Saturday 21 February 2015

Tatting Techniques : Doodles

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  (all bold, coloured portions are active links to respective pages/sites)

I’ve been on a learning spree these past couple of days. Totally immersed in Inkscape, diagramming the Neemiss Snowflake for starters. I am ever so grateful to Robin, for her Inkscape Diagramming tutorial series, without which, I would’ve still been groping my way through the maze & gotten disillusioned soon. Her tatting-specific/related instructions have been of tremendous help. Three cheers for Robin , my techno-guru :-D
Thus, productively inching closer towards the pdfs as resolved . 

Learning from Karen Cabrera
On the tatting front, have been watching Karen Cabrera’s videos (list of all her tuts) & trying my hand at some stuff – just little doodles. I used to dislike videos because I needed extra concentration to overcome the tatting style, the basic stitch formation, the hand/thread movement, as well as the long nails (I am continually amazed at how quick & flawless the tatting is, despite the long nails – shows the level of accomplishment & skill). Anyways, as I watched the videos, I suddenly realized that that Extra effort to blot out certain movements was no longer required ! I had conquered my own limitations & could Easily focus on the new technique being demonstrated. Who said practice does not count – be it viewing or doing ?! 
So here are a few “doodles” I am sharing, along with the answer to the question in the previous post :

 2-Color Rings
 
The technique in this heart/acorn ( I like Sue’s suggestion of acorn ) is 2-Color Rings. Lesson 138 
This was merely something I was doing with 2 scrap threads, no design/pattern in mind. After making the central 2-coloured ring, I continued on with an outer round of chains only, joining with a Slope & Roll join at every segment, & switching colours. It kind of gives a Celtic feel to the uni-dimensional structure, I think.
The very same day, I came across Kathleen’s (Happy Kat) Tiny Turtle sketch that she shared with stitch count. Perfect, I thought, for this technique ! So this is what emerged, with some additional stitches – a tiny Turtle Pendant ;-))
Another fun finding : if I finger the brown rings, they convert into 3-D, & the turtle comes to life & walks away !!!
I have another, more elaborate pattern in the works (half-done). Will share eventually. At present, too immersed in learning exercises, etc.


Vapor Picot 
Oh, I Love the effect of this technique demonstrated in Lesson 131 (Please watch video till the end, for the Gorgeous effects). I wanted to have at least 6-8 wraps (“rounds”) per ‘picot’, so that it got the bullion stitch look; but the size 10 thread proved to be damper – it kept untwisting. So had to be satisfied with 4 wraps. 
This technique will Definitely go into my future tatting.

This is for the curlicue (blue, in above composition) , and don’t you just love the possibilities for freeform tatting using this technique ! When I first tried to make the curlicues using long chains, in this Coiled Comfort bookmark here,  I was left with the problem of either cutting after each chain or finding ‘loopholes’ to continue without cutting every time.
If I’d known of this technique, the tatting would’ve been a breeze, And much more satisfying & elegant.
Still, never too late ...
Although Karen starts with a ring & continues with the SSSCh, I started with a tiny space of thread held in a clip & did a Lock Stitch while simultaneously tugging at the core thread. This locks the start, & one can continue with the chain. However, the stitches are Reverse Stitches, in Reverse Order (ie. unflipped, & 2nd half stitch first).

Ruffled or Layered Picots 
(Floral Picots)
This technique is also known as Floral Picots by Ring of Tatters, here . I had learned & applied it last year in my Tiny Heart Poppy . 
The pink flower in the above doodle has these picots, giving a layered effect. If one makes each alternate picot larger , then one can get a clear 2-layered ring of picots as in flowers !!!

There are many more picot styles/techniques on her videos, that I have watched. Have still to get down to actually doodling.

Thank you, Karen, for all the wonderful techniques you have uploaded !!!

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And before I take your leave, here is Carrie Neahring’s pdf download link for her Aislyn’s Bookmark. I will update the post, as well. Do take a look at her bookmark – adorable colours & gorgeous tassel ! Hope you enjoy making it :-) She has uploaded it on Craftree here, & kindly accepted to share it through my blog as well, for anybody interested.  

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Thanks, also, to Happy Kat & Carrie, for sharing their patterns :-)


Motif # 14 / II for 25 Motif Challenge


10 comments:

  1. Always good to learn new techniques!

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    1. And exhilarating, too, Jane :-)
      Haven’t even been able to keep up with all the blogs I follow … spending most of my compy time learning, watching, diagramming ;-P

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  2. Looks like you've been studying a lot and having fun with different techniques, I can wait to see how you are going to incorporate them. That vapor thing I have done by accident and this looks pretty may try for real :). On my little Christmas Cats for there tails I love the floating chain and makes a great sweat pea tentacle or on pumpkins I guess any climbing plant. great post lots of information. I did not know Jane did that too, the fluffy JK's I have done a you tube video on that it is just making them very loose. Thanks for sharing we are all snowed in today so much tatting will get done!

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    1. I will rummage through your blog for your Christmas Cats , as well as your video. ! I love your applications (miss those flower of the month series)
      I Do so like the floating chain, especially without the ring at the tip. This came up in a discussion in Craftree & Lynn posted the technique as a possibility for curlicues. I, then, did away with the ring altogether.
      Hope you stay warm. You have been doing some really gorgeous tatting as always :-)

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  3. It looks like you are going to Tatting University (TU for short). Can't wait to see all the ideas you come up with using these techniques.

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    1. Oooh, me like that ! TU indeed ;-))) Well, T-School definitely. Only when I can make good use of these techniques, will I have graduated to TU, right ?!

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  4. Love Karen's videos, however I have not gotten as far as you in trying all the different techniques. Those chains that make the curlicues look really promising. I bet there's some neat applications for that in designing.

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    1. I used to be very distracted while watching her videos because of her Reigo method & long nails. But now I didn’t much notice either, & usually one viewing was sufficient.
      There is such a treasure trove of techniques (sans beading, too!) that one wonders why we don’t use them more.

      Last night I posted a series of pics on Craftree showing how I did the curlicues (without the starting ring in Karen’s floating chains). I think I will post the possibilities in my next post. You will see me using these a lot in free form tatting ;-P

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks, Grace ! I kinda like it too - very tiny, pliable & inquisitive :-)))

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