Now that you understand what the shade ratios are, the next step is incorporating them into your decorative wrap. These ratios can be used for ALL patterns. I highly recommend using them as backgrounds and chevrons. Using the chevron from the previous 8 axis tutorial, let’s elaborate on how I figured out how many threads would fit into the 10 mm spacing.
Here’s the picture so you guys can see what I’m referencing during the discussion. In the video I did in a previous course you saw me filling out the shade chart on the video. Here’s the shading chart below:
That is the exact threads and number of threads that I wrapped to create the chevron pictured above (with the exclusion of the two metallic silvers I added at the end). Let me explain exactly how I figured out how many threads would fit into the 10 mm spacing.
First thing that you need to keep in mind is that 1 mm = 4 threads (size A). If you are using a larger size thread, this math will not work for you. In order to find out how many size C or D will fit into 1 mm, you would need to wrap the thread on the blank, pack it, and then measure the length and divide by how many turns you made. That allows you to do the math that will help assist in figuring out how many threads will fit into a section of a wrap.
If you remember, I picked 10 mm because of the diameter of the blank so keeping in mind that 1 mm = 4 threads, 10 mm x 4 = 40 threads. In a 10 mm spacing, 40 threads will fit. Now we have to look at how many colors we can fit into that 10 mm spacing. According to the chart above, I wanted to fit 5 different colors into the chevron, so looking at those ratio charts I provided, I can reference that a 3:1 ratio with 5 threads is 39 threads or a 4:1 ratio with 5 threads is 84 threads. Obviously the 3:1 ratio is closer than the 4:1 ratio, however if you wanted to do a 4:1 ratio, the most colors you could do a shade with would be three threads. That would be 36 threads total, leaving you about 4-7 threads to fill in depending on how you pack.
That’s the other thing to take into consideration while doing these shade ratios, depending on how tight you pack, depends on how many threads you will get to fit into the space. The math works every time, but sometimes you come up needing to add 1-4 threads to make the wraps close. I know some of you will think you did something wrong if you had a 10 mm spacing and placed 40 threads exactly but still have a little bit of open spots. As long as the wrap is straight, everything is packed correctly, you didn’t overlap threads, and the spacing is correct, you didn’t do anything wrong. It just means you pack a little tighter which happens to me all the time. It’s normal!
So now that we understand shading and how to incorporate them into a wrap, let’s look at fades.
