Skills required: shuttle tatting, tatting with beads, up and down joins.
Small reminder for the ones liking a neat finish, no twisted picots. Never fight against the thread. This always can punish sooner or later. Better learn the right technique than making compromises to the quality of your lace. Not even when worked "for fun". Yes, I've been told this one too: "We do not work at an academic level, just for fun."
· Up join - marked with + in the pattern (the regular one, the one we learn at the beginning) will make that the ring you are working lay under the rings already worked. Reason: the thread you pull from the left hand to make the joining loop brings the worked ds from underneath the work. You will pass the shuttle also from down towards up.
· Down join - marked with * in the written pattern: when you pull the thread to make the join, the worked ds are on top of the previous rings anyway and the shuttle passes from left to right ON TOP of the work, so this ring will remain on top.
That simple.
There you go for the pattern.
1 shuttle project.
Material needed: thread of your choice (my Penny 30 gave me a 2,5 cm long earring), 28 seed beads (29 for the daring variant, with the tatted in crystal). Beads of your choice for the finish.
Shuttle, beading threader, fine crochet hook, scrissors, needle (for the finish). Magic thread trick is beautiful, but maybe you would like to place 1 bead and then hide the thread.
All the picots will be very small picots.
Basic pattern:
8 rings worked in the given order.
R1: 5 - 5 - 10, cl, dnt
R2: 10 + (to R1) 20 - 10, cl, dnt
R3: 10 + (to R2) 5 - 5, cl, dnt
R4: 5 + (to R3) 10 - 5, cl, dnt
R5: 5 + (to R4) 5 - 10, cl, dnt
R6: 10 + (to R5) 15 - 10, cl, dnt
R7: 10 * (up join to R6) 5 - 5, cl, dnt
R8: 5 + 10 + (folded join to R7) 5 cl, cut thread.
The beaded variant requires the use of the beads. Known already: 3 beads in the loop for the ring, 1 from the shuttle to form this diamond (marked dbp in the pattern). All rings will start with those 3 beads in the left hand, except the ring 6. Feel free to change it if you prefer it.
String on the shuttle 28 beads.
R1: 5 - 5 dbd 1 - 11, cl, dnt
R2: 11 + (to R1) 10 dbp 10 - 11, cl, dnt
R3: 11 + (to R2) 1 dbp 5 - 5, cl, dnt
R4: 5 + (to R3) 5 dbp 5 - 5, cl, dnt
R5: 5 + (to R4) 5 dbp 1 - 11, cl, dnt
R6: 11 + (to R5) 15 - 11, cl, dnt
R7: 11 * (up join to R6) 1 dbp 5 - 5, cl, dnt
R8: 5 + 5 dbp 5 + (folded join to R7) 5 cl, cut thread.
Now, you are ready to embellish your earring as it pleases you.
For the daring ones, I tell how I worked my earring. Not a big thing, bit it requires a bit of patience during the work. I like challenges so I tatted in my crystal. I placed all my seed beads on the shuttle and also the crystal blocked with a seed bead, like for the free stamen for the Sakura patern.
The beads sequence to fill the shuttle is: 25 seed beads, this crystal with the seed bead blocker, 3 seed beads.
Start from the ring 2 with the 3 seed beads and the crystal + blocker in the loop. When the ring will be closed, the cristal will remain trapped at the base of the ring. Then you must tat the ring 3... In this case you should not have any folded join. Only take care about the placement of the layered rings.
Have fun. For any questions I am always around.
Happy tatting.
