Goldilocks meets a friend

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Remember how I couldn’t introduce you to Goldilocks since she was already in bed? 

The wait is over. Meet Goldilocks and her friend, Elana! 

Well, opposites attract again (see comments here)! Gold / silver; tiny / large; warm / cool; quick project / long project; AND our two friendly designers from different hemispheres!

Goldilocks is actually Ninetta’s Valentine earrings shared here. 

Closing the spiral ring using metallic thread was a tad dicey. Anyway, after making it with single shuttle, I switched the shuttle thread to regular cotton size 20, using gold for the visible stitches.

Lenka shared some nice pics on how to add beads in spiral rings. Do check out her beautiful applications of the spiral rings. 

Red Rose metallic gold size 20 & Anchor size 20. size 16 seed bead & crystal teardrop.

2+ cms across & 3+ cms long without teardrop.

Jane McLellan’s Elana has long been on my to-tat list. It is such an elegant pattern.

And I wanted to stick with blue and white. This is actually my 2^nd attempt; the first being left aside after 4 repeats for 2 reasons. But read what happened in next post here. (Update)

Notice the missing chain in first round? I used the double ring & chain sequence. And the rings on the back are 5-5-5.

I used bead as picot gauge method to load bead with a crochet hook only when it was time to link. Yet the small Pony shuttle bobbin had to be loaded twice.

Adjacent Ankars motifs are slightly tightly packed with some overlap – perhaps my seed bead was too large?

But I love how it looks despite the thick white thread! And finally another struck off the unending list

Blue glass gem - 2¼ cms x ½ cm high. The pebble is not absolutely clear but has shaken snowglobe effect.  Anchor white 20.  3½" diameter

2 projects, but so many techniques have been incorporated! My knid of tatting ;-P

And now that I have my beads and gems out, there are a couple more projects queued ;-D

spiraling into distraction

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Sometimes one just Has to! No excuses.

My first trials of Lenka’s Spiral Rings (her blog has some exquisite tatting and jewellery). Based on the tutorial by Ninetta. And also an attempt to try it on treble tatting as seen here.

For the braid, after first 2 rings, instead of a lock join I used the Ring on Picot method, without any join. It like it – subsequent rings remain flush, no gaps.
Notice that my failure to post the shuttle before closing the 3rd ring caused a twist.

TIP : I think the ring should be not be closed too tight as we often do in regular tatting. However, unlike my initial belief, leaving some bare thread (as in half-closed rings) is not necessary either. There is, however a design element there. If we do not close completely, we get a larger spiral compared to a completely closed ring.

Tried the counter-spiral as per instructions for the first one (3rd last from top). Works nicely, but since the ring is twisted or turned, the back comes to the front. I wanted the stitches frontside. 
There are 2 ways to do it –

1. tat the ring backside (RODS), then pull into a spiral as instructed, or
2. turn work, tat the ring backside (RODS), then turn back to the front and pull into a spiral. (2nd last ring from top).

I was running out the scrap thread, so managed only one spiral ring with treble tatting. It was enough to give me the confidence to proceed. I’ve been ogling at that gorgeous happy piece!

So, here is the medallion of off-side spiral rings using the treble stitch (tds). Peering into Ninetta’s model, I counted off 8tds and the exit was from the 3^rd tds.

Work progresses in counterclockwise direction ie. each new ring is to the left of the previous one.

Now here again I used Patty’s ring on picot after the 1^st ring. But see how close the 2 rings come? (the 2 dark pink spirals at the bottom). It looks like an overlapping spiral chain. A good design that can be used in future. But for the original effect, for the rings to curve gracefully and the spirals to show distinctly, a lock join is preferable.

No more dead end or single shuttle split chain (SSSCh) to create curlicues! These rings are so much easier!!!

So much for my distraction and fun in learning something new. Back to my other projects …. Although I haven’t cut off the thread – hoping to continue with another round(s).

Many many thanks to Lenka for this spectacular effect

and to Ninetta for sharing how to do it.