For the love of Owls

One of my most recent projects has been for my daughter who is smitten with owls.

On one of my many trips to Spotlight our local craft store I found a lovely owl in silver coloured metal to add to a necklace and have pondered for quite a while on how to add him into a tatted piece of jewelry.
 Lots of research on techniques for embellishment, led me to try my hand at encasing a brass ring with tatting. I have to say that I haven't mastered shuttle tatting onto a ring well enough to get the look I wanted and so I did a single crochet around the hoop, and tatted onto the individual stitches.I was very happy with the finish.
On looking at this picture I noticed as you probably have that the pattern doesn't look quite right on the bottom right of the ring. Another battle with my perfectionist demon here .........
The pattern was correct but unfortunately I didn't notice the missing ring was tucked behind the necklace when I photographed him before sending him on his 15,000 km flight home to my daughter....hey ho there's a lesson learned, more pictures and closer inspection next time,
I will take you through the stages of the pattern over the next few posts, so that you can also learn the techniques used and make your very own necklace.

1. Covering A Brass Ring 

 I will demonstrate 3 techniques:-

 Covering a ring in thread using single crochet 

 Covering a ring with tatting using a Needle

 Covering a ring with tatting using a Shuttle

And in later posts I will demonstrate how the ring was embellished using:-

Tatting Ankars 

This is a technique where a large ring is made and a smaller ring links to the next large ring, but sits in front, and between both larger rings giving the appearance of two rows of tatting.

I will demonstrate techniques for both Needle tatting and Shuttle tatting.

Tatting Shuttles

So it's time to talk about tatting shuttles!
Well there are many different styles out there, and they can become an addictive collectors item as easily as you will become addicted to tatting. There are three main categories with many variations on the theme.

Flat Shuttles

Bobbin Shuttles

I have tried bobbin shuttles and love the hook as it's hard to lose!
however I found them uncomfortable and the ratchet on my plastic shuttle was very noisy,

Post Shuttles

I like to work with a clover shuttle, which is in the post style of shuttle as they have a nice little uplifted tip that you can use to pull your thread through a picot, or as you will undoubtedly do many times in the beginning to undo a portion of work that has become knotted, or is not true to the pattern.

The best shuttle to have is one that fits nicely into the palm of your hand and is comfortable to work with.
Shuttles come in different materials, silver, plastic, wood, bone,



I use a separate crochet hook, although I do tend to lose it frequently so often have several on hand.

My dogs know to run for cover when I get out of my chair as they often get showered with lost crochet hooks and beads.
You can make you own shuttles, I have seen cardboard ones used, ones made from plastic  food containers, and carved from wood.

You can also decorate your plastic shuttles to personalise them with colourful paper napkins and Mod Podge.





I haven't tried to decorate a shuttle yet but Romana has a nice tutorial on this art on her blog that you may want to check out.


decoromana.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/how-to-decoupage-tatting-shuttle.html

Needle Tatting Tools

There are two types of tatting

•  Needle Tatting
•  Shuttle Tatting

For this post I will focus on needle tatting. 

Tools for Needle Tatting

You don't need many tools to begin tatting and for the beginner you may find needle tatting the easiest to learn first before you move onto a shuttle. 

For this post I will focus on needle tatting

Needle Tatting Tools

Needles aren't easy to find off the shelf and this can be a little frustrating if like me you decide upon a craft and immediately want to get going!

 However I found a way around that problem I used doll making needles to start off with, they are long and allow you room to create your stitches and are very cheap, I paid around $2 for a pack of 3, there was only one in the pack at the correct length but at that price I thought it was a good way to start. The needles are sharp and so blunted and smoothed the tip with sandpaper first before using it.

I made my first bracelet using this needle while I waited for my set of tatting needles to arrive in the post after ordering them online.

 Needles come in a variety of sizes and the finer the needle the finer the thread you use and the more delicate the lace you produce.

The two needles in the picture on the right are my first doll making needles, and as you can see the long needle is very close to the size of the far left tatting needle.

I have included a sizing guide for both thread and needle. Working with a size 3 or 5 needle is much easier for learning and size 10 cotton. Once you have mastered the techniques you can work on finer lace.

 

It's also handy to have the following tools for either needle or shuttle work:-

•  A couple of crochet hooks in your work box to pull threads through picots for joining, and for threading beads. I like to use a 0.75 mm to go through tiny bead holes and a 1.3mm, or 1.5mm to pull thread through picots as the tiny hook can split the thread.
• Some general sewing cotton to assist in the threading of small beads or beads onto picots
• A pair of embroidery scissors
• A couple of paper clips for beading 
• Or a safety stitch marker used for knitting or crochet - * Do not use safety pins as your thread will become lodged in the spring and may split or break.
• A needle threader especially if you are like me and struggle to see the eye in the needle!
• A little note book and pen is also handy to write down your pattern or draw a picture of what you are working on with the stitch numbers added.

And finally we need thread!

Thread needs to be tightly twisted and highly mercerized, strong, smooth, have a nice sheen and be easy to work with. Crochet cottons are ideal for tatting.

What on earth is mercerizing I hear you say! I asked that too

Well it's a chemical treatment applied to cotton fibres or fabrics to permanently impart a greater affinity for dyes and various chemical finishes. Mercerizing also gives cotton cloth increased tensile strength, greater absorptive properties, and, usually, a high degree of lustre, depending on the method used.
 It's strength makes it ideal for making heirloom pieces that you want to pass on to future generations.

These are the threads I work with but there are many more on the market, when you read tatting blogs you will hear the name Lizbeth thread mentioned often, it is a favourite of many tatters. I have also had success with Milfords threads and DMC cotton threads. I will add some links of suppliers in my links in the right hand sidebar of my blog, but please send me links to add if you find a good supplier.

So we have the tools to begin needle tatting!