A tatter recently inquired about two "strange" tatting books; "Beadwork with Yusai" and "Picot Lace." No, these two books are NOT tatting books. They are beading books whose designs are made by applying bead techniques while following the construction of a tatted lace piece.

"Beadwork with Yusai", 2003 Ondori Pubs, by Yusai Shokoin is beautiful book with fantastic photography and wonderful designs but it is not a tatting book. Yusai Shokoin has been the President of the Japan Tatters' Guild for years and has published several other books which were indeed tatting. In this book he combines his knowledge of beading with tatting design to develop delicate beaded needle work.

In the technique diagram you can follow the construction of a ring and chain with the beads representing double stitches. "Picots" are made by stacking two beads on top of each other.

"Picot Lace" by Sandy Forrington, Picot Press 1993 is a teaching manual not a pattern book. Here Sandy gives step by step directions on how to do the beading and then to use those techniques to follow the construction of public domain tatting patterns. The instructions are actually very clear. Note the technique diagram shows clearly the placement of one bead on another to create a "picot."

If you would like some tatting "Picot Play", please read about Martha Ess's "Picot Play" book from last year: http://www.bellaonline.com/newsdtl.asp?name=tatting&date=11/8/2011%2012:05:29%20PM and Marilee Rockley's book, "Up and Tat'em." http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art28425.asp

(Note: Although not all tatting books, I have acquired all books mentioned for my personal tatting reference library.) Here's the latest article from the Tatting site at BellaOnline.com.

The Split Ring in 1901?? In studying old Australian newspapers archives Judith Anderson discovered a pattern with unusual directions. This pattern was printed in 1901 and seemed top include direction for the split ring. I believe that this may make it the earliest documented use of the split ring http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art26800.asp Please visit tatting.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Tatting. To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Tatting located here - http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=39 I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback! Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge! Georgia Seitz, Tatting Editor http://tatting.bellaonline.com One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com