Picot lace: A new light on tatting, a new twist on beading [Spiral-bound]

Sandy Forrington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1993

Picot lace is an innovative new technique of beadwork in which the ancient art of tatting is transposed into pure seedbead work. The book takes you step by step through the process of learning the basics of this technique. It is fast and easy to learn and the possibilites are endless in its application.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sandy Forrington has been involved in a myriad of crafts for over 20 years. She teaches adults and children, privately and through stores and conventions. She is an Embellishment alumni, and will be teaching there again this coming summer in Portland. Stores should contact her if they wish to have her come and teach for them.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 160 pages
• Publisher: Picot Press; 1st edition (1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964239507
• ISBN-13: 978-0964239500
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,599,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fantastic beading book, September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Picot lace: A new light on tatting, a new twist on beading (Spiral-bound)

This is a well written and fairly well illustrated book. All working diagrams were generated on a computer, but they are clear and easy to understand. However, be warned that this IS NOT A TATTING BOOK. While the patterns are based on tatting patterns, this is a beading technique book, regardless of what the title says. That having been said, I think any tatter interested in beading will have a fine time adapting patterns between the two arts.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, May 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Picot lace: A new light on tatting, a new twist on beading (Spiral-bound)

I have to say that this is one of the most disappointing books I've ordered from Amazon. As someone who has tried tatting and is an avid beader, I was very interested in a book that promised by its title to somehow combine the two. However,.. this is a beading book. And the only really new beading technique that's introduced is the author's method of "setting" the single bead that represents the picot in the work.

I would still have been interested in the book had it contained more actual patterns using the technique, but the book has only five patterns in it, three of which are for necklaces and/or bracelets and one of which is a dreamcatcher pattern that doesn't really belong here at all since it has no relation to the book's topic. The author excuses this by saying that the patterns weren't ready by the publication date and promising to publish *another* book that will include patterns.

Information about transposing tatting patterns into picot lace beading patterns would also have been welcome, but the author states that this information won't be available until she publishes her *third* book.

All in all, the book gives the impression that it was rushed to publication. The information that is contained here has been "stretched out" by means of frequent repetition of the same material and the use of an extremely large font. In my opinion, what you get is definitely not worth the price of the book...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good beading book, September 29, 2005

By 

Gillian Buchanan "Classical Music Editor at B... (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Picot lace: A new light on tatting, a new twist on beading (Spiral-bound)

This book covers the author's developments on how to create needle and thread beaded lace that has the look of tatting. I am not particularly happy at the cover illustration of the book which is very misleading. The collar design illustrated appeared in several reprints of a public domain tatting pattern in the 40s through to the 1980s and while the lace actually does look as if it's tatted it isn't, the piece is entirely made in beads.

In my view the author would have been better not to make her lace a means of copying tatting patterns for those who can do beadwork but don't do tatting. She would have been better to find ways of giving it its own look and style and staying away from the tatting altogether. She seems to have had access to very few tatting books and while the ones she had are excellent ones (they are listed in the bibliography) a little more research would have been a good idea.

That said the book is clear and concise in its layout though there are very few patterns and the actual sizes of the beads don't appear to be given. This annoys me because you can see quite clearly in some of the photos that the beads are different sizes and this is going to make some of the pieces difficult to make up accurately. The diagrams are however very clear and appear to be accurate though I haven't tried making any of the pieces.

I would recommend this to a beadworker who has made some pieces and has some idea of what he or she is doing, and who would enjoy something which in beading terms does look a little different. Don't buy it if you want to learn beaded tatting because it does not teach that skill.