the poinsettia !

a snowflake poinsettia.  ‘twas the season after all!

Realised I hadn’t used beads in any of her snowflakes. Beads are such an easy way to add another colour, and perfect for my visualization & easy execution of this pattern.

Twentieth Day of December Snowflake

Lene Björn

from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting
for 2016 Snowflake Challenge on Craftree 

Remember my ‘the flower within’ (and here) conceptualisation where I tried to highlight the flower within a snowflake pattern ? Well, here the entire snowflake becomes a flower !

I strung 18 beads on shuttle #1 .... 

and wound shuttle #2, CTM for Round 1. This helped me climb out with a split chain.

Then I joined in the green thread on shuttle #3 and used encapsulation for chains, carrying the hidden green thread along till required for 'leaves'.

One can tat this round with only 2 shuttles, by using SLTs. I prefer avoiding SLT .

Encapsulation offers so much freedom if one can handle thread entanglement ;-) 

Also, instead of sticking to designated/conventional thread, one can chose to do elements & joins with whichever shuttle is closer, keeping colour format in mind. 

Thus, I used the red chain shuttle for the SCMR instead of the red core one. This also ensured that the chain arch remained a bit smoother, without a break at the SCMR point. And I used the red core for lock join.

A further bit of experimentation : making the first ring a SCMR with thrown ring. 

But experienced designer knows best ! It is prettier & easier to follow Lene’s diagram path, which I used for the remaining leaf sets.

I think it's a bit cramped at the central leaf joins, thus distorting the shape of individual rings. Or perhaps it's my own sloppy tatting and the 3-shuttle entanglement.

There was a tiny bit of ruffle in this flake and I could’ve tatted it better, but I am satisfied with the overall floral image.

Techniques & measurements : split chain (SCh), mock ring (SCMR) with thrown ring, encapsulation, beads on ring picot, simultaneous joins.

In Anchor size 40, (hued red - 4054-1206 & green 4054-00229) 

Rnd 1 - 1½” ;  Rnd 2 - <3½”  ; the 'flower' only is 2"

Future Idea : How about adding more chain-only rounds to increase the petal layers? Think chrysanthemum, dahlia, rose, etc.


That's it for now. Off to tat another snowflake ☺

happy tatting always :-) 
Z