The making of a Couture necklace…Teeny Tat Chic

Introducing my latest Snappy Couture design…Teeny Tat Chic.

I had an idea of tons of brilliant, beaded flowers in a long strand with random beading throughout. Something modern and delicate in appeal with multiple colors blending together to make one lovely strand. Little did I know how amazingly labor intensive this was going to be!

I began by choosing some of my favorite colors for the cordonnet; salmon, peach, Victorian red, grey, charcoal and black. As I went though my beads I found I had many coordinating colors and styles in my stash. The beading includes; 2 and 3mm Hematite rounds, red Mountain Jade, Czech pressed glass in garnet and AB coated pink, Celestial crystal rondelles in dark and bright red, glass fringe beads in black and AB coated amber, and wee seed beads in pewter, AB coated pink, orange-red, clear, dark berry and purple, plus silver-lined gunmetal, clear, bright red and gold. And I may have missed a couple!

I beaded each individual strand with over 100 beads wound on my shuttle for each of the six strands. As I worked, I unwound  the shuttle, pulled up beads to my working hand and rewound the shuttle. I did this over and over, which is the main reason I had no idea it was going to take so long to make! I added large beads surrounded by seeds knotted in place between each tiny flower. The Teeny Tat flowers are all 8 picot rings with a shimmery seed bead in each picot. Every strand has 10-12 tiny flowers with beads knotted into the cord between. I hope all of that makes sense!

All strands are tatted together by large rings at the beginning so I was able to hang the work from a hook on my drafting table.

Next I wound the strands together two at a time and then loosely braided the three combined strands.

I took all six of the free ends and rewound them onto shuttles so I could tat connected rings on the end to make the braiding permanent.

I hand sewed all the loose tails back into the end rings.

Using smooth Sterling plated ribbon ends, chain and a lobster clasp I was able to turn this unique chain of Teeny Tat flowers and over 700 beads into an Opera length twisted necklace.

This Snappy Couture design was created over several days. It is a one-of-a-kind necklace that I couldn’t replicate exactly if I wanted to!

After all of the work, the beading, the tatting and the finishing, I am very happy with the result of a chic and feminine necklace that measures an elegant 24.5″ long.

You can find it in my Snappy Couture section of my online shop. My Couture line is some of my most labor intensive one-of-a-kind work. Some pieces are elegantly glamorous and some designs are tributes to nature with leaves, flowers and butterflies combined into wearable art.

The direct link to Teeny Tat Chic with more pics and specifications: here.

I am already thinking of another Teeny Tat Chic in shades of brown with turquoise and blue beading. Maybe in a shorter length.
But right now I am working on another Couture design that will have my new Rose pattern in it. Should be stunning!

I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my process!

Cheers!

Jennifer

Teeny Tat Chic © 2012 Jennifer Kohr

(All Snappy Couture designs, Snappy Tatter original designs and their names are covered by copyright laws and are not available for reproduction. My blog posts are not intended to be a tutorial for reproduction of my work, just an inside look into the process of creating my work-thank you for understanding.)