Thursday 16 June 2016

a post about post - reposted

Pin It now!
…. where a simple doily round leads to musings & experimentation on rings and when to post a shuttle.
Wiosna 2016
A doily tat-along by Renulek
Measures 11½” in size 40 Anchor Mercer 4054-0300
Another very easy, leisurely round. I was scared of messing up the alternate floating/thrown rings – one with decorative picots, one with single small picot. But frequent checking kept me on the right path, phew.
There is one thing that has me flummoxed for a long time : the directionally tatted (frontside/backside or RODS) rings don’t close as flat as normal rings. Off & on I had experimented with many different tweaks but nothing seemed to work.
I took this opportunity, to experiment further. The rings were small and a botched experiment would not be too visible.
I was surprised at the trial result, and happy to have found a solution that works for me. And in my usual way, I didn’t stop at that. My curiosity to see how different ways of tatting & closing rings compare with each other led to this small experimentation below. The model is accompanied by a table with all details.
This may not be ‘original’, but it is part of my own learning process to make my tatting better.

Dear tatters, what is the secret to Your perfect rings  ???? 

R – ring ; FR – floating/thrown ring ; DS – double stitch ; RODS – reverse order DS ; fs/bs – frontside/backside ; fhs – first half stitch ; shs – second half stitch ;  post shuttle – pass shuttle through ring from front to back before closing ring ; . – close ring ; – – picot.

Points to ponder :
  • Base of ring at closure – in the images, point of closure of each ring lies on the right.
  • Does the core thread emerge from ‘front’ or from ‘back’ – after shs, core thread emerges from the front ; after fhs, it lies behind.
  • Size of the ring – perhaps there is a difference when closing small versus large ring ?
  • Desired shape of ring – tear drop or rounded.

All rings in the pic are 5 – 5 
Except for #1, all lower (aqua) rings are RODS (directional or fs/bs tatting)
Pink rings are thrown/floating rings.
Reverse Work before & after each lower ring.







For a long time now, I had been following Frivole’s tip in Ring 4 of adding an extra shs before closing ring, when working from the front. 
In the latter half of Round 11, where the rings were 4-4, and worked from the back (after reversing work), an extra shs and posting shuttle (as in Ring 9 above) seemed to work, making me happy.

But look what happens in Round 12 where the ring is 8-8 :
In these 'larger' directional rings, before closing, I added a 1st half stitch and posted the shuttle. They lie so much better than the first one on left which was extra 2nd half stitch and post shuttle ! I'm not sure whether size of ring is the reason ... that will require more trials to determine. 
Let's just say that we have many options to choose from as the situation demands.

What I also noticed is that the ring tends to remain slightly open, & requires one final tug to close it completely. Perhaps this is also the reason why I can open the ring much more smoothly in case of retro-tatting.

When to post shuttle ?
(Common Threads V)

I first learned about posting a shuttle through a ring on InTatters & when I tried it (then & later, too), it didn’t work for me. Don’t know why some things just take a long time to ‘click’ !
Although it hadn’t worked in regular tatting, I did find many applications where it is required – whether posting the same shuttle, the 2nd shuttle, or even multiple shuttles ; whether posting through an unclosed ring or through other elements or a loop. 
Here is my compilation (now updated) which I shared in a recent Craftree thread on posting a shuttleOf course, now I’ll have to go back & amend my answer :-D

(Most links are to my blog posts which have further direct links to respective tutorials )

  1. Interlocking Rings using shuttle – clearly, without posting the shuttle through the previous ring (before it is closed), there will be no interlocking of rings, whichever method one adopts for the latter effect. 
  1. Interlaced Split Rings – In this 4-shuttle braid, the one shuttle from the 2nd pair is posted through the open split ring of 1st pair, in order to interlace adjoining rings. 
  2. Teri Dusenbury's SQDR (split quadruple directional rings) which are rings thrown off a split ring. These thrown/floating rings twist if shuttle is not posted. 
    Arrow points to the yellow ring where I forgot to post the shuttle. 
  3. Freeform – when the 2nd shuttle or ball is posted through the unclosed ring, the next element (chain or ring) overlaps or is enclosed by the first ring, slightly. 
  4. Cluny Tatting – one small step behind the scenes, especially for multi-Warp tallies, requires the loom shuttle to be passed/posted through the horizontal bars at back. This step allows for easy closing of each Warp , when tally is closed. 
  5. Curled Cluny Leaf 
  6. Ninetta's small Curled Rings or Alternate Methods of Curling Rings – requires the other shuttle to be posted through the ring such that it gets encapsulated within the joining picot. 
  7. Ninetta’s Tiny Tatted Beads – In her 3-shuttle pattern, she posts 2 shuttles through the tiny ring, creating a cute beaded effect. 
  8. Celtic Tatting often requires a shuttle to be posted through elements.
  9. Directional rings - for neater, flatter rings, as demonstrated in experiment above. 
  10. Interlocking Split Ring Braid – consists of a  continuous braid of split rings interlocked together in a row. Made with 4 shuttles, it requires posting one pair of shuttles through the unclosed SR of 2nd pair & so on. Also check out this chainmail-type braid by Ninetta made with only 2 shuttles and her pictorial showing 3 methods here.                                                                                                     
  11.  Enrapt rings – one can wrap shuttle 2 thread around the rings in different ways as experimented here Overlapping Picots on rings & chains 
     
  12. Overlapping Picots in rings – in order for the layered picots to become intertwined & overlap through adjacent picots, posting shuttle is required. 
    14. Intruding Picot (UPDATE) - a new way to make inward facing picots that are hugely versatile and easily applicable in a number of techniques. Simply posting shuttle through an open ring or a chain, leaving bare thread for picot, creates this picot. Numerous applications!


While 'posting a shuttle' usually refers to dropping it through a closing ring, in a sense the movement is performed when encapsulating the other shuttle thread in most joins such as CWJ, LHP, S2LHP, etc. or perhaps SCMR & LTROR when shuttle is 'posted' through a loop.

But why muddy the waters more – haven’t you had enough of this ‘post’ already ?! ;-P

If you have, thanks for patiently reading through :-D
Thanks for leaving valuable feedback/comments earlier



Related Posts : as linked above (blue text) ,
and



21 comments:

  1. The pattern that comes to mind for me is Jane Eborall's Friendship bookmark, where shuttles of colour 2 are posted through before split ring colour 1 is closed. In any case there are all sorts of occasions when shuttles are posted, apart from the desire to make a ring look neat, as you have amply demonstrated!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are absolutely right, Jane!! That bookmark uses interlocking SR braid as well as the Celtic weaving effect, both of which require the shuttle(s) to be posted ... I need to make one !
      Will update post :-) Thanks

      Delete
  2. Oh, my! So much to consider! I guess I haven't really thought about rings that much. I do sometimes wonder why mine sometimes look a little wonky. I haven't figured out of posting the shuttle is beneficial for me or not. I can't honestly say that I see a difference. I guess I may spend the rest of my life being satisfied with what I do and not worrying about perfecting my tatting. Then again...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to get a life, Diane ;-P With such a simple round, I had to keep my big head occupied too (otherwise I tend to make rookie mistakes) and that prompted the experimentation. I can never be perfect, but there's always room for improvement.

      Delete
  3. Interesting post of post :) I've been posting shuttles in FR like your 10. in picture 2, I like how it looks. Another example similar to interlocking rings can be the interlocking split rings' chain, it can't work without posting the shuttle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ninetta :-) Yes,I missed the 4-shuttle interlocking SR braid - same as Jane mentioned. Will update my post and also tat it - I can never have enough bookmarks!

      Delete
    2. Sorry but I meant a SR chain that I did last year, with 2 shuttle, as a bookmark's tail. I'll try to write something about it.

      Delete
    3. Oh, will wait for it, Ninetta . Or if my server holds up, I'll try to look for it :-)

      Delete
    4. I think it is this one - http://ninettacaruso.blogspot.in/2015/01/soft-chainmail.html ?
      Will try it out today :-) Thanks, my dear Hiding Lady ;-P

      Delete
  4. This is now the updated version of earlier post. Happy tatting :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I learned to post the shuttle when working on the TAT binders. I automatically do it now and have to really think when I shouldn't post. I guess I'm like you and have to occupy my brain to keep it focused. Hence, tatting while watching TV or listening to complicated music, or while traveling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Posting the shuttle for regular rings just didn't work for me in all my earlier attempts !!! Still can't understand why, except perhaps that the trees become clearer as one enters the deeper into the woods ?
      I am also beginning to wonder whether size of thread can be a minor factor?
      I can so relate to that, Mel! My tatting actually slows down if it is simple rings & chains without interesting features ;-)

      Delete
  6. A lot of good information. Going to have to reread slowly to try and absorb. Yes, I would like a PDF of the ring information.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Phyllis :-) Give me a couple of days & I will upload pdf with additional rings that I missed out - 13 in all now.

      Delete
    2. Phyllis, the pdf link is posted here as well as on My Tutorials page, with 13 rings. Hope you enjoy the experimentation :-)

      Delete
  7. Your spring doily looks wonderful!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Sue, thank you so much for noticing the doily :-D Hope you are enjoying the weekend with lots of tatting :-)

      Delete
  8. You always post so much information I do some things and not others I guess there is more than one way to tie a know ha ha ha. Have a good week and take care from Carollyn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true, Carollyn :-D 'Different strokes for different folks', yet it is The Knot Tat Ties us together across continents :-)))

      Delete
  9. I am very enjoyed for this blog. Its an informative topic. It help me very much to solve some problems. Its opportunity are so fantastic and working style so speedy. I think it may be help all of you. write my essay
    Thanks a lot for enjoying this beauty blog with me. I am appreciating it very much! Looking forward to another great blog. Good luck to the author! all the best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Loran :-) Glad you enjoy the blog & find it helpful. Best wishes :-)

      Delete