Yes it's that time of the week again!!!
This time it’s not a moan but more a matter of talking to myself about a couple of ‘techniques’. Well I think they’re more ‘suggestions’ than techniques as such.
The two which I find most amusing is ‘posting the shuttle through the ring and/or doing an extra half double before closing’. Now this is meant to make the base of the ring lie better and to make it easier to open the ring if needed.
When I first heard about this idea I adopted it. In fact I used it for several months until I decided that it was a pain in the ‘you know where’ and which also slowed me down. Anything which means letting go of the shuttle slows the tatter down and this certainly slowed me.
So, I rang up BC3 (for those who don’t know BC3 - he’s the only brain cell I’ve got left and is a good hardworking soul) to ask him to check it out.
It dawned on me that the only reason that the rings might look better is because I was being more careful when closing them after 'posting' the shuttle and that if I went back to my old ways and closed carefully I’d probably get the same result. So back I went to my original method and it was true - when I closed more carefully (without the posting and/or extra half double) the rings did look better. It was also the same with doing the extra half double.
Then I questioned myself and realised that I didn’t want ‘perfect’ tatting (whatever that is!) but wanted to enjoy the craft so I went back to my ‘good old ways’ and life is good!!!
7 comments:
We are full agreement on that one, Jane!
Thank you for posting your thoughts on posting the shuttle! I have wondered if it really made a difference.
That looks fabulous!! :)
Me too. Can never be bothered with all that.
I find posting the shuttle through the ring before closing only makes it harder for me to open the ring. The only reasons I will post the shuttle is when I want the ring to be more rounded or when I am using a split ring in the middle of a chain as the chain will snug up tighter to the ring.
Sue - it doesn’t make a difference for me but it might for others! Just slows me down.,
Patti - as I’ve never tried to open a ring from the base I’d not considered whether it makes it harder or not!!! That’s a good tip about doing it when making a split ring in the middle of a chain. I’ll definitely try it when I’m in that situation next. Thanks Patti.
Like Patti, I post my main shuttle when making split rings end-to-end. This makes a subtle visual difference to the 'line'.
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