thanks for the suggestion. i have already started my wood tatting
shuttle and finished it all but the middle. it is not very pretty, but
i am sure some sand paper and some acrylic paint and varnish will hide
most of the little mistakes.
i filed 3/8 inch x 2 inch thick board that was cut to about 2 1/2
inches or 3 inches long down with a rasp and a fine file, so i didn't
do any fancy cutting. it looks a lot like most tatting shuttles, but i
have more of an arch than i should have. once it is done it will be
fine.
your idea would be great if you could use those cheap tea or herbal
bags to cover them. just drop the ball into the bag and pull the
little drawstring and the thread would be protected for awhile.
thanks for your help.
from susan
--- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
You don't need a tatting shuttle at all -- it's not so much a tool as
a way to keep the thread wound up and clean, and make it easier to
handle. I use a shuttle because a ball of thread would be very hard
to slip between your fingers, and you'd keep dropping it, whereupon
it would unwind and roll across the floor. Bare thread would also
get very dirty and worn, because fine thread is used up very slowly,
and would be passed through your hands many times before being
incorporated into the lace.
When I wanted to make a trivet out of cotton mason's line, I made a
shuttle out of the twine itself, by winding it into a skein and
securing it with its own tail. I kept track of the beginning so that
I could pull the skein from the center.
I strongly *don't* recommend using anything thicker than DMC #10
cordonnette (which is a trifle thinner than other 10/6 threads) for
practice, and twice that, don't use cabled twine!
i saw a simple tatting shuttle that i think i will imitate and make
with some thin veneer. it is just a flat oval with pointed tips,
one
end near the top has a small half circle cut out of it,and on the
other
side on the opposite end there is another small half circle cut out
of
it. it looks easy to unwind and easy to make.
The flat shuttle I prefer has a sort of keyhole-shaped notch at one
end, and a horseshoe-shaped hole at the other end, leaving a spike to
wrap the thread around. You wind back and forth, going through the
notch to the other side, around the spike, back to the notch on the
same side, turn it over and repeat. I cut mine from the side of a
bleach bottle, and it's handy for string that's too coarse for the
standard shuttle. (While Googling for something else, I recently
found some pictures of netting shuttles of similar construction.)
i don't really understand the tatting shuttles, but i have never
seen
one. i saw how to make them, and i understand the directions, but
how
does the thread unwind from in the middle? how does the thread
come
out of the shuttle when you need to unravel it?
When a shuttle is just right for the thickness of thread you are
using, you have to pull to make the thread pop between the tips, but
you don't have to pull very hard. The tips of a shuttle for fine
thread will press together more firmly than the tips of a shuttle for
coarse thread. It should take enough force to pop the thread between
the blades that you can hang the shuttle from the thread when you
want to unsnarl it, but not so much force that you risk breaking the
thread or damaging the shuttle.
The hard part of winding is getting the end to stick to the post:
some posts have a hole through which you can tie the thread; other
posts are raw wood so that if you can get a wind or two over the end,
it will hold. Holding the thread under tension, bring it to one pair
of tips, pop it between them, and still under tension bring it to the
other pair of tips. The rounded edges of the blade should guide the
thread into the gap. You can stick a fingertip inside the largest
shuttles to hold the end of the thread for the first few winds.
If a shuttle has been abused, or if it is made of cheap plastic like
the Boye shuttles that used to be available everywhere, the tips may
develop a slight gap. Such a shuttle can be used for very coarse
thread:#1 cordonnette, Speed-Cro-Sheen, and Lily Double Quick are
good for the first steps in learning -- too coarse to practice with,
but you can see how the knots are forming.
Cut off about three yards, mark every twelve inches, dip every other
interval in bluing or whatever stain is handy, let dry thoroughly,
then rinse it to make sure the dye doesn't come off on your hands,
dry again, wind on a cheap shuttle. (If you have access to
variegated thread, dyeing isn't necessary.) When the parts of the
knot are different colors, it is easer to see what you are doing.
--
Joy Beeson
http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbeeson594/ROUGHSEW/ROUGH.HTM
http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/
http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather)