Wiring the cluny

I have been asked by several tatters to give more information on how I wired the cluny, so here it is!

All I did was to lay a length (longer than the required length) of 24 gauge paper-coated green wire alongside the centre thread of the loom over my fingers, bending a section of it to hold in the pinch with the loom. It is a bit awkward at first until you get a couple of wraps completed and then it gets much easier. You simply weave the cluny in exactly the same way although, if using a shuttle like me, you have to make the weaving action more deliberate. You just have to take a little more care when closing the cluny, but it is done in exactly the same way. The only extra that I do is to straighten the wire again before drawing up the threads. I fix the end of the cluny, at both ends, with PVA craft glue, which secures the cluny from unwrapping and also making sure it adheres to the wire. I then snip the excess wire and bend it in any way to make the shape I want. Job done!

The thread I used for these clunies was quite a thick shiny rayon. Mine was from a Brasilian company called Circulo and the thread is "Susi" and comes in an array of fabulous colours. My supplier was from Ebay and she only had this one thickness, which is about the same as a size 10 crochet cotton, maybe even slightly thicker. It's too thick for most tatting projects but for these wired clunies it is aboslutely perfect!