Wonderful Jan Stawasz

I was so excited when a copy of Jan Stawasz's book came up on Ebay.  I have made a few of his designs before thanks to a kind tatting friend who lent me her book.  But I was always hoping I'd be able to get my hands on my own copy one day.  And the day finally arrived!  It's mine - yipee!

Here is the first motif I tatted from the book.  Just a little one so I could try out Jess's Madder Tatter thread (definitely a good name for it!)

I forgot to put a magic thread in for the centre ring so there's an unappealing blip of colour there.  There is a lot of contrast in the colours of this thread and by having a thrown ring off the chain, it makes a bit too much of a line (a break) in the colours.  I also played with the thrown rings (the little flowers) because I felt they weren't sitting quite straight on the chain... I tried "posting" the shuttle as some people advise (passing the shuttle through the loop of a ring before closing it) and I think it did improve the look in this particular motif (see if you can spot which ones are which!). 

Here it is!  Love this book.

So glad to have it in my eager little tatting hands!

Best wishes,