[...] thing that caught my fancy in Ithaca is variegated thread. Actually Tamara was combining threads of various colors to make new shades in her Polychrome class
A totally different story, and even more interesting :)
[...] Sumac has made some fantastic tatted Celtic pieces with variegated combined with straight color. The variegated thread is really effective in the chains that weave in and out with the color changing.
Combined with "straight", it *can* be very effective, esp depending on the overall size of the piece (the bigger the better). But I've seen some tatted horrors in variegated thread; one piece in particular looked lopsided, with one side blue, the other white (a small piece). Another, which had a range of more than two colours was even worse...
When I got home I thought to check the color change.
It's about 12-15". That's about the length of thread I've been using for
the petals on the flower I'm doing (the second one!) so that's not going to
work.
Don't discard it; try it. The changes, even though spread over a longish distance, are *gradual*; depending on where you start/end you may get a very nice effect, with one petal being white-to light blue, the next light to medium, etc
I imagine I'll have to make my own variegated to get the effect I'm after
I don't think you *can*, unless you paint the piece after making it in a single colour...
I'm wondering if there are some thicker threads (I think I'm using #80 tatting cotton, it's downstairs) with a short change in color.
None that I know of; the only ones with a short distance are the multi-coloured (more than 2) metallics (Madeira's Astros, Sulky's 142 series, Kreinik's cords), and they're all finer than a 50/2 (sewing thread) cotton. But you might try blending (using in the same needle) one of those with a "straight" thread; it would add a bit of a sparkle, as well as a colour-shift.
And what does everybody else think about variegated thread?
I used to think it abomination; now I think it's a minefield :)
I use the variegated metallics quite often (mostly in conjunction with either 50/2 or 80/2 cotton) but, IMO, they don't always work, even when the colour changes happen frequently (ca 1.5" per colour; 4.5" per 3-colour sequence). They're best as workers in hst areas, or as weavers in tallies (BTW, the only time I used tatting cotton 80 *almost* successfully, was in a coarser lace, where I used the variegated as the leaf-tally weaver. Still somewhat unpredictable, but not bad). If I use them as straight passives or cloth stitch workers, I make sure that I hang them in "just so" -- with the distance more-or-less halved, and the same colours never running together. Still better is using 2prs, *plaited*, as the edge -- that *quarters* the distance (if you're careful in hanging in), and offers more colour play.
You can see variegated metallic thread used as workers in hst and cl stitch in the "Partridge in a Pear Tree 2" (#1 was all gold, and is not pictured). URL in the signature, then go to the '91-'99 non-series designs. The hst is better than the cloth, but the cloth is not too bad, because there are three pairs constantly changing; you don't get too many distinct stripes of a single colour that way.
I love the effect Sulochona got using varigated for the crocheted tape in her
Romanian Point Lace piece!
? You're the second person to mention that piece... where can one see it?
Jane in Vermont, USA where it got into the 50s F today! It felt like Spring
<G>
We've been *down* to low 50ties for the past few days; it feels like winter's here for good :) And I've been "out of whack" all day today, due to the time change (fall - back); the clock said one thing, but my stomach sang a different song... <g>
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Tamara P Duvall
Lexington, Virginia, USA
Formerly of Warsaw, Poland
http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd/
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