Monday 26 November 2012

The Beauty of Snowflakes

I've been looking at snowflakes again.  Real snowflakes.  I find them endlessly fascinating.  They are so beautiful and each different.  

Here is one:
Image Source:  SnowCrystals.com


I wanted to try to reproduce it in tatting.  To have a more realistic-looking tatted snowflake.  A small one.  And in fact, I don't think this one is small enough (I'd like one to wear as earrings) - though of course I could always tat it in a finer thread.  But here's where I got to so far.  The challenge was to have that point in between the longer arms.  Those points make a lovely diamond shape in the snowflake.  Tatting, though, is not generally "pointy", it's definitely more about curves.  But I've come up with a "trick" that lets me turn at the end of the chain and go back the other way with a point instead of a curve.  Technique still needs to be perfected a bit but here's my first sample.

Getting there?






Here they are side by side:





Best wishes,


20 comments:

  1. A clear bead where the join is before the outer ring would add subtle sparkle and make it look more “snowflake” like! Good shape!
    Fox : )

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  2. I like it! I love it. Would a lock stitch give you the angle you are aiming for?

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    1. Yes, a lock stitch works but give a slightly "flat" tip. I shall do another blogpost with comparisons.

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  3. I love it!! Great job!! Can't wait to see it once you think it's perfected. :-)

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  4. That is a lovely snowflake taking shape, well done
    Margaret

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  5. I'm intrigued. Can't wait to see how you did the pointy chain!

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    1. No doubt someone else has thought of it before but I'd not seen it done like this. If I'm happy with it, I'll explain in the next post. :-)

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  6. You are so talented! This is really lovely!

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  7. You have done a great job on this snowflake BRAVO and thanks for sharing
    Hugs
    Joy in OZ

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  8. Exceptional first try, great job! This answers so many snowflake questions for me....LOVE IT!

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    1. Thank you! Snowflake questions?... Glad if I helped in any way!

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  9. That's a great little snowflake. I did a project once on how they capture those images of snowflakes. Its pretty intense. I do a SLT to create a point in a chain.

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    1. Yes, they are really fascinating those images of snowflakes. I keep reading that no two snowflakes are alike but that seems too unbelievable...

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  10. Your first try looks great. I like to use a lock stitch to make a break in the curve of a chain. I'm looking forward to seeing if you have a different way. I love learning new tricks.

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  11. It looks great so far, very close to the original. If a chain is short enough, you can keep it from curving; for longer chains, you could try using balanced double stitches to maintain straightness. And as others have said, a lock stitch or SLT makes for a nice point. Very pretty!

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    1. Mmm, "balanced double stitches"... I'm going to go look that up now!

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  12. Magnifique!! Très belle interprétation!!!
    Amitiés

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  13. Igual a ti, soy amante de los copos de nieve, me encanta cada uno diferente y si son tatted !WOW!, esta hermoso este tuyo.

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