angels needed

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 Tamie Montgomery who has taken over the baton from Georgia Seitz and has been successfully conducting classes through The Online Tatting Class (TOTC), has organised a Heavenly Angels Challenge for a charity drive. She is looking for angel patterns and designers who can share their patterns for the drive. 

She has been asking in several FB groups, including in our Endrucks group. So when I contacted her, this is what she wrote to me some days back - 

"There is a charity foundation that I am trying to get involved with to share tatting around the world. I have students from all walks of life and different countries. I thought a good way to get everyone involved in sharing their love of the art is to open up a charity drive and make it a challenge.

The rules are this. I will start the challenge off by nominating 5 tatters and they each have to tat 5 angels. Each one must be different. Then once they tat their 5 angels and send them to a local branch of this particular charity then they nominate 5 tatters to tat 5 angels. Where the designers come in is we need more angel patterns to choose from and I am asking designers to design 1 angel then everyone can choose from the patterns listed on the website from each designer. The patterns will be located on the designers page. This will also drive traffic to each designer's website who participates. So if they are monetized then they will make a few dollars for their time and effort.

The charity is Angel Tree Foundation. They put paper angels on the Christmas trees and people pick an angel off the tree and the angel will have a child's name on it. They will then purchase a gift for that child for christmas and it will be a gift from an Angel. Churches and childrens hospitals all participate in this charity all over the world. The children that the Angels on the trees in Churches are underprivileged Children. Children's hospital's participating are children who are very sick and may not see another Christmas. It gives them hope and love. The person donating the gift keeps the tatted Angel as a thank you for being an Angel.

Now for the overseas people we want them to give to the local children's charities in their country if there is none then give a sick child an Angel to watch over them. Small things to sick little ones are big to them.

 The Challenge's name is Heavenly Angel's Challenge."

She has now opened a dedicated page for the event with details and links to patterns/sites and you can read about it here - https://www.theonlinetattingclass.com/tatting-angels-tribute

- 3D model only -

On behalf of the Endrucks 1920 Project, we are offering the patterns we already have. You can find them in the Angels and Tree Ornaments from Endrucks directory here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MVEEhKE79euDmOY65Es95rYihb5P9UcqmAJWG5qw4Ws/view or scroll down for individual PDF links.

E7 The Slim and The Chubby Angels by Ninetta Caruso (2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sHQfHC2Al-o5dGE0tTRhuhwajN0QRB5D/view

E12 Angel in White (one pass) (page7) and its coloured version E12 Sky Blue Angel (page11) by Krystyna Mura (2021) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E26K3FFgHygdkEKUvVHn-f0MFlENDsqA/view   

The 3D model of E12 Christmas Angel at the lead is also part of this document but without a dedicated pattern. 

E22 Eleonore's Li'l Angel by Muskaan (2015) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5MqI5ByadI4RmRhS3ZBeDVjcnc/view

E37 Endrucks' Angel n Bell by Margaret Davies (2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aq202-ESOzP_DLlA1bQ1mz3unyTTrpwr/view 

For different versions of this E37 Angel with beads, halo, etc., scroll through the images in these posts -
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/12/tagme-roundup-1.html 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/12/tagme-roundup-2.html
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/03/tagme-roundup-3.html

All the above patterns are free to use but please give credit to the designers and use the hashtag #Endrucks1920Project if you post online. 

Many thanks to all designers for their willingness to share.

With best wishes ... keep your shuttles busy ...

Dedicating my 1000th

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For this 1000th post I kept musing on the choice of subject. And I finally decided to dedicate it to some of my favourite people who have shaped and inspired my tatting journey. This is a symbolic gesture to ALL the tatting teachers, designers, innovators, experimenters, explorers who have shared their own learnings and experiences. 

Three Geniuses and a brand new stitch in tatting!

Two years back I stumbled upon two drawings that gave Ninetta Caurso's treble tatting stitch a basis in tatting history! 

A drawing on page 31 in Anne Dyer's 1994 book, To Boldly Go Where No Shuttle Has Gone Before, showing the decorative chain picots. 

A drawing on page 85 in Rhoda Auld's 1974 book, Tatting: the contemporary art of knotting with a shuttle showing her twisting the thread (this twisted picot is something I had pointed out in my pictorial) and passing the shuttle through it. Her tatted model is what we now call the vapour stitch.

Well, our very talented Ninetta engineered the two movements to create her treble tatting stitch (tds) all on her own! At the time she did not posses either of the books and till I pointed it out to her, she had not noticed! Basically, the chain picot became the 1st half of the tds while the vapour stitch became the 2nd half of the tds! 

💧One of the reasons for the delay in posting this was ambiguity about whether I could share the diagram pic from the book with due credit. Anita suggested I ask Tamie Montgomery, who now runs The Online Tatting Class and is very mindful of such issues. She was very receptive and we discussed it. Although she said it was okay to use the accredited pics (like Georgia had done) since it was a 'technique', I still wasn't comfortable, till I hit upon the idea of showing it in thread as above. 

💧💧💧

Auld is gold bead effects!

Last year I found some new beading effects by Rhoda Auld in the same book and took the liberty to give them each a name based on words used by her.

Framed Bead - The diagram on page 107 has been in circulation through Georgia Seitz's classes for several years now. Georgia pitched it as a way to add a bead in the center of a ring and I used it in this butterfly. 

However, Rhoda showed it as a way to add a free bead on a long picot with bare thread framing the bead on both sides when slack is removed. Makes for some good possibilities.

Piggyback Beads - Now this was fun to discover! On pages 99-100 Rhoda shows how to place two free beads one over the other using simple movements. I tweaked it a bit to make it easier to tat.

Instead of loading the bead on the core thread where she has to move the chain stitches, I loaded it on the knotting thread (teal in above sample) and the rest of the process remains the same. On an earlier page, Rhoda makes the teal picot longer and ties up both picots till required for joining. Hence there are many options depending on the pattern.

My sample is a bit wonky, but you get the picture, right?

💧💧💧

Generosity knows no bounds!

💧I can't thank Anita Barry enough for gifting me so many vital books on my list. Without these I wouldn't have been able to review and edit Net Best's, Six T's of Shuttle Tatting, not with any satisfaction or confidence. These have helped me to confirm, correct, or refine terms for her glossary, and even understand and discover so many gems, some of which I took the liberty of adding to the glossary.

💧Judith Connors has been taking an active interest in the glossary, too, either as an answer to my question, as a reaction to my blog post, or reaching out on her own privately. You can imagine what a treasure trove of knowledge she is and how lucky we are to benefit from her skills. 

Judith sent me a copy of her 2000 book, Creative Tatting with beads, shuttle, and needle. It has some of my all-time favourite patterns besides numerous interesting effects and applications. While I read the book, tatting models will be later in the year. 

💧Late last year I received a wonderful digital book by Carin Jansen, Riego ReTatted (2023).  She needed some advice on selling the book through the USA, not being sure of its reception. With permission, I sought Anita's advice and we both gave our respective take urging Carin to put it on the market. Eventually she decided against it for personal reasons, though she has shared her Dutch version within her group. It is such a labour of love and we hope she will change her mind in future. Carin has chosen patterns from each of Mlle Eleonore Riego's books (1850-1886) and shared detailed steps and modernised versions/tips in a pleasant format alongside diagrams and written patterns. 

💧💧💧

I'd like to think that my blog has stayed true to its name to the extent that almost 95% of my posts have a tip of some kind. Unfortunately I couldn't stay true to the url since this blog soon turned into a tatting blog ... not that I'm complaining, LOL. 

Hope you continue to follow my blog and read my posts. 💞

You will find tutorial links to terms in this post here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html and you can use the search box on the right panel to look for past posts on the tags used here and much more.

💧💧💧

Many many thanks to all the wonderful tatters mentioned here and also to those not mentioned who have influenced, inspired, and improved my tatting journey and maintained my eagerness to blog.

Cluny looms

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My 2015 Cluny tatting series had links to many different types of Cluny looms. I have since come across a couple more that are listed here. ( I'm too scared of updating my post for fear it may jump from 2015 to 2018! Blogger as already messed up the September postings!) But this post is the result of what Jean Gordon sent me recently.

Shoebox Lid cut into a Cluny loom by Jean Gordon

Based on my Cluny tatting pictorials, Jean started learning on a card loom. However the card loom didn’t work for her when it came time to close the tally. Weaving went fine, but she had difficulty with the shed and removing the top loop from the loom. So she came up with the idea of a shoe box lid. Box looms are common and many have made them at home. What I like particularly about Jean’s loom is that

1. it is shallow, not deep and bulky like the shoe box, making storage a non-issue; and
2. she cut slits into the lid which acts as a built-in shed – no knobs or pins, and so on! 

Jean's Cluny tatting on a card loom

Notice how the slits are in the same place in both the flat card loom & the lid loom?

Handy Hands' Ultimate Cluny Loom
(image from pinterest)

I also came across the Ultimate Cluny Loom from Handy Hands. The name is justified because the loom can be worked by right and left handers by simply flipping it. Markings on both surfaces are easy to follow. Tamie has uploaded a video here about this product for Georgia’s Advanced Online Tatting Class.

Last but not least is Tim Kaylor’s 3D printed loom – his own original design! He was kind enough to offer to send me one when he first made them.

Meanwhile I’m getting ready to post the next pictorial showing 3-coloured Cluny leaves. And I need to start on that butterfly pattern – converting it into Cluny wings! Tons of tatting and blogging looming ahead :-D

Cluny Tatting Basics

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Last year, Georgia asked me to do coloured Cluny Tatting on a box loom starting with the basics. I used a card loom (for ease of photographing) which is exactly the same as using a box loom, except for the hollow depth of the latter. This space is created on a card loom when the Warps are pulled tight and the card curves slightly. Or by inserting a pencil or cardboard wedge to raise the loom threads (see Fig1). 

Fig1 - Card Loom with raised Warps

Secondly, while a flat card loom has notches/slits, the 3D box loom has knobs around which the thread is wound (see Fig2 - it is Tamie's pic from the Online Tatting Class) .

Fig2 - Box Loom (pic borrowed from Tamie)

All pics were ready in December 2017. But it has taken over 9 months of gestation to see the light of blog! And now when the time came, it seemed better to start with the very very basic steps which I hadn’t done previously, and then progress to colours. This can act as a refresher as well as to showcase my little tips/tweaks for ease of comparison and reference. I am not happy with the picture quality in my 2015 Cluny Tatting series. Hence this post will contain new pics, though some of the steps may have been covered then.

Due to this change, I will shift the overview and notes to next post where we start with 2 colour threads.

Cluny Tatting - the Basics 

This covers winding the loom and making a single coloured tally

Winding the Loom

A cardstock loom has been used throughout. 

The same principle applies to any kind of loom, including one’s hand.

Yellow shuttle is used to wind the loom (Warps) and red shuttle will be used for weaving. Both shuttles have same colour thread.

There are slits cut into the card loom where thread is inserted. In box loom, the winding is around the knobs. 
I started CTM, and made a ring : 3-3-3-3 before winding the loom.

 

1. Insert thread through A and out through B

2. Insert thread through C and out through D

 

3. Insert thread through E and perform ‘one small step’ from behind 

(this small step is not possible on a hand loom)

4. Pass shuttle through the back loop of A & B. 

This step ensures that closing of the tally can be done on the loom itself.  

 

5. Bring the thread from E out through F …

6. … and in through G (which is the same slit as C). 

This is optional, but I find it keep the loom thread taut at all times 
and the loom shuttle out of the way.

To raise the Warps, a folded card wedge (or pencil) is inserted at the top.

7. This side view shows the raised Warps clearly.

The loom is all set and we are now ready to start weaving our first tally.

Weaving the Tally

basic Cluny Tatting – with same thread (colour) in both shuttles.
2 threads ; 1 colour

UPDATE : See also new step – hitch the loom

 1. Since the previous element is on the left, 
we need to bring the weaving shuttle to the right to begin. 
Hold the ring in a pinch and pass shuttle Under and Over.

NOTE: Instead of simply passing the shuttle across, sometimes a half stitch (flipped or unflipped) is made to secure the base. I have not done it, because at times the stitch knots up for me.

2. Shuttle is in position now, and ready to start weaving.
(though not shown here, keep the ring & Warps in a pinch, as seen in Fig5 below)

 3. Move to the left – pass shuttle Under-Over-Under. 

4. 1 pass made

 5. Move to right - pass shuttle Over-Under-Over.

6. 2^nd pass made 

These 2 passes form 1 wrap or weave.
Nudge the thread towards the base to keep all passes close together.

 7. Continue weaving and shaping the tally.
One tally made with 6 wraps (12 passes).

We can now begin to close the tally. Keep tally in a pinch to avoid distortion.

 8. Discard the wedge. Remove thread from slits A & B. 
This is the first loop that needs to be closed by pulling B-C from the lower end. 
Notice how that one small step (Fig4 in Winding the loom) 
has kept all other threads in place on the loom.

9. The A-B loop disappears.

Now we need to close the lower loop. 

10. Remove thread from E and start pulling upwards. As the lower loop (C-D) becomes smaller, remove it from the loom and close completely.

In this case the loop is twisting. Inserting a crochet hook through it weighs it down, 
allowing for a smooth knot-free closure.

11. All loops closed. 1 tally or Cluny leaf or petal made.

In the next post in this series, we begin working with a 2^nd colour. All updates will be listed in the My Tutorials page. For lots more tips, resources, and potential, check out my 2015 Cluny Tatting series.

…to be continued