Pumpkin orange broomstick lace scarf

Here's another peacock eye or broomstick lace scarf I made. I used Caron yarn for this which has a pretty sheen to it and is absolutely soft.
Hope you like this one. It adds that punch of color and I enjoy seeing my daughter wear it and it so defines the attire with which it is worn.
Until next time lots of love to you
Shanti

Red heart shimmer yarn broomstick lace scarf

Here is another scarf I made with red heart shimmer. You can see the tiny specks of shimmer here. It is absolutely gorgeous. I have alternated rows of broomstick lace with double crochet and it produces a different texture indeed.
Hope you like this
Lots of love until next time
Shanti

Bernat baby coordinates yarn broomstick scarf

Here is the broomstick lace scarf I made with Bernat baby yarn. I love this yarn. This lace is also called the peacock eye lace. Takes a long time to weave but is pretty.
Hope you like it. This blog and all of the contents showcase only my work and it is almost like a journal of my art work. A hobby since I was a 12 year old has continued to stay with me! My daughter uses this scarf and it really looks pretty.
Until next time goodbye and keep smiling
Lots of love
Shanti

Sparrow art

Made this porcelain and clay sparrow with several layers of clay and texturing on it. It took me several days, and reassures that God who takes care of even the sparrows, certainly has his eye upon us, and cares and provides for us who are of more value than sparrows.
Notice the wing that I designed with a very eastern flavor. The comments section under anonymous option is working fine.. Do leave a comment for me
Until next time
Shanti

Nativity

Made this figurine of Mary and baby Jesus and this measures 2.5 inches. No paints used. It remind me of my child tugging my hair when she was a baby and hence crafted it this way. The piece sits well on a table or shelf. Made this with mixture of various clays.
Until next time
Shanti

Burlap and designing yarn bags

Here is a yarn tote I made with all organizers and lanyards designed for ease of use. You see a rice bag that forms one of the best sources for burlap. Also seen are my camera tripod and my needle box, and pens and my other tools are inside. You also see a crochet handle for my scissors and a USB drive holder, with a burnt hold fastener. My laptop mini fits into this tote as well. A easy carry tote for all my yarn stuff, and am pleased with it. Rice bags from India are great jute burlap bags that can be up cycled.
Until next time, lots of love
Shanti

Froggies

Here are my froggies hanging out with the lady bug ...
Made by hand and looks like they are just getting ready to go for a party!
Lots of love
Shanti

Chilly spice and crystal bracelet and tips for making

Here's a crystal crochet bracelet I made in silver .. And looked spicy placed on the red chillies for a nice picture:

Tips to crochet with wire:
Protect your fingers ... Mine has become quite weathered with handling wire... It cuts into the skin easily.
Plan and measure well in advance as frogging or ripping to undo is not possible.. You will have to get it right the first time.. Else trash the piece as redid with metal wire is not possible. And they are expensive too!! Add the crystals etc also in advance by laying them down using a jewelry designing board, to plan the order you would like.
Until next time
Lots of love
Shanti

Peacock eye lace and peacock

The broomstick lace is also called the peacock eye lace, and I simply love to crochet this.. In this piece I have combined buttons with a wrist hugger bracelet that I made with the broomstick lace and made three strands of chains for the necklace with a granny square as a focal pendant adorned with a peacock I made set in copper swirls.
The beauty of the dancing peacocks while serenading is so very beautiful indeed. Cotton blue yarn gives this piece the peacock blue beauty.
Hope you like this one.
Until next time
Lots of love
Shanti

Roses so real....

Hello lovely people
I was making this rose focal pendant with my own mix of colors and materials. On the table in a vase pretty fresh flowers kept me company. There was a rose in there too. Smells do make a lot of difference in the designing and creating process. The sense of smell touch sight and sound all come together into the fingers. This one is so real it was simply not my fingers alone. It was God working through my fingers!! Looking at my fingers now it looks so weathered with so much crocheting, piano playing, cooking, cleaning, care giving and claying. So any creation of anything beautiful is just not physical accomplishment for my fingers.... It is certainly spiritual and beautiful.
Here is my rose and the rose that inspired me...
Lots of love
Shanti

Colorless buttons

Sewing buttons to suit the fabric is important. Here I have sewn crystal transparent buttons that are colorless to focus more on the fabric texture and design. Often times buttons take our attention off the fabric. Colorless ones go with any fabric and this one adds the extra sparkle too.
Cotton fabrics are cool for summer, and sure it is getting hotter by the day.

Hope you have been keeping well
Lots of love
Shanti

Pretty peony in sequence

Enjoy the pictures of the peony as taken today and from what she was just when she was breaking the soil and pushing herself out of the earth..
Lots of love to you
Shanti

Crochet heart ear drops with method of making it

Hello lovely people
Just made these earrings with a pearl, to suit the hairpin and broomstick lace triangular bridal shower wrap I made.
Here is the method I used for the earrings.
Choose yarn to go with the apparel. Take a pair of ear findings. You will get them in any art supply store as Joann's or Michaels. You will need two pearl beads, six 11/0 glass seed beads in gold color, two pin head findings to thread the pearl and three glass beads on, and two jump rings for the heart to be fastened to the ear finding. Tools of course.
Start with a magic ring with yarn and work into the ring always.. two chains in the ring to count as one DC.
One DC into ring.
Three triple crochet into ring
Three DC into ring
Two triple crochet into ring
Chain one for a very narrow tip or chain two for a little wider tip for the heart bottom part ( the tip .. The V part of the heart) I usually use one chain but since I needed some space to hang the pearl used two chains here.
Two triple crochet now into ring
Three DC into ring
Three triple crochet into ring
One DC into ring
Chain two to count as one DC
Slip stitch into ring
Now pull the ring ends tight until the heart takes shape.. And no ring gap is seen.
Fasten off and pull the ends tight and darn in the edges.
Now add the findings.
DC is double crochet! Vary the thread and pearls etc to match your dress.
Bye now till we meet again
Lots of love
Shanti

My music book

Lovely people, how have you been?
Do you love music?
I do. I am a pianist myself, and learnt the piano from age 7.
I love all the teachers who taught me. I was trained under world famous musicians, namely Sir Handel Manuel, George Harris, and Gita Menon, and Mr Menezes.
All four of them are in heaven now and must be making great music there.
These are two creations designed and created by me the treble and the bass clef and are in tribute to my teachers back in India.
Until we meet again
Lots of love
Shanti

Piano keyboard

Hello lovely people
I am sooooooo happy I a pianist besides being an artist. Music inspires me. The black and white keys are so smooth and soothing and harmonious ...
Sharing this tiny creation, a tiny keyboard for you. This baby keyboard is sitting on the mother keyboard. Love it. I have graduated from the Trinity College of Music London in Pianoforte and so love my keys.
Bye now
Lots of love
Shanti

Baby shower rose mommy set

Hello lovely people,
I have just made a rose flower set with a bracelet necklace and ear drops with my handmade roses. My laptop mini is not working too well and blogging from the phone with one finger typing is slower!!
This is for a baby shower gift for a mom to be expecting a girl baby ..
This goes with the baby cardigan and baby blanket that I crocheted. So there is plenty of crochet in here!! Integrated with my rose flower creations. Getting two roses alike for the earrings is a challenge as I do not use moulds .. Have not used paints either. The necklace chain is with gold thread from Germany. It's beautiful. All pieces are with gold plated metal wire.
Have used a few pearls and crystals too into this piece. Looks bridal too!!
Here is the picture. Do hop on to my face book page and visit too.
Leave a comment for me!!
Lots of love
Shanti

Living Well

 

 

Welcome to the Living Well !!  This is a place to share my art stories by the well,  with fun and fellowship for families and individuals. Thanks for visiting my blog and enjoying my art stories.  Let's journey together as I blog along, getting inspired, designing,  weaving,  writing, and drawing from the well plenty of creative art.

Hope you are enjoying your journey, 

Lots of love

Shanti





Sunshine on my shoulders..

Hello precious people,

The joy of walking around barefoot with the sound of my anklets praising and joining my heart in joyous applause to the Hand of the Creator was precious indeed.   I love my pretty skirt and my traditional eastern silver anklet. A mix of the east and west indeed!!
Once in a way I wear it just to hear the bells ring akin the reindeer's bells on the snow!!
Come walk with me to see the lilly...

Lillies dancing in the wind set my  heart rejoicing.

Soft flowers, long shadows with the setting sun, refreshing breeze, and watching the baby fox  play near the shed on the velvety grass was breathtaking...and so full of life.
 You can see two of these babies peeping in this picture near the shed.

Every fibre in nature was praising God.  With my feet that can walk and feel, eyes that can see, and nose that can smell there was  so much  to thank God for. Crocheting watching and immersing in the goodness of nature is so very inspiring indeed..

Hope you have been keeping well.  Keep smiling.
Lots of love
Shanti

 

Hairpin or Maltese lace loom shawl Pattern

Hello lovely people,

How have you been?  Thanks for visiting.  I was pondering over  the origin of the hairpin lace and it brought a smile indeed when my  thought travelled all the way back to  the ladies in India who use the hairpin. I have used it too, a couple of times, to put up my hair for festive occasions and I did own pretty ones with embelishments at the tip of the hairpin, and have seen pretty ones that jingle too, with tiny silver bells,  but do not have one to show you now.  Some women have it made in gold and some in silver. However I happened to read  a lovely article written about it by a lovely person with a picture of a hairpin therein that you may want to see and read here. Indian Hairpin

HERE'S MY FINISHED HAIRPIN LACE SHAWL
For a pattern of hairpin broomstick lace shawl click HERE

The origin of this hairpin lace is not known to me, but I have read that it was used in ancient times by women in Europe who had used the hairpin as  a  frame to make a lace by winding the yarn around it,  that therefore the technique came to be known by its name as the "hairpin" lace. The yarn thus wrapped  around the pin is  crocheted into pretty lace. It is also called the Maltese or the Portugese lace. Another name given to this is the "fork" lace. (Yes it does resemble the tuning fork of the piano, that I am aware of as a pianist myself....Oh how I love to play on the piano...isn't it amazing how I have music and the tuning fork embeddeed into my crochet art as well!!). The hairpin as you would have seen in the picture is shaped as a U akin a prong.
This takes my mind to the awesome drive up the Western Ghats in Southern India where the mountains have several "hairpin" bends and one such beautiful mountain  has as much as 40 hairpin bends!! I remember the soft cool white clouds brushing me with every hairpin bend climb....A hairpin is therefore two parallel lines held together in a U shape. Well the sudden turn in every corner in these bends does cause nausea for me..as much as sea sickness everytime I sail!!

MY SHAWL LOOKS LIKE  PRETTY SHELLS STRAIGHT FROM THE OCEAN BED...IT IS  STRAIGHT FROM MY DRAWING BOARD AND LOOM...!!

I am amazed at the origin of names of crochet  techniques, for example the Broomstick lace or the Jiffy lace or the Peacock Eye lace that I crochet often, was named the Broomstick lace because women  in those days after their days work with their  broom sat down in their porch, end of the day, and wrapped pieces of yarn around the  broom handle in their hands, and crochet the loops thus formed into lace. This came to be known as the broomstick lace which is used with a large knitting needle to serve as the handle of the broomstick.  There are more posts on this Broomstick lace in my blog one such is here.

THE HAIRPIN LACE I MADE  SHAWL GOES WELL WITH THIS RUGGED TEXAN HAT AND BOOTS...WILL GO WELL WITH ANYTHING I GUESS!

Back to the hairpin, it certainly is ancient and Victorian. I love to uncover the ancient and integrate that with the modern, and this piece here is therefore an interplay of ancient crochet technique with a spice of the modern. The result is a vibrant play of colors and is akin wrapping oneself with a rainbow..... It is light lacy and large and with luminance wrapped within every strand... Hairpin lace is said to have come into America from Europe. Although the origin is unknown, mention of this technique has been made around the late 1800s that refers to this technique as old fashioned, at that time and so certainly it should have been somewhere around maybe the 13th or 14th century. I have worked with this Hairpin prong as a child, that is shaped like a U. The one that I started working on was made by Pony. Pony is a versatile craft and art store who manufactures the best art supplies. You can see them on facebook here. The one I made this shawl with is with the loom manufactured by Boye you can see the picture here, that comprise of two parallel metal rods held with  plastic clamps,with adjustable widths. 

...GIVES AN  OPEN AND LACY EFFECT AND IS DELICATE AS WELL AS ROOMY..



THIS IS A CLOSE UP FOR YOU..

THIS IS A VIEW OF MY LOOM WEAVING IN PROCESS:


                           

Working on the loom is so comforting with the rythm that it creates in flipping the loom back and forth. It is akin to me playing the piano in octaves. In the octave position my left hand fingers with which I hold the loom has to stretch to grasp the loom almost as if I was stretching my fingers to hit an octave. The rythym is akin the rocking of a  fabric hanging cradle.    In my experience this has by far been the most relaxing because of the rythym that it creates. I shall write another post more on the making of this lace, and in the meantime  please do leave a comment for me here,  I would love to hear from you.
Lots of love
Shanti