Saturday 9 March 2024

exciting firsts

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 Editing the book, 'The Six T's of Shuttle Tatting' is creating opportunities to try out exciting techniques and effects, long in my to-try list. And learning a Lot in the process. The author, Net Best, had created one glossary for her book, and another more comprehensive glossary for her group and possibly for later digitization. We decided to combine both to make the glossary as updated as possible, which was her main goal. This also means we have to add missing sampler images. I have reached out to several of my tatting friends to contribute some specific pics (with due credit), and so far everybody has graciously given permission. 

While I won't be sharing all pics, here are a few - I love the way these turned out!  

1. BROOMSTICK PICOT - 

I followed Karen Cabrera's Lesson #104 - https://youtu.be/yp5W6ZrDF9I

And since the long adjoining picots need to be joined to create the effect, I allowed my shuttles to create this little motif - like a flame within a flame. 
Is it interesting enough for the pattern to be shared?
Although I'm sure there are tons of tatters who will simply count the stitches and tat it up, and we all know who will get the credit ... yes, Pinterest, LOL. 
I used really thick thread (probably a size 3) so that the effect shows up in thumbnail pics.


2. DANCING PICOTS -
I followed Karen Cabrera's Lesson #107 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX7Ig978Xg4
This is a variation of the Daisy Picot and requires 2 shuttles.
I encapsulated the 2nd shuttle thread within the first half-stitch at the start and the last half-stitch at the end. (Judith Connors' tip).
While I tatted over the shuttle 1 tail at the start, I didn't do it for the Sh2 thread, although it can be done.
NOTE: All picots here (bare threads) can be both decorative and functional (for joining).


3. INTERWOVEN  SPLIT  RING  CORD -
This 2-shuttle variation is attributed to Wally Sosa, and I referred to Jane McLellan's Choker patternhttps://janemactats.blogspot.com/2012/04/choker-pattern.html  [In the right panel on her blog page, you can find the pdf links for the lovely beaded versions of choker as well as a necklace].
All split rings are 8/8. This time I used Anchor size 20.
It comprises a red foundation cord tatted to desired length. Then the teal cord is worked, weaving the red cord alternately over and under through the open ring before it is closed. 
It is such a lovely piece! However, I have no idea how to use it. It is a bit short for a friendship bracelet coz I ran out of thread and don't wish to add more. 
Any ideas how I could use it?


I hope you enjoyed seeing and reading this, and will try to use these techniques in future tatting. And adding beads for even more variations. I certainly hope to incorporate my new learnings some day. For the present, I am busy tatting more samplers and working on the book, to the exclusion of all else. If I don't concentrate on it it will never get done. Our target is to finish it before year end.

And there are more to share ....

Friday 1 March 2024

waiting for spring

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 It's been a long winter and we are barely stepping into spring. We expect a few more weeks of waning winter since Holi is late this year.

Hubby has been prepping our little balcony garden and this time we have Jasmines. There are plenty of blooms and buds on the plant, I simply picked up two that had dropped. Their fragrance is milder than mogras (which I've shared before). 

Hubby took this sunrise pic on the leap day! The sun looks a lot farther (smaller and less red) than in real life, blame it on the phone camera. 
For almost three months we barely had any sunlight during the first half of the day which is mostly the only time we get direct sunlight. A lot of it had to do with severe air pollution. Finally the last ten days or so have been glorious and we've been able to sit and enjoy some Vitamin D time!

And I pruned some ajwain this morning. These leaves have since been washed and separated, and the twig broken into smaller pieces to dry and use in dishes. 

Just wanted to say Hi and hope you are all doing well! 

Thursday 22 February 2024

Endrucksian Links

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 You might remember that we had created categorised Directories of derivatives from Endrucks' patterns and I shared links as and when they were ready. Now all derivatives are removed from the main EP doc which contains mainly the 44 reworked originals in pdf format. 

Besides this trimming, we also created a Spreading the Word doc so that keeping it updated, along with good sized pics, would be easy. Check out how members have spread word of the book or Project through teaching, articles, exhibitions, etc.

And then there are the games we hold in our FB group. All links to these - from the introduction, rules, album, roundups, etc. are listed in this new EP Events doc

All this was necessitated otherwise the main EP doc was getting too large and unwieldy. Now we have active docs that stand alone and there is plenty of space for expansion.

However, to make it easier to refer, reference, share, and save, all important links are compiled in this  E Links doc which can be saved and other docs accessed through it. Here it is -- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w1TZBg-HIzseGEUoJ-rko7tNbtSgZY5A18Oy2Y9Hh0Y/view

There is still work to be done in creating the collage strips for each directory, updating the EP doc content to reflect the new perspective, etc. We'll get there eventually, LOL.

Meanwhile, here's my first collage of Endrucksian Tatting for the cover of our FB group. We are on a break from gaming till April, but we have invited members to take a pic of all their E tatting thus far to adorn the group cover. 

For the cover, we needed a 2:1 pic size. I chose 16:9 in my cell phone camera since it was closest to the requirement, and after resizing, I hardly had to crop it. Also, I had placed all these motifs on a rectangular wood tray, leaving some space bare on the right (for the notations). This worked well.

The motifs are chosen from two boxes close at hand. Most are in clear plastic zip pouches according to the pattern number. Hence you see multiples of the same pattern. After taking this pic I now think I might require at least 4 or 5 such collages to cover all the E work I've done so far. Let's see ....