Inspired by this beading pin:
This was tatted with two threads of DMC Rayon thread from a skein. I kept it a simple rings and chains pattern. I counted how many rings the picture had and based the double stitch counts off that. Seventeen rings so each ring was seventeen double stitches.
At first I began with two double stitches for the chains, but after doing a repeat, I changed it. It was too difficult to twist it to shape the stem. I increased the chain to three and this seemed to wrap better. I had wanted to do the chains with a color that would continue on to encapsulate the rest of the loose threads at the end as well as the wire that would help shape it. I went with a green that I had left over from a previous tatting project.
After completing the tatting I began to twist it into shape, while trying to include the wire that would help maintain it. This proved to be more difficult than what I had hoped for. The twisting of the rings around this wire was a challenge. Or rather, getting the rings to lay the way I wanted was a challenge.
I didn't like how the green from the chain showed through so much. I tired several different ways to wrap these but wasn't getting the results I wanted. I ended up hooking the base of the first ring with the wire. I then began shaping the rings in a circular fashion. After about two or three rings I would twist the wire around the base of the chain/ring. I kept the wire straight in the center and continued the "shaping" around it. Again I would wrap the wire around the third ring twisting around until I reached the end of the "stalk".
I clipped the blue thread closer to where the last chain split from the ring and then using the green did a bit of encapsulating the rest of the wire. I worked a few more removing the second color from it.
