TUTORIAL: WORKING thread VS. CORE thread with beads

A few posts back I was playing around with beads and I said I would share what I was doing. If you are a follower of my blog you know my life has been super crazy. But I always keep my promises...even if it takes seemingly forever. So here we go:
This is the first part...(double rows of beads tutorial to come at a later date).


Working Thread VS. Core Thread using beads:


Load up your shuttle with your beads.

In this tutorial all rings are 2double stitches each separated by 7 beads total.

In case you didn't know..(and I didn't know this for a long time) the thread in the ring is called your working thread because it will make up the double stitches. The thread coming from the shuttle is called your core thread because it is the thread that runs through the core of your stitches.

This example shows how beads are added to a ring the "normal" way. It's the way most of us tatters add beads. These beads are brought into the circle of Working thread that makes up the ring.

And this is what a ring looks like when we add beads on the Working thread.

Another way to do it, (and for a completely different look) you can add the beads from the core thread which is coming off of your tatting shuttle. See how the beads being added in this picture are not contained in the circle?

Here is what the rings look like side by side. The ring on the left was tatted with beads from the working thread and the ring on the right was tatted with beads on the core thread.

So of course, the next thing to do would be to mix it up and bring in beads from BOTH the working and the core threads as you can see in this photo.

Although I haven't done it in this example, if you wanted you can even get trickier by having the working thread beads a different color than the core thread beads. Cool eh?

Here are all three rings together.

...and I kept on going with some zany combos until I ran out of beads....if this doesn't give you some new ideas I don't know what will....LOL!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Now you can jazz up your tatting in a new way.

Of course I always love and invite comments, so please don't be shy and just say "hi".

2 Shuttle Tatting Tutorial: Floating Rings

This is #3 for the 25 motif challenge. Tatted in size 20 Apricot Mousse hand dyed silk tatting thread.

You can take a pattern that is normally a shuttle and ball thread pattern and turn it into a two shuttle pattern (in lieu of ball thread you use another shuttle).
Why would you want to do this?
Well it opens up some options like "floating" rings.

Take the above motif for example: Half of the motif is tatted in the regular way (shuttle = rings, ball thread = chains, tat a chain, do NOT reverse work, tat a ring, do NOT reverse work, tat another chain and you get a nice pointy effect).

The other half is tatted by the "thown off" or "floated" ring method.

This concept is easier to demonstrate by using two different color threads.

Shuttle #1 = Yellow thread (Ring)
Shuttle #2= Red thread (Chain)

To "throw off" or "float" a ring you simply use your chain shuttle (#2 in this case) to make your ring instead of using your ring shuttle (#1).

Once you understand and utilize this 2 shuttle tatting method you can "tweak" patterns to suit your personal taste. Pointy verses Round, also if you tat with two different colors you can have control over the placement of your color in pattern.

Another thing to think about is which direction the top your chains are facing. This does make a difference in the shape of your end product. How do you do this? Please visit my Turn Work VS. Reverse Work tutorial.

For future reference all my tutorials can be located in my side bar to the right.

Happy tatting!

Creating your own blog and adding links....

Well,
I've gotten many emails since yesterday and many of you are seeking help with adding links to your blog. My computer has been down all day and this is the first chance I've had to respond.
So here goes:

Maybe you love to read tatting blogs but don't have a blog of your own because computers seem intimidating...well it's easy and here is a video tutorial on how to start your own blog if you want:
http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

For those who have just started a blog and are still learning the ins and outs... here is a video tutorial on how to add links to your blog....like I have in my sidebar.
http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVRlXn9mAs&feature=channel_page

Remember, in order to be in the FREE shuttle drawing you just have to have a link from your blog to mine AND leave a comment on that blog post. That's it! The contest is open until Jan 15 2009.

Thank you to all who have inquired about my finger. Well, I don't want to gross anyone out...but the nail is separating today and it SMARTS! But...it seems to be growing out fast so I don't think it will be painful much longer.

Predict the future / Save your thread: Thread Tutorial

Do you hate not having enough thread on your shuttles when you start a project or having too much thread left over on your shuttle after you complete your project?
I might be able to help you.
I have discovered a way to predict how much thread you will use in a project before you even begin to wind your shuttles. You can do this for any size thread. I've been using this method for awhile and it really works well. This method is especially handy when you want to spare as much of that precious HDT "Hand dyed thread" as possible. You can predict how much HDT (or any thread) you will need to use in project before starting. This is ever so helpful for determining projects, especially those big ones. Also, this method is individualized to your style of tatting whether your tension is tight or loose, you can determine how much thread YOU will use.

Now I would like to share this tip with you!

Please do not get scared away by the math. It really is pretty simple.

Take your ball thread and measure a 12" length of thread. Do not cut.
Mark the thread at the beginning.
Tat 10 double stitches. (See the mark on the thread?)
After tatting 10ds, measure how much thread is left and subtract from 12". In my case it takes 4" of size 20 thread to make 10 stitches. So now I know that for every 10 ds in a pattern I will need 4" of thread.

Let's take this pattern and predict how much size 20 thread we will need to use.
One inner pink ring is 12 ds, so let's multiply 12ds X 6 rings = 72ds
Since 10ds = 4" of thread you can divide 72/10 = 7.2 and multiply that by 4" = 28.8 inches. You'll want to include room for picots, core thread and tails so I would round this up to 1 yard (or 36 inches). So I would wind my shuttle with one yard of pink thread for the inner rings.

Break it down, now let's do the brown thread:

One chain = 16ds, multiply that by 6 chains = 96ds

One ring = 14x6 =84ds

96+84=180ds

180/10=18

18x4=72 inches

72 inches divided by 1 yard (36 inches) = 2 yards

Add a little room (maybe 1 foot) for core thread, picots and tails.

So you'll wind your second shuttle with 2 yards and 1 foot of thread.

Whaddya think? Bloody Brilliant...that's what!

No more wasting thread!

"Reverse Work" vs. "Turn Work" TATTING tutorial

I think this can be a confusing concept for beginner tatters. So I tried to simplify the concepts for you visually.
This example is tatted in the traditional way.



Reverse Work "RW" means to flip from top to bottom.




Turn Work "TW" means to turn like a page in a book...from right to left.

Notice how the chain turned directions. I use a lot of TW's in my patterns.


Here's a bonus picture showing a "floating ring". If Orange is Shuttle #1 and green is shuttle #2 (in lieu of ball thread), you can use shuttle #2 to throw off rings.

Unwinding Hand Dyed Tatting Thread: Tutorial

I asked Clyde to post his HDT unwinding method and he graciously did. Thank you Clyde!
I had planned to post this for awhile but you know how life gets in the way. Suzanne really prompted me to finally share this, so here it is.

This is the way I unwind skeins of hand dyed thread.



I start with a pillow that will comfortably sit in my lap. The more texture the pillow has the better to hold the thread.

I then undo the skein until it looks like this.

There will be two ends that have thread ties holding the skeins together. You can go ahead and cut these or untie them. On my skeins one of these thread ties will always be close to the start/end thread.

Untie the start/end thread and wind onto your choice of spool. I use these floss winder cards. These cards work well, and it is an easy way to keep all my personal HDT on a ring for future use.

Finally, I take one of the ends, (The closest one to the top of the pile of threads) and I unwind by hand all the thread onto the card holder. This method keeps everyting tidy and tangle free. If you have a different method I would love to hear it. It's facinating to see how people approach things differently.

This is what a 50 yrd skein of size 20 HDT looks like on a card holder. I do the same thing with other sizes of tatting thread.

Josephine "Spiral" Chain Tutorial

This is the way I do Josephine or "Spiral" chains and I thought I would share it. It is very simple and the results are very nice. The books I have read state that you should use the first half of the double stitch over and over to create the chain. I prefer to use the second half of the double stitch and I drop the shuttle every 5 stitches to make a nice uniform twist.

As you can see in this first photo. I used my method for the first 15 stitches or so then I did the middle section of 20 stitches where I did NOT drop the shuttle. As you can see, the stitches are all bunched up and are not very attractive. I then resumed using my tatting method.

This photo shows the location where I drop the shuttle every five stitches. I then pick up the shuttle and resume the process.

Finally, this photo is an example of what I would consider to be a good Josephine treatment.

I think a lot of people shy away from using this simple stitch because if done improperly it doesn't look very attractive. But now you know a simple little trick to make it look really nice.

Side note: Josephine chains are done by (encapsulation, reverse tatting, unflipped stitch). These are some of the different names used for the same method.