Ginkgo Leaf

 

Last week I made a "short" (brief video in vertical format) of tatting this Ginkgo Leaf pattern and uploaded it to YouTube. It's also on Instagram and a slightly longer version is on TikTok. 

Since it's a short, it's not a complete how-to, but only a quick peek to get people interested. Although... surprisingly it contains a nice demo of the Catherine Wheel Join. 

My original, longer video of a Catherine Wheel Join is still on YouTube, uploaded 14 years ago. Wow, that old one looks so blurry! Amazing how far technology has come in 14 years. :-)

Tatting a Catherine Wheel Join from the back side

Here's the demo I did showing the tatting technique of the Catherine Wheel Join (CWJ) from the back side. 

The reason for doing it that way would be if the project was being tatted "front side, back side" and the CWJ was on the back side, and if you really wanted the smooth curving chains having an unbroken line of double stitches showing on the front side. So, probably rarely used, but there was interest so I made this video!

It's really just like the normal (front side) method of the CWJ, but reversed. Up where there was down, etc.

YouTube told me that my first CWJ video (the "front side" one) was made 10 years ago. Great Scott! Has it really been that long?

Lark's Head Picot Join from the Back Side

 The Lark's Head Picot Join looks just like a double stitch (on the front side). There are several tutorials for how to do it online, but the ones I found all showed how to do it from the front side of the tatting. I simply reversed those instructions to tat it from the back side.

Note: double stitches are in reverse order when tatting back side (2nd half first, 1st half second).

Tatting video: reverse work, join, chain, and ring

It was quiet in the house yesterday, and so a good opportunity to make another tatting video. I intended to make a video showing how to tat a chain, but it turned out showing quite a few basics.

It shows the way I tat, which is a little different, but the "flip" of the double stitches is the same anyway. I used "Lizbeth" thread size 3 for the demo.

The background music is "Adirondack" provided by SmartSound.

Tatting a mock ring with bead in center

A self-closing mock ring (often abbreviated as SCMR) is actually a tatted chain with a loop left at the beginning. To add a bead in the center, tat to reach halfway around the bead, then slip the bead onto the loop. Here I've put the bead onto a small crochet hook and I'll use the hook to pull the loop through the bead, but there are other ways to do it, too.

After the bead is placed onto the loop of thread, put the shuttle though the loop. A trick I like to use is to leave a paper clip in as a space saver, to make the final join easier. The paper clip is hanging between the start of the tatting and the bead, so it's sort of like holding a small picot temporarily.

Continue by tightening the core (shuttle thread) around the bead.

Here the bead is in place. Continue tatting the rest of the way around the bead.

Now the paper clip is removed, showing the space it had been saving. This is where the crochet hook is inserted to pull the shuttle thread through.

Finish with a lock join.

Bead in center of completed mock ring.

This is a technique I use often in my tatted jewelry.
 The pattern for the above example uses one shuttle and ball thread.

Supplies: size 20 Lizbeth thread, an 8mm round bead, and 24 size 11 seed beads. (To use a different size thread or beads, the stitch counts will need to be adjusted to fit). 

String the 24 seed beads onto the ball thread, then wind just a small amount of thread onto the shuttle. The beads remain on the ball thread.


SCMR 2, (bead picot with 3 beads, 2-2) 3 times, bead picot with 3 beads, 2.
Place the round bead onto the loop that was left at the beginning, put the shuttle through the loop, and tighten around bead.

Continue the SCMR with a picot at the end of the round bead, 2, (bead picot with 3 beads, 2-2) 3 times, bead picot with 3 beads, 2.
Tighten, then lock join to base of round bead.

This is how much I have shown in the photos. I hope this will give you an idea that you will enjoy using.

Trying to get my "Celeste" design to be easier

1st side with Alligator Join

1st side with modified Alligator Join

Currently I am in the process of tweaking my "Celeste" necklace design. My first attempts are shown on this post from last October. Originally, I tatted the center motif in 2 halves, which meant more ends to hide. When I got the design out again after several months, it occurred to me that the center motif should be easy enough to tat in one piece. Well, maybe not easy - but possible!

But, then I ran into issues with the joins. On one side, considering the direction the threads were going, it seemed logical to do an "Alligator Join", which resulted in a smooth curve around the central beaded ring. But, when I reached the other side, my only option there was a Lock Join, which breaks the curve. The 2 sides don't match - that's unacceptable!

I experimented some more, and discovered that a regular Lock Join at the 1st side just looks messy. So then I tried doing the 1st half of an Alligator Join, followed by the 2nd half of a double stitch unflipped, to lock the curve. The 2nd photo shows how this makes the 1st join look more like a regular Lock Join, while keeping the tatting going in the direction that I want for the design.

Well, I've now re-read this post and it all sounds very tedious! Maybe I'll go back to tatting it in 2 halves, after all.

The Catherine Wheel Join, in a still photo document

In response to requests for still photos from my video demo of the Catherine Wheel join, I grabbed some frames from the video and put them onto a 2 page PDF file.
To download the PDF,
click here.

Catherine Wheel Join - my video demo

I made this video to demonstrate how I make Catherine Wheel joins, because I find them really useful. This type of join forms a smooth curve with no dips or breaks when outlining another tatted element in a design. The video just shows a single ring being outlined in order to explain the basic process.

Examples of where I've used this type of join include the Boomerang earrings and the Amoeba Triangle. I also have another pattern in progress that uses it, so you'll be seeing more of this join.

To download a PDF file of still photos showing the steps of making this join, CLICK HERE.