Giant Tatting Art: Sea Turtles

Hello everyone! I’m finally sharing a project that stretched my creativity in the most wonderful way. I used my new tatting skills to make a GIANT sea turtle, and some babies, as a gift for my mom.

Sea Turtles

My parents live in a small town near Daytona Beach, Florida. Sea turtles nest on the beaches nearby, returning year after year to lay their nests in the dunes. (Scientists believe sea turtles navigate using the earth’s magnetic fields to find their nesting grounds.)

Locals turn off the lights at night during the nesting and hatching season, to avoid confusing the turtles. Sea turtle conservation is a big deal in Daytona! If you’re interested in learning more, click here to read about sea turtle season!

The Project

You can find the big sea turtle tatting pattern for free here. I made a normal tatting sea turtle using tatting thread as one of my first tatting projects (I really dive in head first when I learn a new craft!)

I also made the one below in a first attempt at large scale tatting, but it came out a little smaller than I wanted.

The free baby sea turtle pattern can be found here. I made mine without the bead eyes.

The Technique

So how did I make giant tatting? Well shuttle tatting, as it turns out, is sort of tiny macramé. But in tatting, your thread is continuous and a shuttle holds that thread. I created two giant shuttles using lightweight modeling clay. Then, I wrapped the macrame cord around them. I tatted basically as normal! It’s like normal tatting, but with an arm workout.

Instead of using our hands to anchor your work, as in normal tatting, you need to use a horizontal frame or anchor. A door handle does the trick! I actually turned a piano seat upside down and sat on the floor.

Materials

You could probably use these giant yarn bobbins on Amazon instead of making a custom clay shuttle. If you want to make clay shuttles, here is the modeling clay I used. Below is a picture of the shuttle with dimensions. It is approximately half an inch thick as well. I only needed one block of clay for two shuttles.

For cord, I needed outdoor, polyester macrame cord, so my mom could leave the turtles outside. I ordered this environmentally friendly, recycled polyester cord online from Ganxxet. It shipped from Miami very quickly (I am also in Florida). At the time of writing, the Forest Green color is in stock and they are having a Black Friday Sale!

Finally, I sealed the ends and added a little stability hot glue. Hot glue (use the high setting) slightly melts the polyester cord and holds your ends in place. While you should still hide your ends as in normal tatting, the cord is a bit slippery. I felt more comfortable using the glue to secure everything.

My dad suggested, after spending an eternity hanging the big one, that someone clever could integrate these flexible plastic dowel rods to make the big turtle more rigid. If I make more giant tatting art, I will definitely be incorporating them.

Tips

I hid my ends by cutting them VERY long (think like 12 inches) and using them as a second core thread. If you knot the end to the core thread while you work with it, you won’t even notice it’s there.

The big turtle is not especially stable, so you’ll need quite a few drywall anchors or nails to anchor it. My poor dad had to install it on their stucco/block walls… he deserves a medal!

I made all the turtles using two batches of cord but just barely made it. If you want more babies or don’t want to play “yarn chicken” on the last baby, maybe order 3!

So what do you think? Should giant tatting become a thing? It’s just macramé with a shuttle!