Well Happy Birthday to me! This past March 23rd marked the beginning of my 40th year on this earth and I thought I would make myself something special to commemorate the occasion. I have been wanting to work with watches for awhile. There are always so many ideas on my list. So I decided to treat myself to a functional piece of fiber art. I did not take photos as I worked like I do with some of my more expansive projects but I have loads of pics of the finished work. I will instead explain the steps it took to create my new watch while I show the photo galleries.

This began with a silver grey base of tight, small, tatted rings that were connected across both the width and length. It is a split ring pattern I call Pulse. On both sides of the watch face are additional tatted rings that connect Sterling jumprings to the watch. The grey tatting stops at the face, splits to attach to the face and then continues under the watch to attach at the other side and continue on around the wrist. Sound tricky? Yeah, a wee bit. 🙂

I added a ruffle to the edge using half of my Daisy Chain pattern which is a continuous pattern of flower petals. Dark gold seed beads were tatted into medium charcoal cord. Already I was feeling something glamorous but organic developing. After I was finished with the first side, I decided to hold off on the second side until I worked more. Ultimately, I liked the ruffle around my wrist but did not want to detract from the floral vine too much so I left the other side straight. I am a huge fan of ruffles and lace, go figure.

Next I added the olive green vine. With heavier size 10 cordonnet, I used my vine pattern to create the design. I tatted connections into the gray bracelet pattern through the leaves and the turns of the vine. This watch base was becoming very sturdy and much of the stretch was reducing with added layers making it very important that it was the appropriate length from the beginning.

To further anchor the vine, I whip-stitched a light mocha cord around it and through the original bracelet base. I chose the light mocha to subdue the olive color a little making the work more earthy.

Next the sweet little size 80 Teeny Tat flowers are added. Each is individually hand sewn into the work with a brilliant Swarovski crystal sewn into the center. The colors are some of my most favorite, salmon, brick, peach and very light orange. These little delights cup up around the crystals. Love, love, love it!

Now that most of the fiber artwork is finished (and days have passed), I needed to create a base that was durable, firm, and easily cared for. I needed to finish the watch in a way that it could be worn for a very long time. I want it to wear like steel. I began by attaching the silver Pulse base to the back cover of the watch with permanent resin. I can actually pull the back free with the bracelet attached to change the battery if need be. Small green leaves were permanently secured to the watch face, further securing it. And leaves were added to the sides creating a cup around the entire watch. I was able to remove some of the Sterling jumprings so the remaining rings were more discreet.

The final finishing was attaching the base ribbon and hardware. I used olive organdy ribbon to show some sparkle through the design. And under the the olive is a more substantial ribbon of shiny silver to make the tatted silver rings “pop”. The ribbons were discreetly stitched to the tatting. Sterling and gunmetal jewelry components completed the watch. I love my watch and I wear it all the time!

There you have it. My favorite new creation, the Garden Watch. It took many days to develop and finish and was well worth the time. I hope you have enjoyed my new work!

Live, Love, Tat!

Jennifer

The Garden Watch © 2013 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 and not attempting to reproduce my work.)