On May 29, 2005, at 20:06, Lynn Weasenforth wrote:
I am now attempting petals, my petals look like twigs.
With practice, they'll begin to look like pine-cones, and then like the real thing :)
Any suggestions? Do I use four threads or more.
Four threads (tweo pairs), and an *iron* control over tension :) There are many, many ways of making tallies (both the petal-shaped ones and the square ones). My own favourite - learnt from Tess - is the TTC method.
After setting in the pin (between the two pairs), make a cloth stitch (CTCT). Counting from left to right, the 3rd thread is your weaver. You may want to shorten the other 3 threads *a bit*, to maintain better tension control over them. You may also want to lengthen the weaver *a bit*.
TT the weaver and the rightmost threads, C the weaver and the centre thread. Tension the two side threads out, the weaver up and to the left, the centre thread down. TT the weaver and the leftmost thread, C it with the centre thread. Tension the side threads outwards, the weaver up and to the right, the centre thread down. Repeat as necessary (sounds like the "Polack sexual manual"... Sorry <g>). The description is longer than the action - the movements (TTC) and the tensioning are all done in a single action, not several.
What happens is this: the TT motion of the weaver and an outside thread moves the weaver past the outside thread *and back* on its return path. The central thread - always handled with a C - acts like a clock's pendulum.
You have to watch that central thread; depending on how you handle it, it might get longer than the side ones, lessening your control over it. Also, if you'r not fair and democratic in its treatment (ie, you lift it off the pillow and move it over the weaver when going to the left, but slide-roll it under the weaver when moving to the right), it'll revolt :) It'll untwist (or overtwist), and break, and all your cake is dough again, since it's the shortest of all the threads involved in the process, which means you have to undo the leaf way past the beginning, to patch things up.
If that happens, BTW, or if you have to undo and re-do a leaf/petal for any other reason, *never* use the same thread as the weaver; manipulate the threads at the starting pin (by extra twists), so as to end with an entirely new weaver thread.
Hopefully, other people will give you *their* preferred methods of tackiling petals; there are almost as many as there are lacemakers, and it's a subject we've not discussed for quite a while...
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
