Beads (and other stuff)

[prinnyc.livejournal.com]

What size beads work best on #10 thread? The only beads I have were loose bags at a yard sale; good for variety, not good for matching projects!

In other news, I haven't ordered any threads online yet. I don't have enough money to buy EVERYTHING; how can I choose? *g*

Friday night I decided to stay up and watch M*A*S*H at midnight, and to kill time I looked up how to do SCMRs. I've pretty much figured how to do them... I think... but what purpose do they have in patterns? What can they do that plain rings can't?

Rings on split rings. Are they any more involved than just, while working on the bottom half of the split ring, rotating the work again and making another ring, then going back to the split ring?


And what else...? *digs through brain* Okay, after I learn split chains, what other tricks or techniques or whatever are there to learn?

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I'd think size 8 seed beads would be a good size for size 10 thread.

SCMR is useful if you want to make a ring that has other rings coming off of it. The central ring in each of the little clusters on this snowflake (http://www.geocities.com/emmacrew/tatting/snowflakes/scmrflowerflake.html) is an SCMR. You stop doing the SCMR partway through and make a ring, then continue the SCMR, make another ring, etc.

You've got the right idea for rings on split rings! Works the same way as rings on SCMRs. Here's (http://www.geocities.com/emmacrew/tatting/itbkmk.html) a little bookmark for playing with that idea if you want...

Once you learn the split chain, I think you've have got most of the main techniques down. Everything else I've seen has just been combining those basics in various ways. There is a single-shuttle split ring, but enh, I don't see much point in it, honestly.

[prinnyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks! A couple days ago I tried this fish (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nickeb/fish2small.htm), but I was watching the TV more than I was watching the tatting and I managed to mess it up. I'll try it again in a few days... pretty ambitious project for me. *g*

[moniqueleigh]

Yeah, I love that Riet came up with the SSSR (Yay! for new techniques), but I think an SCMR does equally well, unless you want a line of 'em (like her dragonfly).

[jesslin.livejournal.com]

Afraid I have to poke you on this one. The SSSR has been independently 'invented' by at least three people ( I'm one of 'em) and had appeared in the Tatting Times newsletter several years ago. I vaguely remember Riet saying she got the idea from me, but I could be TOTALLY wrong on that - it's been a while. I will definitely confess that her directions are clearer than mine :)

The main reason I came up with SSSRs was specifically to get rid of the ball thread - I was looking for total portability and a way to do edgings that were near instantaneous to pick up or put down. If you have a ball thread in use, I agree that SCMRs are much simpler to deal with. It's all in what effect you're aiming for. It's incredibly wonderful having a huge bag of tatting tricks for every occasion :)

[moniqueleigh]

Well, cool! I don't remember what Riet said about how she came up with the idea, only that her instructions are pointed out most often on the tatting lists.

SCMR's don't require a ball thread; you can also simply use a 2nd shuttle (it's actually easier to use a 2nd shuttle if you're planning to do any further embellishments off the chain).

And I think almost every "new" technique out there has been "invented" previously by at least one other person. SCMR's were actually described (but unnamed) in a 19th century book I've seen. The only difference besides the name was that the 19th century instructions didn't have the loop. One simply left a mock picot (called purls in that book) & then joined the 2 ends after completing the chain/elements.

One of these days, I'll see about getting a copy of that pattern scanned to share with everybody. It's really neat to see how many of our "modern" techniques are actually from the 19th century.

[jesslin.livejournal.com]

True :) The number of techniques found, forgotten, and found again is probably staggering, and not just in tatting.

Also, my apologies. I always refer to multi-thread tatting patterns as shuttle and 'ball'. Truthfully, I also use a second shuttle as often as not - it simplifies a lot of things, like block tatting. They're still not single shuttle patterns ;)

Looking forward to see your 19th century stuff!