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kerravonsenI seem to be carrying on the trend from last year of doing much crafty stuff. Is good.
I've also been looking into various kinds of symbolism, but I'll probably do a separate post on that. At some point.
Chain maille necklace "Under the Sea"
Double-spiral chain in anodized aluminium black/purple/blue/green/mint, with a centrepiece triangle in double European 4-in-1 (so, technically European 8-in-2) with a paua-shell pendant attached to it. I'm working up the second half of the chain, and it's looking quite spiffy.
I'm wondering whether I should add some silver fish and seahorse charms, or whether that would be overkill. Probably overkill.
I think I may keep this one for myself; I have a weakness for purple/blue/green. On the other hand, that might be stupid, because I don't wear much jewellery nowadays, and I already have a bunch of other purple/blue/green necklaces I've made for myself in the past. On the other other hand, the paua shell is from a bag of paua shell fragments I bought in New Zealand when I was there (the time before last, IIRC) so it has sentimental value to me.
(indecision!)
Chain maille necklace "Hufflepuff"
Byzantine and rosette chain in gold and black. Have done a European 4-in-1 diamond to use as a centrepiece; it was my first piece of European 4-in-1, done as a test-piece before I did the triangle for the other necklace. Glad I did the prototype, it made me change my mind and do a triangle for the other necklace rather than a diamond.
I also have a silver bee charm I want to use as a pendant (Hufflepuffs are as busy as bees), and some gold filigree flowers. If it had been a gold bee charm I might have left it at that, but as it is silver, I'll need to add some silver accents. Fortunately I have some silver flowers in the same style as the gold ones, so I'll be using them, but I haven't decided how to put it all together yet.
No particular hurry, I've only done three inches of the initial chain so far.
Chain maille silver chain
This is an experiment with single-spiral chain with rings with a small aspect ratio. The weaving is very tight and fiddly, and I've only done an inch so far, but I'd like to see how it turns out. It may end up being too stiff to be useful.
Tunisian crochet placemat
Part of a set I'm making, where each piece is done with a different pattern, but they're all in a combination of four yarns. That is, I have a set of four yarns (Sonaran Desert, Sea, dark green, cream) and each piece uses two of the four, one dark and one light. So the current placemat is done in Sea and cream, and the first placemat was done in Sonaran Desert and dark green, and the three coasters were done in Sonaran Desert and Sea.
I'm running out of the Sea yarn, unfortunately, and it was a limited run, so I won't be able to get any more.
Bead crochet, red
I'm experimenting with doing something lacy for this one, with beads at strategic spots. I'm making up the pattern as I go.
Bead crochet, purple and black
This is the one with all the beads that got tangled. I haven't had the heart to go back to it yet. Still haven't decided whether to persevere with trying to untangle the knots, or whether to give up and cut the yarn and pull out what I've done so far and start over completely.
Any hints as to how to ensure that thread covered with beads doesn't tangle?
Steampunk cuff
The fasteners I had devised came off, and I need to re-think how to fasten it. I may have to drill holes in it, rather than try to glue things on.
Steampunk top-hat
It has goggles attached to it, that's all.
Steampunk cane
Still haven't figured out how to attach the electroluminescent wire.
Steampunk gizmo
The design is still too nebulous to work on. I think I should wait until the cuff is done, and use things in the gizmo that I didn't use in the cuff.
Bamboo/Crochet placemats
This would be a different set to the one above. I have acquired some bamboo sticks (30cm by 3mm) which would be a good base to make a stiff kind of placemat. Wouldn't be suitable for Tunisian crochet, would be more amenable to normal crochet, since that can crochet around the sticks. Not sure how I'd ensure that the sticks wouldn't get pulled out, though. Would I have to glue the ends? I don't like that idea.
No hurry though, since I wouldn't start on this one until after I finished the above placemat set.
Wire crochet silver/gold
Done with 32g wire, possibly done with double strands and silver and gold beads. To go with a particular silver and gold heart pendant.
Would be my first wire crochet.
Wire spool-knitting
With or without beads, I'm not sure. 32g wire, but I haven't decided what colour - I have quite a few to choose from.
Would be my first wire spool knitting.
Wire spool-knitting + Viking draw
If the previous wire spool-knitting works, I'd like to see if I can pull it through my recently-acquired Viking Knit draw-plate. I don't have an actual Viking Knit tool (because the kit I wanted to get was out of stock) so I thought I'd see if spool-knitting would work. Would probably be best done with silver or gold wire, not coloured wire, as the drawing process might scrape the coloured enamel off.
Chain maille Slytherin and/or Gryffindor necklace
Have now acquired suitable green, silver, red and gold rings with which to make an appropriately garish necklace or necklaces. No design as yet.
Chain maille rainbow necklace
Now that I have rings in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, it would be pleasing to make a rainbow-coloured necklace. Probably in European 4-in-1, like a collar.
Having now played a little with European 4-in-1, I can understand why it's so popular - so much so that I think many people assume that "chainmaille" equals European 4-in-1. European 4-in-1 is cool. It... drapes. It behaves differently in the weave direction than in the perpendicular-to-weave direction. IMHO, it's easier to do than Box Chain.
Chain maille varied rings necklace
I now have some colourful rubber rings (they were on sale, from the same place I got my draw-plate) and I would like to do some chain maille with a mix of rubber and metal rings, as some designs do. It will be an interesting challenge, since one can't open rubber rings, so I would have to do a weave which is amenable to using closed rings as well as rings of two different sizes. Perhaps a Parallel Weave.
Severus Snape necklace
I want to do something terribly symbolic, in Labradorite (which is so very much Severus Snape's stone, since the first two meanings I found for it were "hidden beauty" and "subtlety"). If I can, I'd like to make it a journey-to-redemption thing, starting off at one end with skull and snake and bat, something in the middle that means repentance (not sure what yet), black for mystery, and ending up with garnet for martyrdom, and a red heart for love, and possibly a white heart for purity.
Which could end up looking quite ugly, oh dear.
Hmmm.
Red heart in the middle because his love for Lily was the turning point. That might work.
I shall ponder further.
Another SSHG necklace
This one has been in the back of my mind for a while; I acquired some nice charms which I think fit - feathers for quills, spirals for the steam rising from a cauldron - and I'd like to see if I can do some wire-coiling to get some brown wire coiled like a spring to represent her hair, and I have long straight black glass beads for his hair. Could do this together with the Slytherin/Gryffindor idea above.
The design isn't coming together though. Yet.
A Doctor Who/TARDIS necklace
Not sure what the design for this would be yet, but there would definitely be blue in it for the TARDIS.
Oooh, I could use some of my blue goldstone, I think that would be very fitting! Deep midnight blue with silver flecks like an infinity of stars. Yes. Definitely.
Hmmm, maybe red for the Doctor, for action and passion and self-sacrifice. That might work.
I wonder if there's some way I could get them spiralling around each other? Doing a crochet spiral wouldn't do, because it's a spiral-staircase kind of spiral, and what I want is a double-helix kind of spiral.
I shall allow this one to simmer.
I've also been looking into various kinds of symbolism, but I'll probably do a separate post on that. At some point.
Current Projects
Chain maille necklace "Under the Sea"
Double-spiral chain in anodized aluminium black/purple/blue/green/mint, with a centrepiece triangle in double European 4-in-1 (so, technically European 8-in-2) with a paua-shell pendant attached to it. I'm working up the second half of the chain, and it's looking quite spiffy.
I'm wondering whether I should add some silver fish and seahorse charms, or whether that would be overkill. Probably overkill.
I think I may keep this one for myself; I have a weakness for purple/blue/green. On the other hand, that might be stupid, because I don't wear much jewellery nowadays, and I already have a bunch of other purple/blue/green necklaces I've made for myself in the past. On the other other hand, the paua shell is from a bag of paua shell fragments I bought in New Zealand when I was there (the time before last, IIRC) so it has sentimental value to me.
(indecision!)
Chain maille necklace "Hufflepuff"
Byzantine and rosette chain in gold and black. Have done a European 4-in-1 diamond to use as a centrepiece; it was my first piece of European 4-in-1, done as a test-piece before I did the triangle for the other necklace. Glad I did the prototype, it made me change my mind and do a triangle for the other necklace rather than a diamond.
I also have a silver bee charm I want to use as a pendant (Hufflepuffs are as busy as bees), and some gold filigree flowers. If it had been a gold bee charm I might have left it at that, but as it is silver, I'll need to add some silver accents. Fortunately I have some silver flowers in the same style as the gold ones, so I'll be using them, but I haven't decided how to put it all together yet.
No particular hurry, I've only done three inches of the initial chain so far.
Chain maille silver chain
This is an experiment with single-spiral chain with rings with a small aspect ratio. The weaving is very tight and fiddly, and I've only done an inch so far, but I'd like to see how it turns out. It may end up being too stiff to be useful.
Tunisian crochet placemat
Part of a set I'm making, where each piece is done with a different pattern, but they're all in a combination of four yarns. That is, I have a set of four yarns (Sonaran Desert, Sea, dark green, cream) and each piece uses two of the four, one dark and one light. So the current placemat is done in Sea and cream, and the first placemat was done in Sonaran Desert and dark green, and the three coasters were done in Sonaran Desert and Sea.
I'm running out of the Sea yarn, unfortunately, and it was a limited run, so I won't be able to get any more.
Projects On Hold
Bead crochet, red
I'm experimenting with doing something lacy for this one, with beads at strategic spots. I'm making up the pattern as I go.
Bead crochet, purple and black
This is the one with all the beads that got tangled. I haven't had the heart to go back to it yet. Still haven't decided whether to persevere with trying to untangle the knots, or whether to give up and cut the yarn and pull out what I've done so far and start over completely.
Any hints as to how to ensure that thread covered with beads doesn't tangle?
Steampunk cuff
The fasteners I had devised came off, and I need to re-think how to fasten it. I may have to drill holes in it, rather than try to glue things on.
Steampunk top-hat
It has goggles attached to it, that's all.
Steampunk cane
Still haven't figured out how to attach the electroluminescent wire.
Steampunk gizmo
The design is still too nebulous to work on. I think I should wait until the cuff is done, and use things in the gizmo that I didn't use in the cuff.
Projects I Would Eagerly Like To Do
Bamboo/Crochet placemats
This would be a different set to the one above. I have acquired some bamboo sticks (30cm by 3mm) which would be a good base to make a stiff kind of placemat. Wouldn't be suitable for Tunisian crochet, would be more amenable to normal crochet, since that can crochet around the sticks. Not sure how I'd ensure that the sticks wouldn't get pulled out, though. Would I have to glue the ends? I don't like that idea.
No hurry though, since I wouldn't start on this one until after I finished the above placemat set.
Wire crochet silver/gold
Done with 32g wire, possibly done with double strands and silver and gold beads. To go with a particular silver and gold heart pendant.
Would be my first wire crochet.
Wire spool-knitting
With or without beads, I'm not sure. 32g wire, but I haven't decided what colour - I have quite a few to choose from.
Would be my first wire spool knitting.
Wire spool-knitting + Viking draw
If the previous wire spool-knitting works, I'd like to see if I can pull it through my recently-acquired Viking Knit draw-plate. I don't have an actual Viking Knit tool (because the kit I wanted to get was out of stock) so I thought I'd see if spool-knitting would work. Would probably be best done with silver or gold wire, not coloured wire, as the drawing process might scrape the coloured enamel off.
Chain maille Slytherin and/or Gryffindor necklace
Have now acquired suitable green, silver, red and gold rings with which to make an appropriately garish necklace or necklaces. No design as yet.
Chain maille rainbow necklace
Now that I have rings in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, it would be pleasing to make a rainbow-coloured necklace. Probably in European 4-in-1, like a collar.
Having now played a little with European 4-in-1, I can understand why it's so popular - so much so that I think many people assume that "chainmaille" equals European 4-in-1. European 4-in-1 is cool. It... drapes. It behaves differently in the weave direction than in the perpendicular-to-weave direction. IMHO, it's easier to do than Box Chain.
Chain maille varied rings necklace
I now have some colourful rubber rings (they were on sale, from the same place I got my draw-plate) and I would like to do some chain maille with a mix of rubber and metal rings, as some designs do. It will be an interesting challenge, since one can't open rubber rings, so I would have to do a weave which is amenable to using closed rings as well as rings of two different sizes. Perhaps a Parallel Weave.
Severus Snape necklace
I want to do something terribly symbolic, in Labradorite (which is so very much Severus Snape's stone, since the first two meanings I found for it were "hidden beauty" and "subtlety"). If I can, I'd like to make it a journey-to-redemption thing, starting off at one end with skull and snake and bat, something in the middle that means repentance (not sure what yet), black for mystery, and ending up with garnet for martyrdom, and a red heart for love, and possibly a white heart for purity.
Which could end up looking quite ugly, oh dear.
Hmmm.
Red heart in the middle because his love for Lily was the turning point. That might work.
I shall ponder further.
Another SSHG necklace
This one has been in the back of my mind for a while; I acquired some nice charms which I think fit - feathers for quills, spirals for the steam rising from a cauldron - and I'd like to see if I can do some wire-coiling to get some brown wire coiled like a spring to represent her hair, and I have long straight black glass beads for his hair. Could do this together with the Slytherin/Gryffindor idea above.
The design isn't coming together though. Yet.
A Doctor Who/TARDIS necklace
Not sure what the design for this would be yet, but there would definitely be blue in it for the TARDIS.
Oooh, I could use some of my blue goldstone, I think that would be very fitting! Deep midnight blue with silver flecks like an infinity of stars. Yes. Definitely.
Hmmm, maybe red for the Doctor, for action and passion and self-sacrifice. That might work.
I wonder if there's some way I could get them spiralling around each other? Doing a crochet spiral wouldn't do, because it's a spiral-staircase kind of spiral, and what I want is a double-helix kind of spiral.
I shall allow this one to simmer.
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