Monday, April 28, 2014

Part Two - Intricate marking for multi centers

It's time to follow up on my post of a few days ago about marking multicenter temari using the multiple of three method. In the last post, I gave you the steps for making the ball on the left below, beginning with 32 centers. This post is about the ball on the right, beginning with 42 centers. The process is the same.


Multicenter Japanese Temari



What is this multiple of 3 method of marking?

The directions are in the files section of our TemariChallenge group. I am in the process of updating and editing but the changes are small. Have a look at the fourth file on that page - Multiple of 3 Study on TC 2012.

Process

Step 1 - ball is 42 cm in circumference and wrapped with navy Maxi Lock thread. I began by marking a C10 with Maxi Lock Radiant Turquoise. 

Step 2 - continue marking with Radiant Turquoise to create 42 centers. One important point about this step is to try to make the hexagons as regular as you can, so all sides are even. Then use multiple of 3 method to make 122 centers and once more to make 362 centers. All of this is done with the same Radiant Turquoise thread. 

Step 3 - with Sour Apple Maxi Lock thread, continue using the multiple of 3 method and add lines through all the pentagons. Then add one row through each of the green star points. 

Step 4 - stitch the remaining lines with Dark Turquoise Maxi Lock. You now have 1082 centers. 

Impressions

I was really surprised at how these two temari look so different! As far as process, I prefer beginning with 42 centers because stitching with the multiple of 3 method is a bit easier. I could make the two stitches inside each pentagon and then wrap the thread directly to the next pentagon without taking any stitches. This meant I only stitched at each center when that particular 12-way intersection was completed. I'm eager to design with this marking because I see the open areas at the center of the C10 triangles just waiting to be filled with a design of some sort. For the ball beginning with 32 centers, I want to play with color, not adding any extra design stitches on top of the marking. 

I've started my next experiment. I decided to mark the ball with Isacord, a beautiful, shiny, slippery (!) thread used for machine embroidery. I thought it would give some shine to the finished marking and be very elegant. Well, the impact of the extra shine is minimal and I was not able to wrap though any of the shapes because the thread slid around so much! But I persevered and just took a stitch at each intersection. When enough of the intersections had that one stitch, I could just slip my needle under that intersection without stitching. It's looks good and I'll share when I'm finished.