Saturday, April 21, 2018

The wheat bracelet

I haven't blogged so much, but I have been tatting quite a bit. Most of it is still waiting to be blocked though, so pictures will come later.

I have been making a lot (three, so a lot for me!) of "wheat" bracelets. The pattern is pretty simple, all rings with bare thread between them. I just made all rings the same size, so the bracelet would be straight, instead of curving in on itself.

I had long since avoided making anything with bare thread, afraid that it would look strange or uneven. But small seed beads can help with the measurement, so I didn't have to worry about the length of the bare threads, since they weren't exactly bare anymore.

I used yellow glassy seed beads and bright yellow thread (Coats Aida size 15, now rebranded as Anchor Aida), which made me think of wheat in summer. Thus, the name.

I first made a pair of earrings for a friend, with two rings on each side and one on top to hold them together, but I didn't manage to snap a picture of them.

Then came a bracelet, which I gave to my mom.

I did my best to colour balance it. It is a very bright and happy yellow.

I am very happy with the adjustable closure. Until then, I had tried lobster clasps with chain end (too fiddly to put on by yourself) or S closures (could come undone easily and not adjustable). But this works very nicely to put on and adjust to the wrist thickness. I followed a very nice tutorial on square knots on Youtube.

Mom loved it and so far, I have made two more, one in grey silk, the other in yellow again. I still need to block them and add the closures and I'm sure I am keeping one for myself. Maybe make the matching earrings again too.