Ribbon flowers

This is for you. The solution I found for a tatting riddle.
There are more of them, for sure. I mentally tatted 3 of them, I tested only one.
There you go.
All you need: 2 shuttles, one filled with ribbon, the other one with thread, crochet hook. Scissors. Forgot about them.
I will not make any pattern I will just "show the way" how to do it. The rest is up to you to adjust.
I worked with organza 0,5 mm wideribbon and 20 Penny polyester thread.
Why organza? because it has a fine texture. Any other ribbon for embroidery would do it.
Make a gauge for the ribbon. I made mine of 1 cm.

You will make only chains. 

Take the gauge and make witht he ribbon the inner petal. Roll right  1 or 2 times the thread at the base of this petal. Remove the gauge, take the shuttle with the organza thread and start tatting the chain. Careful not to diform the measured ribbon. And I strongly advice you to snug in time. You cannot tighten this chain after some ds.  

 

When you reach the upper part of the inner petal, you make a Catherine Wheel join, so the organza ribbon remains a continous thread trapped in the join. 

 

Finish the chain. 

You will join the 2 sides of this chain to form the ring with the thread from the roll part you did when you started the petal. secure this join and then make a slt with the ribbon. Start over. 

Hope it helps. It is not so wasy to get it nice from the first try, but it works! Have fun. 

Pattern Sakura

For a tatting exhibition in Japan, organized by the Romanian Embassy in Tokio, I made a hair comb using the symbol of the Sakura.

The pattern is, again, not the important element here, but the technique, the way I made those little beads to make the floating stamen.

In order to do this you need to prepare your beads, a beading needle or simply something to allow you to pass a second time through the beads. I use just my guitar string, I think you saw it in action several times. 

Material needed: seed beads of your choice, stringing tool (dental floss, beading needle, your choice), 5 paper clips. 

1 Shuttle and ball (CTM). 

Technical difficulties: none! Just a nice mock picot and lock joins. Manipulating the beads and making clean lock joins is task enough.   

The Sakura has 5 petals, sou you will need to string 10 stamen on the shuttle and keep aside the beads for 5 others which you will string while you work. 

Preparing the beads: 

	Before filling the shuttle, prepare the stamen as follows:  string the beads for 1 stamen.
	pass the beading needle through the beads except the last one.
	Snug. Done. Prepare to make the next 10 ones.

Fill the shuttle with these stamen on. Group them by 2, leave some space in between them so you can use them when you need it and still have thread to work the needed ds. Do not cut the thread. 

The central stamen will be a long beaded picot secured with paper clip, so make sure you have all the material ready. 

Start ring with all the stamen in the loop.

Working sequence: repeat 5 times: 3 ds stamen 1 ds beaded picot with paper clip 1ds stamen 3 ds picot. 

The central part is done, you have all the elements ready. 

Note: 

· Patience is needed to manipulate those beads (stamen), but it is easy: just take the upper one and move it... 

· Try to avoid beads with cutting edges.  

Next step: all chains and lock joins. I used sequences of 15 ds, but please, adjust them to fit your needs. I choose not to make any join between the chain, I like the way the petals just superpose. You can use the Catherine Wheel join, but I prefered to interrupt the core thread, to have a nice angle. 

In the picture of the comb, you have 3 different ways to use those stamen. 

Left one: long beaded picot. Simple. 

Middle: you have now already the directions. 

Right: 1 stamen used as a bead at the base of the ring. It is working and the beauty is that it can be done not to lay flat. 

Hope this helps. 

Have fun tatting. 

Tattings versatility

This what I like in tatting. This versatility. If one dares, of course. And this is what I always try to tell to anyone asking for hints: dare to be original, change a colour, do different combinations. Alter a bit. You will may not change to too much to be entitled to tell: "This is my pattern", but this little piece will have your signature. And will make you proud.
I revisited this pattern, from the stud earrings:

And I tried some finishing ideas.

 

If is absolutelly the same pattern, the same elements used. Except the 6 agat beads (2 mm), added to the inner element (sewed in). 

Also same one. This time I sewed the coral beads and the Toho 15.0 rocailles. And yes, you must sew the inner beads, there no way you can properly work the rings and add the beads as they are added.

By far, may favourite is this one:

Same basic pattern. Changed from 4 beads to 3 beads in between rings. This does not make it a new pattern. I added the outer chains, like for the beaded flower here:

Combining the 2 together, this may be an original? Nope. You can still point to to the originals. So again, no new pattern. But I got out from the boredom of working over and over the same thing. 

The pattern for this one? hard to give it to you. With my Penny 30 and my 11 Toho beads: 7 lj, 6, lj, 7, lj, 7 lj... and so on. Lock join between the beads as you see in the image. 

Just have fun if you dare ;) Just dare!

Happy tatting. 

1 shuttle bracelet, beads all around.

I avoid Pinterest, even though I have an account. I pin in there only in some boards (my ideas to tat and the art board). I do not delete de other ones because this would cause to many broken links...
But this does not mean that I do not spend a good amount of time in front of the PC starring at patterns. I don't know you, but since some time I discovered how clever were the creators of the antique patterns. How they solved some problem, how they invented new methods or techniques. I cannot thank enough Sue for 2 excellent books, both teasing my curiosity.
And this is how I got to this idea: what if I can make a beaded chain with 1 shuttle? And then combine this element with rings. I experimentes with dead ends, (yes, they work with 1 shuttle only), chains in the middle of the work finishing where they want to (encapsulating, padding... you name it). There is nothing a shuttle with thread cannot do. Some solutions are simple, some come from riddles but what would be tatting without a bit of riddles?

The first attempt was this one. All rings. No chain at all. 

Pattern? I give it to you just to guide you, but it really depends on your thread and your beads. 

1 shuttle, all beads on the shuttle. Keep your crochet hook handy. 

Start with ring, 1 bead in the loop. 

16ds, bring 1 bead from the shuttle and make a small picot for a future join, 2 - 14. Close ring. The bead from the loop will remain at the base of the ring. 

Turn work. Bring 1 bead from the shuttle, prepare to work the first smal ring: 8-2, close. The bead will be trapped ar the base of the ring. 

Do not turn, bring one more bead, make small ring: 2+6-2, close, do not turn. Repeat this until you have 6 small rings. Make lock join to the picot on top of the bead on the core thread. 

Do not turn work. 

Take 1 bead, start another big ring: 2 + (to the picot from the small ring) 14, bring another bead on the core thread and let the picot for the next join, 16, close, turn work.   The bead from the loop remains at the base of the ring. 

Start to work the small rings as the previous ones. 

Not so difficult. 

But I did not like it , the beaded chains did not lay flat on the wrist and since I do not like to stiffen or to block, I changed some things: reduced the beads from 6 to 5 and gave up the beads from the bigger rings. 

Lot better. 

  

 I start to like these 1 shuttle patterns. This would be my third no-Ankars 1 shuttle pattern. But I really like the freedom one can have. Just as I said: 1 shuttle, thread, beads, a crochet hook. One of those projects you can tat while waiting for something or in a bus, with no fear for the ball of the second shuttle.
Have fun. Please let me know if I did write something wrong. It always hapen.

Swirly rosette

Emptying a shuttle, some time ago.

Just tatted to the end, just to see what it gives and to practice the pulled join of Nina Libin, but a lock join actually does the job.

It is 1 shuttle pattern, 49 beads on the shuttle (in my case!). You must have a sure hand to make a nice lock join, no knot, no bare thread left by mistake.

All is a base of 6 ds. With this count, some 11.0 Toho rocailles you will have a 7 petals rosette. At least this is what my Penny 30 (like a Lizbeth 40) did.

There will be no turn. All the beads will remain on the shuttle.

Symbols used:
- join picot.
+ join
vsp: very small picot
Red beads: you bring them from the shuttle and let a join picot, large enough to allow you to pass the crichet hook to make the join.
Green beads: their number depends on the size of your ring.
Blue beads: just bring them from the shuttle between the petals. In my case (my thread, my beads), 3 were ok. If you use less, you will have more petals, I assume.

Every R1: 6 - 6 red bead 6 - 6, close, do not turn.
Every R2: 6 + 6 vsp 12, close, do not turn.
Take the beads (marked green), place them bellow, pull the thread through the vsp, make lock join to fix them in place. Bring another bead (marked blue here), and start over.

For the last R1 there is a small trick to place the last bead on the core thread. Work 6 + 6. Bring the thread to make the join but before you pass the shuttle, bring the bead, keep it in place and finish the join.
The last R2: worked normally, male the lock join and after placing the last blue bead, you cut and hide the end.

I wish I could give you an exact pattern, ds, exact amount of beads and so on, this would be so elegant! But, in my opinion, it is better to pass you the way, to give you the weapons so you can be independent and, later, to play with this knowledge. This is the reason this kind of patterns, with small technical details, will always end up in the blog.
Have fun  with it. I know I will develop it. I already see it as a six point star with a second round. Snowflake anyone?

Rings'n beads

Thread. Not much of it. Some delicas (11, Toho) 1 bit bigger crystal or pearl, any bead you like. 2 shuttles. It is all you need to make this:

Some remarks are necessary. I wil explain the principle, but you must adjust the amount of beads according to your project. See the beads around the white bead? They are 3 or 4 depending on the size of the bead I used. Between and for every ring, you will use 2 beads. So multiply by 2 the split rings you want to make and you will have your seed beads for the split rings. Except 1. That one you will not use. 

Now fill the shuttle with all the seed beads for the split rings, add the seed beads for the pearl, place the pearl then finish with the seed beads for the other side of the pearl. You will use the the continuous thread method, so think about the thread for the second shuttle too. 

You should be ready. 

Main shuttle, the working one, is the one with the seed beads on it. We assume you need 3 seed beads for the pearl. 

Let 3 seed beads + the pearls + 3 seed beads fall on the second shuttle. 

Start R1 with the working shuttle, take 2 seed beads in the loop before starting to tat. 

R1 (SR with 2 seed beads in the loop) 16 / bead from the loop, 16ds, close. 

Work 16 ds. Drop shuttle 1, bring 1 seed bead at the base of the ring. Take shuttle 2, place the group of beads and the pearl in position and start to tat the second half of the split ring: 16 ds (yup, the unflipped ones). Close ring. The remaining seed bead will stay on top of the ring. 

Ring 2: Shuttle 1 (with 2 seed beads in the loop): work 14 ds. Drop shuttle. 

Shuttle 2: bring bead at the base (see the group of 2 seed beads is formed), tat the other 14 ds to finish the split ring. Close. Again the remaining bead stays on top of the ring. 

You just continue. 

For the earrings I used the proportion: R1: 16 ds, R2: 14ds, R3: 12ds, R4: 10ds. I finished with 1 bead in the loop, made a12 ds ring, closed, hid the ends. Added the earring wires. 

For the bracelet, I reduced by 1 ds, to have the lenght I wanted. Before I started, I placed all the seed beads on the shuttle, then passed the thread through the pearl, added again 3 seed beads. Filled the second shuttle with this end (so I have CTM). 

Have fun!

If you are in the search for fast projects, this can be on your list for sure. 

Tatted stud earrings and ring

Last week, I think, I posted a pair of earrings and a ring. I just made a test to see how a light grey silver thread will look with some honey gold beads I had (11 Toho Gold Line Jonquille). Simpliest pattern ever, but you know me... simple tatting it is not just simple tatting.
Reasons? More than one.
1. Being a small item, it has to be perfect. This means that is the beads are not even, you do not get the same result.
2. Tattig pattern may be simple, but even knots are required for a small item.
3. Tatting with beads may be mastered, until you must make your joins through the beads. Which is the case here.
4. Folded join through certain beads not for unpatient tatters, at least at the begining. Of course, you can make the alternative join to finish the rosette (the Riego join), but still...

Remember these babies?

1 shuttle project, a very fine crochet hook needed. You need a good amount of beads (48 for every rosette + 12 or 24 for each middle element). Pearls of your choice. 

Pattern for the base: 

Told you. Simple. Just careful. 

bp4: beaded picot with 4 beads (from the ones from the loop)

dp: diamond beaded picot (3 beads from the loop + 1 from the shuttle). 

R1 (with 11 beads on the loop): 8ds, bp4, 4ds, dp, 4ds, bp4, 8ds, close ring, do not turn work. 

R2 (with 7 beads on the loop): 8ds + to R1 (by letting 1 bead between the rings int he lower part) 4ds, dp, 4ds, bp4, 8ds, close ring, do not turn. 

Repeat until you have 5 rings. 

R6: (with 3 beads in the loop): 8 ds + to R5, 4ds, dp, 4ds, join (folded) 8 ds, close ring. 

Work now the central element.

Start ring with 6 beads in the loop. Work 1 ds make picot with 2 beads (1 from the loop, the other one from the shuttle) 2 ds. repeat until you finish the beads from the loop, finish with 1 ds, close. 

You can also change the amount of ds, depending on your beads. 

For the ring I just made diamond picots instead of these double beaded picots. 

I worked with 30 Penny thread (like a 40 Lizbeth thread) and 11 Toho rocailles. With a different thread size and other beads, the appearance may be different. 

Mount the elements together. If you have stud little pearls, they are perfect. You can even think about working more of these elements to make them as exchangeble sets, why not?

I hid the head of my stud with another small flower (3-6-3 petal) for a better finish. 

Have fun!