Sunday, September 19, 2010

Beauty And The Beads

 Just look at this!  The second attempt is always better.  

#23 Motif Challenge

For any new tatters out in Tat-Land, (oh,just listen to this great voice of so much experience, will you!  - for those not in the know, I have a mere 24 hefty months of tatting in my life so far!) it really does pay to do a repeat of the first attempt. Inevitably, I am much happier with the second go-around.


The difference is obvious, I believe.  Thanks to Gina, I made the upper petal the same size as the lower one.  The instructions called for the bottom to be 6ds and the top 7ds.  Also, shannon-in-love gave me the best tip:  make the picots in the centre longer!  Bingo!

By the way, this is marvellous thread: Manuela, #20 from a trade through The Thread Exchange with Tatknot. The brown is another nice thread - I'm pretty sure it is Altin Basik that I believe I received through T.T.E. as well. The two threads are minimally different in size, but it didn't seem to matter much.

 

Would these not have been perfect!

Teaser ...  Can you guess what pattern this is?

 Anon,

11 comments:

  1. It does look different from the first one. Wonders with just a few adjustments. I like both. I have the very same thread from Tatknot. It looks fabulous.

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  2. Hey Fox!
    That is VERY good advice! SOMETIMES I get things right the first time through - usually if there aren't any tricky elements involved - but I often have at least one false start to a new pattern. ESPECIALLY patterns which call for LOOOOOOOONG center picots, like this one. Those LOOOOOOOONG picots always seem like a leap of faith to me. Too long and they're floppy, too short and they're tight - for me it's hard to get LOOOOOOOONG picots that are "Baby-Bear-just-right."

    You've got 'em right though! The side-by-side comparison really shows how those longer picots let the chains relax and curve. BEAUTIFUL job, Fox!

    :) Ann

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  3. I seldom get things right the first time. So, I agree... the second attempt is always better!

    I love the colors and the beads!

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  4. Great job! And btw, I've been tatting 12-13 years now and I still do better on the second attempt. Repetition says a lot. And yes, the center picots need to be longer than your average picot. It does not say that in the directions but the photo does show them on the long side.

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  5. Ahhh perseverance. How nicely your second one turned out! Happy tatting...

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  6. I love your tatting! And I think both motifs are great, but I also will take your advice about tatting twice as often as possible since I agree that practice makes "perfect".
    I love the new start you have and the colors in the center motif are great! :)

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  7. I agree - working a pattern twice helps a lot, but I'm usually impatient and starting on the second one before I actually finish the first.

    I definitely like the look of the longer picots - that seems like it would be difficult to make them consistent. Those beads match perfectly - does that mean a third motif is on your mind?

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  8. I love the second attempt!! Its colors are captivating (and yes, it would have looked great with the beads) I agree with Umi - that it looks different from the 1st.

    *Sigh* Unfortunately, I cannot guess the teaser - as I'm not so familiar with patterns that I have not worked up. Oh, do tell us!!

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  9. It does look better with the longer picots. Either one is quite lovely though.

    the teaser? It looks a wee bit like Entertainment Doily by Celtess.

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  10. Wow, Kelly!

    You're good! That is the right answer: Entertainment Doily by Celtess! Thanks for the visit.

    Stay tuned...

    Fox : )

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  11. I don't know how good, it was one of my motifs for the challenge.

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