel for the neck. This pattern was my first attempt at Celtic tatting. I weaved together two lots of tatting as I went. I do have an idea for a bracelet but whether it will work is a different matter. I think I'll cross that bridge when I come to it! As you can see I've sewn in beads at the base to add to the gothic feeling of the piece.

Due to it's length I may have to create something to store it in, as the jewellery boxes I have are too small. At the moment I'm thinking of sewing up a long thin pouch with a flap and ribbon to tie it up. I had thought about bending it into a circle and therefore store it like that in a lage square box but I think the beads at the base need to be flat. I can't seem to find anything that would do so I'm back to making it. I'd love to know if any of you out there have any suggestions.

Once the pouch is made I can list this!

Have a great Tuesday,

Heather x

What's New!

Hello everyone and Happy World Goth Day!

First of all I'd like to say a big thank you to Claire from Created and Felted for including my Fleur earrings in a blog post about her wedding pouches. I've put the link on the left so you can all have a look. They really are the cutest pouches :)

I've been working on a couple of ideas and new patterns this week, some of which are now finished while others are still a work in progress. I'm closer to working out the best way of creating my choker. I know this has been a long time coming but I promise you it will be worth it.

I've been thinking about new colour combinations for my jewellery. I recently bought dusky pink and chocolate brown balls and, having done a test piece, I think I might be using them together. The pink may even work with the black.

There are some other things in the pipeline but I think I'll talk about those at some other point.

Now on to my new listings:

The first piece I'd like to talk about is a new necklace design, well a reworking of one of my other designs. I decided to tat just over half of my Katherine piece and then created three more, joining them as I went. This is similar to my Helena necklace (that uses the Eleanor pattern). I included jet Swarovski Crystals (two bicone pendants and two faceted drops) around the central part. Below is the result. What do you think?

I'm thinking of doing this in other colours and maybe two colours together. Any suggestions? You can buy the piece here and in pounds here.

The next is a pair of earrings. I decided to create a black pair using my Fleur design:

These would work well with a goth outfit or an evening dress. Check them out here and for those of you in the UK here.

On a completely different note, did any of you in the UK see the last episode of Ashes To Ashes last night? I was in shock by the end. I don't think anyone could have worked out the twist. I was actually crying my eyes out after I had looked at the comments people were making on twitter. Don't worry, I wont give away the ending if you have yet to see it. It ties up all the loose ends nicely and was an amazing finale. I'm actually tempted to go back and watch it again.

Have a nice weekend,

Heather x

Do you love sparkly jewellery?

Do you love sparkly jewellery? I certainly do! As you've probably noticed, I seem to have developed a love of Swarovski Crystals. They are so wonderful to work with and come in many interesting shapes.

The first item I'd like to show you today is a sinple yet stylish gothic bracelet called Narcissa:

I started off with the inner part of my Guinevere cuff and, instead of adding the extra layer, I decided to sew jet Swarovski Crystals onto the tatting. This is so sparkly and would work really well with an evening dress or gothic outfit. You can buy it here.

The next new item is a bridal necklace called Helena. The design comes from my Eleanor Royale necklace. I turned it 45 degrees and took out some of the floating rings. I then added Swarovski Crystal pendants to hang around the central part. One bicone crystal completes it at the center. I really love how it turned out. This would look so beautiful with a white Medieval dress. See it here.

I recently listed some tiny earrings using amethyst, light rose and clear crystals. My newest one in this design is for all you goths out there. I used siam crystals on a black tatted base. Check them out here.

These would work really well with a corset. I'm working on the jet version at the moment. I'm also in the process of tatting a gothic necklace. I'll show you some pictures soon.

x

Twitter Giveaway - The Winner

Wow that was a very enjoyable giveaway. Thank you so much to those of you who took part.

The winner is ............... Brandi Highfill

Well done Brandi! You can congratulate Brandi by clicking the link above :) If you had your heart set on the necklace and didn't win, fear not, for I am having a special 15% OFF SALE across my whole Etsy shop here just for my twitter followers. Please mention this code 'TwitterSale' in the notes to seller during checkout and I will refund you through paypal. This sale will last until 11pm Wednesday 12th May (UK time).

Thank you again to everyone who took part.

Heather xxx

Twitter Giveaway!

Twitter Giveaway

I've started my first giveaway over on Twitter for this tatted Gothic necklace (available on Etsy):

This beauty is worth $44 and will come in a gift box with care instructions. To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is go over to my twitter page here and retweet this message:

WIN THIS NECKLACE http://bit.ly/cgo63u 499th RT wins, max 1 RT per hour

Make sure you include @TataniaRosa in this tweet so I can count your entry. As it says above, you can retweet once per hour. Once I get 499 RTs I shall announce the winner. Happy tweeting!

Ever been to Ightham Mote?

Have you been to Ightham Mote in Kent? If not I thoroughly recommend it.

I've been wanting to go to this place for quite a while now (my parents keep telling me we went when I was very small, but I don't remember it!), so on Monday my family and I started our journey across Kent. When we have a family day-out we usually end up on the Kent and East Sussex Railway (steam trains), stop off at Bodiam Castle and come back the same way. This time we thought about doing something different.

Our first stop was Old Soar Manor near Sevenoaks. It took a while to find this place as the signposts were very unhelpful. Here it is:

It was built in 1290 as a knight's dwelling. As you can see it's rather small compared to other Medieval properties and beautifully preserved. Below shows the large room at the top of the spiral staircase:

I'd love to live in a place like this! It just needs a few tapestries and some furniture. Anyway I digress.

We then got back in the car just as it started chucking it down and headed off to Ightham Mote. On the way we past loads of Oast Houses, as you'd expect in Kent, and when we finally got there it was packed. After a spot of lunch we headed off down the path and suddenly through the trees appeared this beautiful Medieval moated manor house. Ightham Mote is spectacular! It was started around 1330 and has been added to over the centuries.

This is the east side:

The top half of this side was added in the 15th Century. As you can see the moat is quite small. There are small streams around the grounds that supply the water it needs.

Once through the side door you are greeted with a charming courtyard that boasts the only Grade I listed dog kennel in the country.

We spent the next hour wandering through the house and then went to have a look at the lake past the lawn. It's so peaceful in this place and is a great place to visit.

I did have a reason for wanting to come to this place. I'm in the process of reading Green Darkness by Anya Seton and part of it takes place here. There is a story of a Lady or servant who was walled up somewhere in the house and this is the central theme of the novel. It's a terrific read. I must admit I did feel something as I was walking through the Great Hall. Who knows!

If you ever find yourself in Kent, go and visit Ightham Mote. It's well worth it.