Getting Hooked: Tambour Beading Masterclass

[Warning: This post doesn't show a finished product and is written for those interested in the details of my class with Bob Haven. It's a bit technical in nature with lots of pictures. If you're not interested in tambour beading, you may want to skip it...]

OK. Let's get to class. The whole technique of tambour beading revolves around the use of a hook...


You can see from the pic that the needle has quite a snaggly hook to it. This makes it quite tricky to manipulate. It's why you won't see very much "finished" work in this post. Only the beginnings of things.


The word "tambour" means drum in French...that refers to how tight the fabric is stretched across the frame. I loved Bob's method for stretching the fabric using 1"x4" pieces of wood, twill tape and clamps from the hardware store. Very inexpensive and very effective.

I have taken many needlework courses in my life. And most of them have been variations on a theme...almost all using a needle and thread. Even though the technique is new, using a needle and thread is not. Not so with the tambour hook.

In the case of tambour beading, there are some unique characteristics:

1. You work with the front side of the work facing down. So, for many stitches...particularly beading and adding sequins, you are working with the backside up and you either have to feel that your stitching is correct or view it through the back of your fabric.
   
2. You work with a hook instead of a needle and the thread is worked from underneath the fabric. You can embroider chain stitches on the fabric, and for this you would flip your work to the front.
   
3. If you are right handed, the right hand stays above the frame and maneuvers the hook. The left hand stays below the frame, manipulating the thread and/or the beads or sequins. This hand sequence is the same in Japanese embroidery so it wasn't completely foreign to me.

By far, the trickiest thing to get used to was using the hook.

Twisting and snapping the thread into the hook, rotating the hook, and then pulling the hook back up to the top.

This is much easier said than done since that little snaggly hook spends most of its time snagging the thread or the fabric when in the hands of an inexperienced user like myself.

Day one, we framed our fabric, traced our design and practiced using the hook. I spent most of the day trying to make chain stitches...just to get used to the movement of the hook in my hand. And this is all I completed...


The next day, we attached gold lame fabric with the hook and then trimmed away the excess. My mind started to wander when thinking about all the possibilities of layering sheer fabrics on top of one another...


We then outlined the gold lame with black bugle beads with the fabric facing down. Since the gold lame blocked my vision, I had to place the bugles by feel. I missed one or two...thinking I had it in place only to find out that they had slipped out of my fat fingers.


Placing the beads around the outside edge of the egg shape and the gold beads around the edges of the flowers was much easier since I could see through the silk organza on which we were stitching.




The only other tool I needed was longer fingernails! I always keep my nails really short and this is one case where having a long thumbnail and pointer fingernail would have made the placing of beads and sequins much much easier.

By the third day, we were beginning to place sequins in a row and learning how to attach them on the flowers. And this is about as far as I got since I left a day early. There were however, many of my classmates who didn't even start on their "egg". They continued to practice trying to get the hang of the hook hour after hour.


We also practiced stippling...


placing beads in random pattern to fill in a larger area. I loved this technique.


Here's an example of Bob's stippling with sequins on his Lesage piece...


and here's a view of what stippling looks like from the back...


Learning this technique reminded me of when I first learned to knit. I had to manipulate new tools (the knitting needles) while trying to figure out how to hold the thread, how to wrap the thread, and then how to move the stitch from one needle to another without dropping a stitch, splitting the yarn or messing up. I remember being very slow and making tons of mistakes. That's what learning to use a tambour hook was like for me. Very very slow going...with only a few rows to show for hours and hours of labor.

By the third day, I was getting more adept and I could see how one could get lots faster after managing to master the hook. A classmate who had taken a class from Bob previously recommended practicing every day...and I intend to do just that.

If you are interested in learning this technique, my advice would be to manage your expectations. Don't expect to sit down and pick it up right away. A little struggle and difficulty is probably the norm.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time and having such great classmates made it even more so.


We had quite an accomplished group of beaders, quilters, conservationists, patent/trademark/copyright experts, designers and embroiderers in our class which enriched the time we were together.

Next time I'll show you close-ups of an antique Balmain gown from the '50s that Bob shared with us...

To die for!