Project: Inspired by Lady Gaga

Was blogging about internet trends the other day and with Lady Gagao on top of the list, I visited her official website.I instantly fell in love with her front page image! She was wearing a crochet mask!

webshot of Lady Gaga's website

Inspired by the Pop Diva, I started crocheting a new necklace...

looks too plain...

Here's another study...

looks ok but still lacks something...

And another...

still not as extravagant as the inspiration...

Will continue experimenting on this. I just have to make a Lady Gaga inspired necklace!

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Project: Carmen

Really really, loved this shade of yellow and with this color only one person comes to mind: Mrs. Peña (my boss' wife)! Ma. del Carmen O. de Peña, she is one of the phenomenal women I am privileged to have in my life. At 80 years old, she's still a workaholic, running a Forbes Park home and 2 demanding companies of their family corporation on a daily basis. Mrs. Peña was one of the original ATOM (August Twenty-One Movement) members who rallied in Ayala during the Marcos dictatorship. One of the walls of our Executive Office is a homage to her fighting spirit: it dons shadow boxes of Ninoy Aquino funeral buttons, Cory Aquino 1986 Presidential campaign materials, gas masks used during the EDSA revolution and even Noynoy Aquino campaign paraphernalia!

Mrs. Peña's collection of yellow paraphernalia

That's why whenever I thought of yellow, it's Mrs. Peña whom I think about. So here's a project in progress in honor of a tough but sweet lady!

was thinking of making a garland of some sorts

had to make a temporary frame so I could visualize the pattern

Will post the finished product here probably by the end of this week!

*** All photos here are owned by Milli Reyes.

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Project: Ms. STI 2010 Crown for Ever Bilena...Finished!

From my last post, I mentioned that we were commissioned by Ever Bilena through my dear friend Mr. Onin Mas to make a crochet beauty pageant crown for their Ms. STI contest.

My sister and I were so excited by this unique endeavor that we didn't mind losing a couple of nights' sleep over it! Below is the finished product and I believe it was a very successful collaboration :-)

Cha finished putting the loops together and sewing on the Swarovski

But she thought the highest loop looked too plain

Added a Dorset button as she suggested

rear view

voila! this finished product!

can't wait for the winner to wear the crown!

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Project: Ms. STI 2010 Crown for Ever Bilena

Once again, my dear friend Onin, after having some of our necklaces featured in a fashion magazine spread, commissioned me to create a one-of-a-kind crochet crown for a beauty pageant that their company Ever Bilena sponsors annually. It was a crochet challenge but one that really got me excited! 

My sister Cha and I did some "cyber brainstorming", exchanging design ideas via yahoo messenger and these were some of the sketches and images we considered:

nice pink touches

Really liked the upper left one: simple yet glamorous

Copper wire twisted into frame by Cha

Bought this roll of silver cord and used it to
crochet over the copper wire Cha made

We started experimenting with the frame of the crown and found that copper wire is the best with its malleability. Was afraid that the wire might loose its shape but Cha made it sturdy by entwining 2 wires together.

More updates as the project progresses...

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Inspiration:Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

http://www.flickr.com/photos/genista/

Always on the look out for project inspiration, I came across this marvelous picture of corals---crochet corals! The patterns, especially the curves of the crochet was so beautiful and so realistic, I just had to make them right there and then!

Searching on the internet for the pattern, I found out that the hyperbolic crochet here is actually a geometric model of a hyperbolic space, developed by Dr Daina Taimina, a mathematician at Cornell University. For centuries mathematicians and physicists have struggled to make actual models of the hyperbolic space and although there were some efforts made, most were failures especially the ones made out of paper which could hardly retain the shape and easily disintegrated. Dr. Taimina, a mathematician and a handicrafter, thought of using crochet and the very first hyperbolic crochet was made. For more of the fascinating story on this you can check this article on Dr. Taimina by the New York Times as posted at the Institute for Figuring website. Many thanks to Anna Mayer of the IFF for permission to use in my blog some of the information from their website.

You may also check the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef website at http://crochetcoralreef.org/about/index.php for more pictures and crochet inspiration. 

Below are the finished product of my imagination inspired by the hyperbolic crochet. I made earrings! They look so dainty and the curves reminded me so much of graceful ballet dancers that I named these pirouette. If you want to own a pair, you may purchase beginning on August 15, 2010 at my online store http://millicentmelissa.multiply.com (at the moment, only for Philippine buyers). 

Pirouette in Yellow

Pirouette in Lavander

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Inspiration: Romantic Flowers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55948751@N00/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rufino_uribe/

Was looking for some inspiration when I came across these lovely pictures of roses and I just had to make them into crochet! After searching, I found this easy to follow crochet rose pattern from Anjie's blog http://www.pompomemporium.com/ 

The roses were originally set with earclips but then my ears got pinched so hard by the clips that I remade them with earposts instead. 

I think I'm gonna make more earrings in more radiant colors :-)

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millicentmelissa featured in Philippine Star!

A million thanks to my dear, dear friend and partner-in-crime during our BLI days Onin Mas, Marketing Manager of Ever Bilena Cosmetics, millicentmelissa got it's first media exposure on Philippine Star's Allure Section!

Fashionista Carole Cuasay donned the Corals Revamped crochet necklace here.

For more on the article, you can view it here.

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Project: Corals Revamped

Corals---first creation

Was practicing my crochet with some circles and lining them up gave me this idea of a necklace. The beautiful red color reminded me of corals thus the name. But despite the striking color, I though that the necklace lacked "oomph"! So I decided to make improvements and initially made some studies first

Corals Revamped---- study 1

The first study, although looked promising made me think of an Aztec design. Nice but not exactly what I had in mind. Will probably use that Aztec design in another project.

And here's the final product. Really love, love this since it's in my favorite color. I remembered watching a documentary on Harry Winston and found it funny that he would always have a hard time letting go of one of his diamond masterpieces because he cherished them so much. My creations may not be as expensive as diamonds but I sure love them!

corals revamped---final

Update: Corals revamped was featured on the Allure Section of Philippine Star thanks to my dear friend and Marketing Manager of Ever Bilena, Mr. Onin Mas! Check out the link here!

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Tutorial: Understanding Crochet Patterns and Diagrams

http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/

Crocheters usually refer to patterns or diagrams when starting a project. Patterns are worded instructions, using abbreviations of the stitches while diagrams use symbols to represent the stitches.

There are less than 10 most commonly used abbreviations in a crochet pattern so they're not that hard to remember. Below is a list you could refer to:
ch      chain
sc      single crochet
dc     double crochet
hdc    half double crochet
tr       triple (in UK it's called treble) crochet
sl st   slip stitch
sk     skip
dec   decrease
inc     increase                

For a more comprehensive list of abbreviations, check out this one from the Lion Brand website.

Stitch Diva has a complete list of crochet symbols used in diagrams here.

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