Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Strike That

Reverse it. Well, maybe not strike it, but rather put it on hold while I go an entirely different direction. I worked up the first ankle corset with a couple of minor modifications and I found the sweet spot. I took a quick phone picture, sent it to twitter and then began playing with the piece of lace while I waited for opinions. I do this a lot. When I placed the piece on my wrist, I found that it was it was perfect as a cuff. Of course I had to wrap it all around in the back, but it could be perfect. So, I abandoned the ankle corsets in favor of transforming the piece into an arm piece.


As you can see, I did just that. It took a few more adjustments to the pattern and after consulting the Internet I decided to use a couple of hooks to close it. Then when I put it on my rather small wrists, it was too big. Of course this just means it won't fit me perfectly and will likely fit many more people perfectly. Ah, but the light bulb went off again. Since I only attach hooks, not eyes and the hooks are meant to attach directly to the lace, I can simply hook further into the lace for a perfect fit.

The really great thing about this pattern, even with my scalloped edge added on, it is such a flowing and simple design that it works up much faster than some pieces half its size. So even though it looks huge, I can still charge less for it as both the cuff and the ankle corsets. The hard part is getting people to understand why this one would be less than say the In Bloom Ankle corsets that take days to make with many individual motifs. This one is made with one motif, one outer round and then the scallop and that's it.

I have a face to face conference with my daughter's teacher today, so that will eat up the morning, but after that I'll get back to the second ankle corset so I can get those finished and listed today. Though I do have an awful sandal tan that is going to make pictures a bit difficult. Then I had yet another idea for this design which I'd like to try out. Mask season is about over, though I do sell them all year round at a much slower pace, so I will get the ones that I couldn't get remade in time listed as custom pieces as well. Do you ever get the feeling that I use this blog as a planning and scheduling device? I so do. Oh and one last thing, google alerts, alerted me to this blog in English and Italian I believe featuring my work.

3 comments:

Gina said...

I really like that scallop at the edge. It's great when an idea flows, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Your description of the design process is fascinating, and kind of reminds me of mine. I also start with the written pattern, but then half the time I never finish it because I can't get it to work for me the way the instructions say it should! (At least this is what I do with knitting and crochet; I'm too new to tatting for that, but I suspect it will be the same.)

Tatfully Yours said...

I wish patterns flowed easier with me. I have been try my hand at it and it is not going well. I just want a small, simple little angel to tat up for a craft show and be not the same as what is already out there. Fun wow!! I have to put it a side for a bit and look at it later. (when my headache goes away!!!)