Wednesday 27 April 2016

trials and tribulations

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WARNING : Dear seekers of beauty & tatting purists, peruse at own risk. The blogger takes no responsibility for hurt eyes & sentiments.

My tatting is not always up to the mark. But even I am ashamed to show these pictures in public. Yet it is all part of the learning process, and each step helps as we comprehend & practice a new technique.


These are Ninetta’s latest Alternate Method of Curling Rings, especially small rings. I had the good fortune of getting first peek into her brilliant tatting brain. However, when Georgia announced the class for April 25, I scrambled to try them all out during the weekend. This time, curling the small rings were a bit tougher than when I did the Curled Rings series. Curling itself is easy. It’s just that I could not always get them to face in the right direction :-( . So I stopped jotting down notes & focused on the why & why not. You can see all the failed as well as successful attempts interspersed throughout the chains.

Trial 1: My first mistake was to try to tat the chains from frontside going in clockwise direction, thus keeping the curled rings in front.
In clockwise direction : 1st chain has the FR & CR,
2nd  chain - half moon curls,
3rd chain - heart curls ,
4th chain - button curls
Some ‘succeeded’ in wrong direction, some failed, some simply twisted around & curled over the chain refusing to budge !!!
Lesson – apply scientific method and change only one factor at a time. Also, use a size 10 thread when learning (Thanks, Mel)!

Trial 2 : Much better , yet many were still ashamed to face me ;-p. Ninetta came to the rescue & sent me this video and Then it Finally clicked !!! An Important point, which is clear in the stepwise tutorial pics, but didn’t register in my dense brain : turn the small ring at an angle of 180° before pulling the encapsulated thread to curl !!! The curling picot/space in the small ring should face down. Now I get it ! I was more focused on the instructions & not enough on the pics.
Lesson – read & look, look, look, and follow !!! That is what pictures are there for.  

Small Curled Rings (sCR) on Ring
Besides sCR on a chain, there are numerous ways to curl small rings on/through/over rings ! These are also included in the same pdf.
These Curled Onion Rings were made way back when Ninetta sent me her very first draft. I was very happy with the way the second one turned out.

Now I felt confident enough to tackle her beautiful bracelets, which incorporate many of curling effects of small rings.
I opted to do all 4 in one continuous braid, with about 4 repeats each.
Anchor size 20 thread used (SH1- brown; SH2- cream) & wooden beads.

1. Version with balanced sCR
I reduced the stitch count here, to better enclose the bead. But more practice needed. Ninetta shared this video in class.

2. Version with unbalanced sCR
I like this pattern the best.

3. Version with sCR over a chain
The second  brown chain & sCR turned/twisted for some reason ; the cream ones came out fine. But I should've reduced the stitchcount for chains.

4. Version with CR
First ring came out wrong. Thought & thought, then pulled a down loop through the CR from below the split ring to curl it. It worked (this was my AHA moment). But Ninetta demonstrates a better method of pulling the to-be-curled ring through the split ring and then securing it with a picot join.


I still have a lot of practice to do on these whimsical curls, but am more confident now. This exercise & interaction, and then the videos, also taught me how a set of instructions &/or format can be read/understood/perceived differently by individual tatters because each of us has a different way of tatting – slight nuances in ways of holding, making the formations, tensioning, and myriad other details. What seems ‘easy’ to a writer or designer may be very difficult to a reader. I will no longer call any of my patterns or tutorials ‘easy’. Major lesson learned.

UPDATE : All videos have been uploaded to Georgia Seitz's Online Advanced Class videos

Many thanks, Ninetta, for sharing your immense talent . 
Hopefully goofs in my trials will be rectified in future :-)
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Practice Doodle – What technique ?!
And to end on another note of whimsy – here’s a doodle I made a year back while learning another new technique. Using 2 shuttles, I went where my shuttles took me. Can you guess which technique I was practicing (there is a ‘tell’ if you look closely)? Can you trace the path ? 
And a lucky coincidence - in the left Ninetta’s Quad 13 I made just before.


happy tatting and curling :-))


Related posts : What are Curled Rings

18 comments:

  1. Learning a new technique can be so tricky. Sometimes the aha moment comes quickly. Sometimes it seems to take forever. Thanks for sharing your own struggles with this one and for bringing the video links together in your blog. I'm going to review them, as I had a bit of trouble getting my curled ring to lay properly after passing it through the floating ring. I've an idea to add some of the small curled rings to Ninetta's pendant.

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    1. Eliz, the videos made me realise that Ninetta & I tat differently. That is one of the reasons I end up taking a different route to her patterns/techniques - be it layered rings, curled rings, or sCR. But it is such fun to figure things out & she is always very helpful .
      Happy curling :-)

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  2. This is very interesting, I seem to like the version with unbalanced sCR why because it looks more balanced ha ha. I am not a fan yet of this "whimsical curls" but I can see a use for them. great post tips :)

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    1. That one is my favorite too, Carollyn :-D. And don’t go by the pics I posted – those little rings do look nice & there are so many effects & combos to choose from.

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  3. Thank you, very clear and I like that you have also put here links for those videos. I learned now another thing: always put pics and never say "pic for this not included"! That is why I will send you another video for that sCR over a chain version for the most "whimsical" bracelet!

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    1. Mille grazie, Ninetta ! Once the basic concept is understood, it is fun to figure things out as well. I have so much to learn from you :-)
      I’m sure that video will be a treasure, too. I will be adding all your sCR links to the Resources page.

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  4. Oh, I have many failed design attempts that I am too embarrassed to post to my blog, and when I'm practicing a new technique it looks just like what you've shown. My favorite of your pictures are the curled onion rings. It looks like you could make some really neat designs with that (maybe scales of a fish?)

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    1. I’m pretty shameless, aren’t I, Robin ;-P Especially sharing such extreme close-ups!
      Perhaps I can take a wee bit of credit for the onion rings which has 3 rings – that was my extension from what Ninetta shared with me. I like your fish scales idea ! I was looking at them more like peacock plumes.

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  5. Learning is for life,life is for learning :) Keep going!!

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    1. Well said, Deepa ! I am keeping abreast of your interesting experiences in Germany & creative pursuits :-)

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  6. Can't wait to see what you design with this technique!! :)

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    1. I became so focused on figuring out & getting them right that there was barely any neural space left for designs, Sue ;-p So we'll have to wait some more ...

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  7. I'll have to read this carefully because I struggled to make the curled rings look good. My square motif is squonk. (Oops, just remembered that's local slang for skew).

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    1. And I went squonk on these !!! Love that word, Jane :-D
      Ninetta's videos will help a great deal.

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  8. After looking over the materials for Monday's class, I decided that I needed to wait until school is out to tackle this one! I think it's wonderful that you have given it a try and shared pictures. I know I learn a lot from experimenting.

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    1. So true, Diane ! I, too, want to delve deeper into more practice & experimentation & application with these. The basic movement remains the same, so I'm hoping that my next trials will go smoothly & correctly.

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  9. Muskaan: You are delightful. So, glad you displayed your tatting trials & explorations. Looking forward to seeing more from you! You are enlightening!

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    1. Your comment made me smile, Anita :-D I just hope posting ugly pics does not become a trend here or in blogland, LOL !

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