Now that this holiday is here, I'm finding it crunch time for crafty gifts for Christmas. After some thoughts (and tatting while at M's house), I think I'm going to try to make snowflakes and cards for everyone out of state that I know, and finish up the knitted projects that I have going. Oh, and making snowflakes and ornaments to go on my own tree, as well.
I've changed the colors of my tree from Technicolor to black, purple, and silver. M thinks it will look gothic, but I don't think it will.
I've started making the snowflakes, using glass beads to add sparkle. Here's my first two:
The purple is Sharons Merry Christmas Snowflake, and the white is Jon's Hearts in a Snowflake. Both are now finished, but the white needs blocking and stiffening.
Will add both to the 25 motif challenge when I get some better pictures. I don't have an SD card, so I can't take pics with anything but my camera!
And a question. How should one go about stiffening lace? I want to keep the white flake as white as I can for years, but I don't know how.. Should I use glue mixed with water? Starch? Or should I use a spray sealant?
7 comments:
Well, there's a question. I'd personally say NEVER use sugar water, you CAN use pva glue but the best thing of all is to use a tight tension. Well, that's my opinion.
Snowflakes that have spike-y arms that stitck out without any kind of support may need a little help, but snowflakes like the Merry Christmas flake have fat arms that don't need a lot of support so they're OK as is. The 3D snowflakes from my new book were stiffened by applying washable white school glue to a wet snowflake and they're solid enough to stand up on the table. I've never done that before but it looks like it works.
Your snowflakes look great! :)
Thanks ladies!
Jane - I'm usually a tight tatter; this snowflake has a lot of open work in it's design. I had wondered about the sugar water, but living here in the deep south, I thought it'd be too risky (fire ants are bountiful).
Sharon - Your Merry Christmas flake holds up beautifully. It's the Hearts in a Snowflake that I'm having a little bit of trouble with at the moment.
God's Kid - Thanks! ^^
I've had great success with Ailene's Fabric Stiffener (found at JoAnn's), which is similar to a watered down white glue. My snowflake, fans and angel wings are 20 years old, and they still look new. (However, I did not have to stiffen Sharon's Merry Christmas snowflake, tatted with Lizbeth #20.)
My bells and other 3-D items MUST be formed over a styrofoam or plastic shape and definitely need the stiffener
I have a certain technique for keeping the amount of glue to a minimum, and I hope to do a blog post about it.
In the past, tatters didn't have the products we have today, ao they had to use sugar water. I wouldn't recommend using it today.
Love the purple snowflake! Very nice.
As for blocking: I use liquid blocking material from the drugstore, called Nibro. You should add water, but I use it as it comes out of the bottle. The restult is OK.
However, I have been warned NOT to (steam-)iron my pieces, as they might loose their perfectly white colour over the years.. ever heard of that? Any experience? Ingrid
Kathy - I'll keep that in mind. The closest JoAnn's is nearly an hour away, so when I go it's to get fabric that I am in desperate need of. I'll keep an eye out for your blog post!
Tattingrid - Thanks!
I've never heard of it, but I'll see if we have any here. I've never steamed any pieces that were white; all of them have been dyed in either black or bright colors. This sounds like something to try, though. I would like to know about it now..
My mom used to crochet with white thread, so she may have some experience with that. I'll ask her and let you know.
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