I promised that would do a blog on tatting equipment, so here it is!
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| My stubby-fingered hands |
I am not certain how one could tat without hands. I don't want to seem exclusive of those who do not have hands, but *I* only know how to tat if I use both of my hands at all times.
You need this positioning of hands/yarn to make rings...
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| That's the yarn wrapped up between my thumb and forefinger, away from me over the top/back of my fingers and back up between my thumb and forefinger over to the shuttle |
and this positioning of hands/yarn to make chains.
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| That's the yarn coming up from the ball, wrapped around my little finger for tension, forwards across the back of my fingers then between my thumb and forefinger then out to the shuttle |
Both of those use both hands, but I think you might be able to rig something up to provide you tension in place of that hand (my left, because I'm right handed). Then, you would need to get the knot-work done (the looping and flipping) that my right hand does using something else, maybe your mouth?
I really wasn't being flippant, I have no idea how you could do this without at least one hand. I am sure people with no hands manage more complex things and could work this out themselves, because they're more used to thinking about it, but I need my hands.
Next on the list is yarn; you will have noticed this in the photo above. That in the picture of the hand positions is size 8 crochet cotton (Anchor brand, as it happens). It is not the best for finished pieces, particularly if they have lots of picots, as it's a 2-thread yarn and splits apart in picots. It's pretty good for getting the gist of how to tat though, particularly the variegated stuff (that really lets you see if you've successfully flipped or not and that's the key to tatting) and it's something I have a lot of, being a crochet thread bulk-buyer.
This over here to the right is also a crochet thread, but it's size 10 (a bit finer) and importantly the composition of it is very different, splits less in picots and thus gives a nicer finish. It's a "vintage" colour though, and not one I want to make much jewellery out of to give to my family and friends.
Marilee Rockley, the tatting queen (as far as I am currently concerned) recommends Lisbeth thread, which I have recently bought 4 colours of and I am very impressed with the quality of finish that I am able to achieve using these yarns, so I am now happy that I can make Christmas gifts for my family that they may actually wear!
Lisbeth is an American brand, and eBay and Amazon vendors will charge you CRAZY prices (I mean over £15-20 with postage for one of these balls). I got mine here for £2.60 each (prices are always subject to change, please use this only as a ROM comparison) and the P&P was very reasonable (under 4 quid in August 2014, prices will vary with the size of your parcel and are charged directly in line with the Royal Mail parcel weights and sizes). The site was quite a find, actually, their Links page is a bit of a goldmine for patterns, other links for tatting expertise etc. so don't be put off by the fact the site looks a bit like I could've made it for them!
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| Shuttles, for shuttle tatting ;-) |
On the left here you can see the two plastic shuttles that I started out with. These were great because they were cheap, very easy to wind and hold a lot of yarn. However, you will notice I am using the little ones in the photos - note the proportion that they have to my hands, for most people the plastic ones will look like that proportionally (approximately the length of your thumb).
The plastic ones are too big for my hands and make my thumb/wrist injury flare up really badly when I use them for too long because it puts too much strain on that tendon that runs down the back of the thumb into the wrist (the one I already have trouble with), so once I decided that I wanted to progress with tatting as a hobby properly, I bought the four shuttles on the right.
These four were handmade by an American craftsman who sells on eBay and are the perfect size for my hands. They also hold a lot of yarn, though they can be harder to wind (the beaks are really tight on a couple of them) and being handmade they don't have the machine-moulded precision of the plastic ones, for example one of them doesn't have its spindle in the centre. The chap on eBay who made these ones makes lots of sizes with a variety of woods, posts out very quickly and (even though there's one wonky one) I still think the quality is excellent. I might even get some more in a few weeks
I provide you a link to his vendor page here
Stuff without photos
Depending on the shuttle, you may also need a crochet hook for joining through picots (the plastic shuttles shown have long, fine noses on the beaks that just about get the job done) and there's the usual requirement for scissors to snip and needles to sew in ends.
You can add embellishment with beads of different sizes - seed beads appropriate to the size of yarn go well individually and in threes onto picots, and larger beads can be used to link two sides of a piece with a bit more flourish than a long picot.
Well, I think that's about enough from me for today, there you have a brief introduction into what you might need to start tatting based on what I have needed and where I have found products that I am happy to use.
Please note that I don't have any form of commission on those links, nor do I take any responsibility if your dealings with those vendors go south; there's no prejudice, commitment or warranty on me sharing those links, just a recommendation based on personal experience. It would be nice to know if anyone does get anything from either of them though, and how things work out for your tatting if you go for it.
Until next time, PixieKitten out!
