Thursday, 7 August 2025

celebration tatting

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We celebrate the brother-sister bond of Rakshabandhan on the 9th of August this year. So I had this strong urge to collect motifs into rakhis, as I have done a few times over the years. 

I had a collection of these rose and floral motifs from past test-tatting and tutorial exercises, and I had intended to arrange and attach them into a necklace or collar to celebrate International Lace Day (June 22nd, 2025). 

Both motifs are adaptations of the central rounds of Eleonore Endrucks' pattern E42 in her 1920 book, ‘Die Schiffchen-Spitzen’, and reworked by Paola Emilia Rotuletti (2021). (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NgPuAzM83cjVoWvzFaiAIp7UDbuueBB0/view)

The small motif on top is the E42 Roses by Daniela Galli (2025) which she kindly shared for the ILD 2025. Pattern PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HiDjl4A_CkRcRGqpjhEItWqgEI1bGMhE/view 
There is a small and a large rose, both of which can be worked with a ball and shuttle in one pass.

The large motif below is the E42 Flower Motif by Muskaan (2023). It is my 6-repeat adaptation for my E42 Antiks Snowflake (2023). Pattern PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U5J5sjuAA7D0qGPOGnK9RJ83MKdNkWSZ/view

I had used the large motifs to demonstrate three ways of climbing out without the need for split chains. https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/11/game-antics.html

I love lock stitch aka lock chains and simply picked up the knitting cotton size 10 threads in contrasting colours. I worked with one ball and shuttle. The rakhi motifs are all worked in size 20 crochet cotton from various brands.

 
Just so I remember for future, here's how I brought the motifs together with a Swarovski faceted bead (4.5mm) in the center. Pre-string the bead onto a length of thread and slide it to the center; bring both ends through the layered motifs; adjust and wind one end on a shuttle. 
Now from the ball pull off a length similar to one half of the first thread, leave it aside and start tatting a lock chain from the center. When desired length is reached, remove shuttle and again wind it with the other end and repeat the lock chain with ball thread on the other side. The bead remains locked in.

And for the tips, I inserted a bead through both threads at one end, tied a knot niched with the bead and trimmed off the tails. Repeated it on the other side. This seemed the quickest way to finish off the rakhi/bracelet.

The above large motif is from the original E42 center - notice it has 8 repeats.
In fact each E42 rose is also slightly different with tiny tweaks. It's fun to play around.

All together again. Rakhi traditionally has a thin string for tying. However, for a bracelet, one can use broader braids, which are shorter in length with relevant findings instead of ties.
Of course if tatted specifically for a bracelet or rakhi, one can embellish the motifs with beads, picots, etc. Mine are SOUP rakhis hence plain.
💥💥💥💥💥 

Now I had initially collected the motifs back in May with the intention of making a necklace or collar as stated at the beginning.
I played with arrangements using all the motifs at hand. The above could become a necklace with addition of beads and bling...while the one below could be a collar.

Besides these, I had several other arrangements, including asymmetrical ones but deleted the pics someway along the way.

After several possible arrangements, this is what I found the most appealing and settled on it. Tatted ring or curled ring connectors would be used to link adjacent motifs. However I couldn't get myself to accomplish even this simple task and the lace day passed by without any tatting. 

Who knows if the mood takes me I might even free the motifs from the rakhis and rearrange as a necklace. What is your verdict/preference? Leave as rakhis or make a necklace?

NOTE - These are free patterns but please name the designer and the pattern when you make and post And also use the hashtag #Endrucks1920Project.

Many many thanks to Daniela and Paola - always ready to help and share 💕

Related Posts
Antiks Snowflake pattern and more - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=Antiks
Patterns for Rakhi/Bracelets - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/patterns-designs.html - listed under Holidays, Festival and Jewellery - Hands.
Endrucks, Holidays and Jewellery directories also have some rakhi models -https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w1TZBg-HIzseGEUoJ-rko7tNbtSgZY5A18Oy2Y9Hh0Y/view

Thursday, 31 July 2025

interwoven beaded bracelet

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As promised, here is another pattern and technique reveal from my bead tatting post back in May. All relevant links are listed at the end of this post.
A simple name - Muskaan's Interwoven Beaded Bracelet, made using four shuttles with pre-strung beads on each and Barbara Arango's variation of the Interlocking split rings technique.

Above is a practice pattern I am sharing. As you can see in the inset, traditionally 4 shuttles are used and the split rings are tatted simultaneously, lying close to each other. The idle pair of shuttles is passed through the open SR and then the ring is closed so that the next SR will is encapsulated and overlap with the previous. video link at end

Barbara used the flexibility of 4 shuttles to distance the SRs with a chain between two SRs. She used it to create the desired effect in a round doily! 
Practice Pattern: 
To keep track, I used 4 different thread colours in each shuttle....
Sh1: yellow; Sh2: cream; Sh3: pink; Sh4: blue.
I started with two normal rings.
Sh1) R1: 18. dnrw, SS
Sh2) Ch1: 6.
Sh3) R2: 18. dnrw, SS [insert R1 through R2]
Sh4) Ch2: 6.
Sh1) SR3: 9 / 9. dnrw, SS  [pass shuttles 3 & 4 back to front through SR3 before closing it]
Sh2) Ch3: 6.
Sh3) SR4: 9 / 9. dnrw, SS  [pass shuttles 1 & 2 back to front through SR4 before closing it]
Sh4) Ch4: 6.
Continue the SR steps for desired length.
Posting the shuttles front to back will give the opposite overlap.

Having 4 shuttles meant I could have beaded strings instead of Barbara's chains between the SRs! Which led to the bracelet above. 
Muskaan's Interwoven Beaded Bracelet   ©May2025
String all 4 shuttles with seed beads. In my model worked with Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8 ---
Sh1 & Sh2 with teal thread, CTM, and purple seed beads
Sh3 & Sh4 with dark purple thread, CTM, and yellow seed beads

Follow the process and instructions as explained in the practice pattern. However, instead of chain, slide beads from both shuttles before starting the next ring or SR. 
Sharing only the repeated portion of the pattern ---
Sh1) R1: 3 [- 3]x7. Slide 5 beads from Sh1 & 2. dnrw, SS
Sh3) R2: 3 [- 3]x7. Slide 5 beads from Sh3 & 4. dnrw, SS [insert R1 through R2]
Sh1) SR3: 3 [- 3]x3 / 3 [- 3]x3. Slide 5 beads from Sh1 & 2. dnrw, SS [pass shuttles 3 & 4 back to front through SR3 before closing it] 
Sh3) SR4: 3 [- 3]x3 / 3 [- 3]x3. Slide 5 beads from Sh3 & 4. dnrw, SS [pass shuttles 1 & 2 back to front through SR4 before closing it] 
Repeat SR3 and SR4 for desired length. 
Posting the shuttles front to back will give the opposite overlap.

I ended with a curled ring (see inset) that works as a toggle for a quick & lazy finish.

Note: The beads are a slightly different size. Unfortunately I can't find my notes but I remember there was a little TIP I wanted to share. Oh well, perhaps I will find it some day and make a proper PDF presentation. 

Future Ideas - Add more beads in place of the picots. Throw off rings or decorative picots on one or either side. Attach more braids with same or additional colour for a broader version. The alternate SRs can differ in size or different sized threads can be used.

UPDATE (18th Aug, 2025) - Splocik has used the tweaked braid as a foundation, adding rounds around it, for two bookmark versions here - https://oczka2.blogspot.com/2025/08/zakladka-na-podstawie-motywu.html

💛💛💛

INTERWOVEN  versus  INTERLOCKING

Often the two are used interchangeably in tatting terminology. Confining myself to the split ring braids,  there are several techniques and effects that tatters have created over the years. These may range from a single row of split rings (called a SR braid or cord), or a double row where the SRs are interlaced and lie adjacent to each other. 

Or the braids may lie 'stacked' with overlapping SRs. These are the SR braids that are interwoven where the SRs from two braids lie intertwined through each other. These are also called interlocking SR braids and can be made with either 2 or 4 shuttles - two independent braids woven through each other; a foundational braid encapsulated within the second on-going braid; simultaneously tatting the SRs using 4 shuttles. 

Then there is the 3D chain maille effect where each subsequent SR lies at right angles to the previous one just like in interlocking chains and links in jewellery. I prefer to call these 3D SR braids Interlocked and the 'flat' ones Interwoven. This gives a more exacting visual especially since there are several ways to interweave and interlock the braids, whether 2D or 3D. 


Related Posts and Links -
 
 
Simple interweaving - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2024/03/exciting-firsts.html 
Interlocking split rings 2 Karen Cabrera Lesson 79 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR04RLHdmA0   (2 shuttles)
Interlocking split rings 2 Karen Cabrera Lesson 80 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBrDRLFibO8   (4 shuttles)
How to start and end SR without a knot - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2016/11/beginning-or-ending.html 
SR braids, including beaded, some with pictorials - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=SR+braid 
Interlaced SR braids with pictorials and patterns - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=interlaced+SR
Tatting with Beads - a few effects - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/05/bead-tatting.html

Monday, 28 July 2025

viral spread

Pin It now! This would've been the first time an entire month would've been devoid of a single blog post here in my 12/13 years of blogging! Couldn't let that happen, now.
 
The reason for this silence and absence has been my own viral flu which came on a bit severely this time. Since we started taking the flu vaccine annually, we only get some very mild symptoms, easily covered with some paracetamol tablets. Despite the antibiotic course, it left me totally devoid of energy - both mental and physical. I am still taking extra measures to overcome the inflammation and this leaves me very little time to do much.  And while I have been visiting blogs to see new posts, I haven't been in a very chatty mood nor mode, hence no comments ... hope to make up for it soon. As it is, the new line of treatment I started some months back hasn't worked, at least clinically, leaving me more exhausted than previously. The book editing has been shelved for probably two months now and I might not be able to get back to it till late September when I see my pulmonologist with blood tests, etc. :-(

All I can manage are kind of mindless activities which is why the  other virus (below) has been detected at an opportune time ...

💦💦💦💦💦

Interestingly, another virus was detected – a simple ‘s’ that spoiled the party! Spellings are so important especially when citing or crediting. 

‘Die Schiffchen-Spitzen’, 1920, by Eleonore Endrucks
NOT  
‘Die Schiffchen-Spitszen’

 

I profusely apologise for inadvertently introducing an ‘s’ into the book title when we started the Endrucks 1920 Project. Initially my spelling was correct, but when I typed it in my fall-back word doc, the 's' creeped in and I continued to copy and paste this in my blog, PDFs, and articles. :-( 
Except for a miniscule number, this has also been copy-pasted by almost everybody through the years till Manju Talekar’s sharp eyes spotted the error and pointed it out some weeks back. 
Since then, my extremely supportive PIC Ninetta Caruso and I have been on a mission to update all Google docs, blog posts, and pattern PDFs with the correct spelling.

We also created a checklist of other updates we had been mulling over since this has been an evolving and an unbelievably expanding Project. I am taking this opportunity to simultaneously incorporate as many of these updates as possible and Ninetta will be doing the same eventually (she has already completed the spelling-change in her PDFs!). This often requires some reformatting and could easily take up to an hour or more for each PDF. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about articles written for publications but we can be extra vigilant in future.

PLEASE NOTE that while the original reworked pattern PDFs have her full name, Eleonore Endrucks-Leichtenstern, we have removed her maiden surname in the derivative patterns and now use only Eleonore Endrucks. And all her 44 patterns are listed as E1, E12, etc., where E stands for Endrucks.

We are also adding the links which did not exist before, viz., the EP LINKS and the Directory links.

My sincere apologies once again and please do not hesitate to inform us of ANY discrepancy or problem you might encounter in any of the documents. We wish to remain as error-free as possible.

And many many thanks to Manju and Ninetta!