Motif 21: Plain sized snowflakes

I have chunky snowflakes and tiny snowflakes, so these are just plain medium sized snowflakes.

These are from Jon Yusoff's snowflake book. The first is Oasis in Anchor perle 8. The second is Floret in the DMC perle 8. The last is Astral done with 3 strands of metallic embroidery thread, 2 blue one silver. Next time I use the metallics, I won't mix colours. The effect is more heathered instead of sparkly.

Motif 20: Christmas rose

This design is called Rose du Noel so this seemed like the best day to show it. It's by the immensely talented ElisaduSud, translated and diagrammed by the equally talented and generous Mimi Dillman.

 

It's done in DMC perle 8. I'm rather disappointed with this thread. It's pricier than the Venus crochet cotton I normally get, so I expected better quality. Instead the dye doesn't go to the core of the thread, so little white blips show through.

I was making these clunies privately, in the wee quiet hours of the morning. I was getting comfortable, so I popped it into my bag to tat-on-the-go.  This was a bad idea. Let me show you...

Clearly, my clunies aren't quite ready for public life.

Motif 19: Rings for a choker

I love the internet. It gives you an opportunity to see different interpretations of the same design. I little while ago I saw a lovely pair of 5 point rings turned into earrings by Mary Robinson. I'd already started the same design, but seeing hers was encouragement to keep going.

To recap, this is Jon Yusoff's Melati design for her Tatting on Rings book. This version is done in DMC 80 tatting cotton. The ring is 1.5 cm in diameter.

The idea is to sew them on to a ribbon and make a choker. Right now I'm deciding which ribbon to use; green and cheerful or black and elegant. Right now, I'm leaning toward the green.

This last picture is for Claudia. She left a nice comment about my thimble rings. This was meant for Chloe Patricia's photo sharing, but was a bit late. I don't know if this is a positive or negative example (this isn't my best stitching). I suppose it's meant as encouragement (hopefully) for anyone wanting to make one.

Motif 18: Suncatcher 2 (perhaps a snowflake)

This is the second window picture from the Burda tatting book done in DMC Cebelia 30. It would look better mounted, but I can't find the right size ring.

This motif has a bit of a sad story to go with it. I was working on it while riding in the car. When I got out, I thought my tatting was safely in my bag. Unfortunately it wasn't. It fell out of the car and got left behind. It's a split ring design and I was in the middle of adding new thread, so I lost not one, not two, but three shuttles.

That's not even the worst part. The worst is that two of them were English Aeros, the first shuttles I ever owned.  They were probably over a decade old, yet still capable of that distinctive old Aero ratcheting click. I could just cry.
 
...or...

I could go shuttle shopping.
Those new pastel clovers sure are cute...

Motif 17: Fantasia Fan

This is Teri TATBit's Fantasia Fan. It's been finished for a while, but I'm in awe of Teri Dusenbury and it took me a while to work up the nerve to ask for permission to show a picture. She kindly said yes when I asked.

It's almost completely rings (lots of split rings), and some pieces are done separately and attached as you go. It took several tries, cordonnet cotton and a bit of blood to finish this. It's worth it though. The design is gorgeous; the only piece of tatting I've ever felt like framing.

Perhaps the blood needs explanation. Below is my unpicking tool. It's a tapestry needle stuck in some polymer clay. Normally, when retro-tatting 2-3 stitches, it's comfortable and safe to use. However, when retro-tatting dozens of stitches (while cursing your own inability to count), the unpicking gets ...vigorous... Puncture wounds are the result.
 

Motif 16: Tiny snowflakes

I'm still working my way through Jon's snowflake book. I've stayed away from the black thread, so my taste for tiny things has returned. These are all made with size 80 thread or smaller. Although tatting with tiny thread is OK, trying to wield a needle to hide the ends is still daunting. I'll wait for the morning, and better light.

The first is called 'Circle of Crowns'. With that name, it had to be worked with gold thread. This is two strands of clover embroidery thread; yet another metallic thread that I now hate. This stuff is like barbed wire. I have a bandage on my finger because it was shredding my ring making hand.

The other two are 'Radiance' and 'Minaret' in Anchor 80. I think I'm being slowly converted to Anchor instead of DMC thread. The variegated colours are more fun.

Motif 15: Butterfly

This is the vintage butterfly from Heidi Nakayama's site. It's a simple, elegant pattern, but for some reason I kept making mistakes and had to redo the upper wings two or three times. I think when there are no split rings to keep me on my toes, my mind wanders.

The original plan was to put this on a tote bag for myself. I made a tatical error though by leaving it out on my table. The little lady found it. With shining eyes, she told me it was 'sooo pretty' and could please I make her a dress with it. Sigh, who can resist a four year old with a smile and a please.

Motif 14: Suncatcher (not a snowflake)

How do I know it's not a snowflake? It's got 8 arms!

This is one of the 'window pictures' in the Burda Tatting book, done in DMC Cebelia 20. I really want to make the block tatted doily on the cover of the book, but I'm a bit intimidated. So I'm warming up to it with the smaller motifs. Maybe next year I'll try the doily.

Motif 13: Crossing snowflakes

Tatman showed a tatted cross and challenged people to figure out how it was made. I was intrigued, probably because the instructions sound like origami. In tat-talk: "Use two shuttles, no cutting". In origami-talk: "Use a square paper, no cutting". Origami is the first craft I ever learned, so the terms are stuck in my brain forever.

Crosses really aren't my thing, so I added two more 'arms'. I asked for permission to show a picture. I think he said yes, but if I misunderstood, I'm really, really sorry and I'll take the picture down. It counts as one motif, because it involved quite a lot of head scratching. It's done in Anchor perle 8.

It's done pretty much as he outlined except that one arm is just normal split rings, simply because I like making chains of split rings. Tatman promised a pattern. I'll put a link here when it's up.