whichever way you choose

This post is part of a series.

• True rings: the onion dilemma – Part I
• True rings, variations: variations on the onion recipe – Part II 
• Mock rings, the German way: peeling the onion without crying – Part III 
• Mock rings, variations: onion rings - not fried yet – Part IV   
• SCMRs and Split Onion Rings: mock and split but still genuine – Part V 
• Layered and 3D: the onion takes dimension - Part VI 
• Direction and elements: whichever way you choose - Part VII (this post)

In this last part, you’ll find two chapters:
-->The 6th chapter is about which way you tat outer rings. How the final onion ring looks if we tat clockwise, compared to the other way? When it is convenient a change of direction?
-->The 7th chapter is about elements of design. That is, for example, can the inner ring be block tatting and can we still call it onion ring? I learned that the central inner ring can be substituted with other elements, since I found tatters who tats Cluny Onion Ring.

6. Direction of tatting

Note: words “clockwise” and “counterclockwise” are referring to the direction of tatting, if you look at it from the front side.

All methods in previous Parts have the outermost rings that run clockwise. For example, in chapter 2, the outer ring is a chain tatted from the front side of the work, in clockwise direction, that is the the working direction.

6.1 Outer ring in counterclockwise direction (Alligator Join)

I messaged with Sue Hanson before starting this series, about the old German method by Tina Frauberger (see Part III parag. 2.1) and how Georgia Seitz and their tatting friends started calling those concentric rings in the way we call them nowadays: onions probably became tatted onions from 2001 on... Then, Sue shared with me her way to close the outer mock ring, using the Alligator join.

The Alligator join is also called Under and Over Join.

That is not a new method, it is just another way to close a chain over itself. In Elgiva Nicholls’s “Tatting – History and techniques” there’s a paragraph where this method is described, and it’s entitled “The running scroll”.

For a tutorial about the Under and Over Join, please read this one by Muskaan:
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/05/mock-rings-1-under-and-over-join.html

Jane Eborall shares her drawing here: http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/AJoin.pdf

There's a reason to prefer the Alligator Join in onion mock rings and it depends if the onion ring is free in your current pattern; it should not have to be joined to a previous element.
It isn’t a constraint: in case you really like this method, and you want to use it in any pattern, Muskaan comes to rescue you: in the same tutorial linked above, she shows us how to manoeuvre if the ring needs to be attached to a previous element.

Compare this method with:
“2.1 Inner true ring with core thread (first shuttle), mock ring with ball thread (or second shuttle)”
in  Part III

In next picture:
First shuttle = core shuttle (yellow thread)
Second shuttle = "ball" shuttle (red thread).

Differences with the method described in Part III:

• The inner ring is tatted from the frontside with first shuttle (currently the yellow - core thread’s shuttle). The inner ring won’t tip over. 
• The outer chain is tatted normally, as though it was a continuation of a basic pattern – a line of rings and chains. To join the inner ring, I did a lock join (optional).
• The outer chain turns around and over the inner ring, to comply with the direction of the mock ring that is emerging counterclockwise – if you look at it from frontside.

I tatted the chain from backside with reverse order stitches; but in the picture you see the frontside of the work.

Planning the direction is important when we follow visual patterns: if you use this method, you should pay attention and start the double stitches' count from the right side of the drawn outermost ring.

⇒⇒⇒ Closing the outer ring with the Alligator join:⇐⇐⇐
To close the mock ring, (working from the back side) put the shuttle thread above and ball thread under the base of inner ring (if you exchange threads, the yellow/core thread would be visible from front side).  That is, the Alligator Join.

Then, tension both threads and continue tatting the next chain as per your pattern. 

6.2 Onions with three concentric rings

In the next pictures:
First shuttle = core shuttle (red thread)
Second shuttle = "ball" shuttle (yellow thread).

Pattern (ds= double stitch):
Inner ring: 5ds, picot, 5ds.
Median ring: 5ds, picot, 5ds, join to inner ring, 5ds, picot, 5ds.
Outer ring: 7ds, join to median ring, picot, 7ds, join to median ring, picot, 7ds, join to median ring, picot, 7ds.

We have many choices, and in the next there’s only a subset. I leave it to you to discover other possibilities.

6.2.1) Three true rings (like in Part I and II):
Everything in Part I and in Part II is still valid. In next pic you see only one example.

6.2.2) Inner and median true rings and outer mock ring (like in Part III):
In this case, treat inner and median rings like only one ring. Everything in Part III is still valid for the outermost mock ring.
(Hint for more options: alternatively, you can use the method “counterclockwise” described in previous paragraph 6.1.)

In next pic you see only one example (please refer to pictures from 16 to 19 in Part III).

For the JSS, please see pictures from 6 to 9 in Part II.

 

6.2.3)  Inner ring as a true ring and both median and outer rings as mock rings: method A

In this case, the inner ring is tatted from the frontside with first shuttle (currently the red - core thread’s shuttle).
The median chain is tatted as though it was a continuation of a line of rings and chains. I tatted the chain from backside with reverse order stitches; but in next pic you see the frontside of the work.
Till this point, it is equal to the method described in previous paragraph 6.1.

Then, to close the median mock ring, lock join to the base. That switches threads so that the yellow thread is the core thread for the outer mock rings.

The outer mock ring is tatted from the frontside, here I closed it at its base with a lock join.

6.2.4)  Inner ring as a true ring and both median and outer rings as mock rings: method B
In this case, I tatted the inner ring with my first shuttle (currently the red - core thread’s shuttle). I tatted reversed stitches because that is the backside for me (but this is optional).

Then, the ball (yellow) thread has been moved on the back, that is to comply with the direction of the thread that is coming from last second half stitch (but, if my last chain had the first half stitch visible on the front side, then I would had moved the thread on the front). Notice that when I'm going to start the mock ring, I pull the first shuttle thread, and the inner ring tips over.

I tatted the median chain from the frontside, clockwise direction. Till this point, it is equal to the method “2.1 Inner true ring with core thread (first shuttle), mock ring with ball thread (or second shuttle)”, (please refer to pictures from 16 to 19 in Part III).

Then, to close the median mock ring, here I chose to do the Alligator Join, that is put the shuttle thread under and ball thread over the base of inner ring. The Alligator Join let me continue with the next outer ring in a smooth way.
Outer ring: tension well and start the outer mock ring. I chose to close the outer mock ring at its base with an onion ring join.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In the next collage, the two methods A and B compared side by side:

My very personal choice goes to the more compact look.

7. Elements of design in onion rings

Warning: The title is misleading: the Onion Ring  IS  an element of design in tatting.

But, for the sake of curiosity, for example, can the inner ring be block tatting? It seems that tatters already answered to that question, in fact, I learned that the central inner ring can be substituted with other elements, like in the Cluny Onion Ring.

And not only clunies have been put inside rings: in one of her patterns, Muskaan put double true rings inside a mock ring (shared here: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2017/05/journey-of-single-shuttle.html ).
(I think there is another designer that put 2 rings inside a bigger ring in a pattern, but in this moment I can’t remember the name)

UPDATE: Ha Mi-Kyeong is a Korean designer that put 2 rings inside a bigger ring in a pattern, here:
https://m.blog.naver.com/rein9814/220838776350 , she can be found in Instagram, too: https://www.instagram.com/p/BiBDhB6A5dk/ 

7.1 Cluny Onion Ring

Basically, you tat the Cluny leaf, then you tat a chain around it, that closes at its base and becomes a mock ring, joining the opposite end of the leaf with the alligator join.

References:
Victats: Boo-yah ghost: https://victats.blogspot.com/2019/10/boo-yah-ghost.html
Muskaan: 2-Tone Cluny Bracelet: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/09/clunied.html

In the next pictures:
First shuttle = core shuttle (yellow thread)
Second shuttle = "ball" shuttle (red thread).

Pattern in my example (mixing both patterns above):
(I started with a ring: 5ds, picot,5ds; then chain: 3ds, picot, 3ds.)
Cluny is 12 wraps.
Wind loom with core shuttle and weave the Cluny leaf with second shuttle; let the second shuttle emerging from the right side (tip by Muskaan), then use it as core thread for the chain.
Outer mock ring/chain: leave a very small picot, then 14ds, Alligator Join to the beginning/base of Cluny, then 14ds.

To close the mock ring, I did an onion ring join.

>>>>>> The next one could be called Split Cluny Onion Ring: <<<<<<
All clunies are 12 wraps.
Wind loom with core shuttle and weave tally with second shuttle; let the second shuttle emerging from the right side (tip by Muskaan), then use it for making the loop around the hand.
Outer split ring: (make the loop around the hand with the second shuttle) leave a very small bare thread (for tolerance), 14ds. For the second side, with the first shuttle, leave a very small bare thread, then 14 reverse order reversed double stitches. To block the base of Cluny, I trapped the base of the leaf with an Alligator Join, between last reversed double stich and a reversed second half stitch, on the second side of the split ring.

In the next picture:
Sh1 = First shuttle = core shuttle (yellow thread)
Sh2 = Second shuttle = "ball" shuttle (red thread).
AJ = Alligator Join
rors = reverse order reverse stitches
rshs = reverse second half stitch

🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅🧅

All in all, I know my limits and this series is not all-inclusive. It’s my vade-mecum and I hope you will find it useful for your next onion rings projects, whichever way you prefer.

The sense of this last part is that any different method can be tuned to the pattern you’re going to face, the ultimate choice can be the designer’s or – if you feel adventurous – it’s up to you. A simple hint from my side is that you can tat your own samples, to use as future reference.

Many thanks to all those who chose to share, in tutorials, forum, videos and elsewhere online, thanks to all people mentioned in this series. Thanks to them I, in turn, can learn and share. Someone said that we are like dwarves on the shoulders of the giants that preceded us, that is true for whatever you learn and for tatting, too.

Ciao,
Ninetta