wish to be a fish!

Pin It now!

Oh yes, you read it right! I do wish I could be a fish and stay in the water. It has been so horrid – hot and humid – here for the last 3 weeks that all one wants to do is laze in cool water or swim about like a fish. All energy is sapped out. We have been facing temperatures in the 110°F or 44°C range and no respite in sight.

So as I was saying, this adorable little fish tat-along came at the right moment!

I’ve admired this cute Kiss Kiss fish all along. Loaded my shuttles with thread and beads.

UPDATE : click to download Kiss Kiss Fish pattern pdf.

designed by Carollyn Brown

Size 20 Lizbeth – 132 Tropical Punch and 

pearl beads which are slightly larger than the required size 11

Day 1 – the tail fins and ventral part of the body.

Two long tails from each shuttle act as the padding for the body to allow the fish to keep it’s shape. I really like how she used the tails instead of adding thread separately!

Needless to say, the stitches are unflipped here (reverse stitch for encapsulation or padded tatting).

Day 2 – eyes, kissing lips and dorsal half of body.

With beads for eyes and lips in place, the encapsulation continues on. Dorsal and ventral fins are made with decorative picots.

After joining & knotting back to the tail fins, I simply tied a bow with the thread ends instead of hiding ends. Yup, lazy!

I thoroughly enjoy patterns that can be worked all from the front! And a sweet cute little fish is just so much fun! I do wish I could’ve taken pics against better background with seaworld props. But the weather does not permit all the physical activity involved ;-P I'm fried fish here ....

I intend to make this again with thread & bead sizes complementing each other. Perhaps then I will exert myself for a better background.

Carollyn has explained everything beautifully with stepwise pictures. She has given me permission to draw out a diagram for her patter pdf. So stay tuned to her blog !
It may be a small fish, but the designing is very clever - no small fry !

Thanks a heap, Carollyn, for this wonderful tat-along & pattern!

I still wish I could be this fish :-D

rising a month late

Pin It now!

tatting on a paperclip - free pattern

Radiant Sun Paperclip

designed for Online Tatting Class, April 2017 

download free pdf here

   

This little project was worked in 2 days flat – from ideation to execution to presentation – so that we could have a surprise paperclip pattern before end of April.

You know that I am not proficient with beads or their terminology, etc. So there were many senior moments here. Only later after pdf was made and sent (in record time for me! And this included a quick test tat and valuable feedback from Phyllis), I emailed Nina Libin for info and she graciously explained the correct terms along with links (which helped immensely during class). Georgia also shared links I didn’t know about, in class. I have used those terms & links in this post.

It all started when I saw a jewellery ad in the newspaper and wondered if I could get beads to stay positioned as free-floating rays using a shuttle.

I had an idea and quickly searched for similar projects & tutorials but as often happens, nothing came up close.

Pattern is a simple chain with beads radiating freely around .

To execute my idea I needed the end/stopper bead to be large.

Slip bugle bead and pearl bead on to a picot loop ;

Before tensioning the picot, loop it over the pearl snuggly like a noose (like we do for the SSSR or LTROR);

Pull back the extra length of loop, ensuring that the wrapped thread stays tightly noosed around the bead.

Continue with chain.

Pretty simple, easy, and no extra tools required.

Now to put it to the test, I started to tug at the pearls – 2 stayed in place, but one fell off.

One can use this method only if the piece is going to lie flat – glued or appliqued, and not worn/used.

Back to the drawing board. This time I used a beading needle to thread back through the bugle bead only. Of course it worked. But it has been around for ages – called the beaded fringe*

download complete Radiant Sun Paperclip pattern here 

 pattern is so small, that it can quickly be finger-tatted . Or needle-tatted

A 'luggage tag loop' is used to start. It creates a complete double stitch. 

Care must be taken to keep the shuttle to the right.

I chose a blue clip for sky with the yellow sun emerging. 

For the right shade, I used 3 strands of Anchor embroidery thread.

If I leave tails on both ends, doesn’t it look like a headdress ?!

Many more ideas radiated from this, but the sun is setting for now :-)

* other terms : beaded stem (Corina Meyfeldt prestrings the beads and pulls into place when required) ; single file beaded picots (Nina Libin, Book #18)

this is not my first pattern with bugle beads on a paperclip - I made several trials of another pattern in February (remember, Ninetta? :-P), but have let the final tatting & presentation lapse. Should get back to it ....

Grateful thanks to Georgia, Nina, & Phyllis

hope you enjoy tatting this quick little pattern :-)