beads on a roll and twist

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2 years back, when I revisited my 2015 pattern, based on feedback from Georgia’s class, another idea struck me. Could we tie a bead to the floating or free-standing twisted picot? Yes, why not!

In fact measuring and twisting the picot becomes easier for starters.

This shows a self-closing mock ring (SCMR) being made, hence you see a red shuttle for the core thread, and the yellow for the stitches and picots. These were taken in May 2017. 

All we need to do is determine where we want the bead. Then make an overhand knot/tie at the base of the bead. 

Tighten the knot, and keeping the bead at the tip, measure an equal length of thread from bead to core thread. Hold the thread in a pinch at this point and start twisting. Follow it with a double stitch. 

Click here for detailed Twisted Picot tutorial.  The original tutorial was recently taught at Camp Wanna Tat. I hope it went smoothly without too many twists and turns?!

Since bead is knotted or tied on the picot thread, it is easier to do with a 2^nd shuttle. It can be done on chains or on mock rings. We will need very accurate placement to tie beads on true rings – not practical, though theoretically possible.

Usha Shah graciously made 2 videos for bead on twisted picot on my request (thank you, Usha) –

Twisted Picot & Twisted Picot with bead

Twisted Picot with knotted bead

TIP : For making a twisted picot, or after adding a bead to it, slide your left thumb over the thread/bead to gently hold in position. This makes it easier to handle the twisting. It also keeps the twist confined to the required length of thread. Using this slight touch, one can make fairly long twisted picots.

The fun part is, if the twist is good, one can actually let go of the picot when tatting the first stitch!

Fast forward to Sept 2019, while working another model using Red Rose metallic thread, I wondered about MULTIPLE BEADS on the twisted picot.

Initially, I slipped in 3 beads instead of one, spacing them while twisting the picot. 
After a while I noticed that the beads had clumped together at the tip!!! Perhaps it was the thread (metallic with a pearl cotton core), or may be they automatically gravitate to the tip?

Solution - knot the beads to avoid rolling!

I tied the 2 lower beads (green & yellow), spacing them out, but left the topmost (red) free. Then measured double the length (from red bead down to core thread) and started twisting. The pic below shows the outcome...beads stay in place.

The long picots appear branched due to these multiple beads tied at intervals. Fun to make as well.  

I went a bit berserk with some of the picot lengths! But I also noticed that only lower beads needed to be tied down to keep them in place; the one at the tip is better left untied.

In the lead picture, some of the earlier picots have untied beads. These had to be rolled back manually into position for the photo shoot ;-D