charmed cross ?

Off and on, for the past few months, I’ve been tatting and designing medallions - different shapes and effects. I’ve already shared some medallion patterns/prototypes. 
Here’s my latest, the first of this year - an oval that turned into jewellery .... 

....  Charmed ! - a cross pendant

This post only talks of the design process since it is still a prototype. The final pattern will be shared after I re-tat it. I received confirmation from an ever-enthusiastic Denise that she is test-tatting several versions - I'm just as curious to see what she comes up with :-)

I wanted to create an oval shaped inner space with chains and use trefoils instead of clovers. It is interesting to discover that clovers are more prolific than trefoils for the center.

Browsing the net and antique books didn’t turn up anything within those parameters. Or perhaps I didn’t like the ones that did show up. Either way I set about trying my hand at this shape.

1. First came the one in purple with my basic elements – chains and trefoils.

2. Both elements needed bolstering, hence anchored the trefoils to the chains, and linked ring pairs to each side in the next round and .

3. My 3^rd attempt was more of a cleaning up. I shifted the ring pair to the inner chains - as thrown rings (hence outward facing). 
I now had a decent shuttle shape though a bit obese with all the holiday feasting ;-P

4. Trying to get out of my comfort zone, I tried to spruce up the 2^nd round. While ending, I eliminated the thrown ring at the top to see what it would look like and to give me an option for next trial. This made it look a bit like a cross!

Drew 3 rings at the tips in above pic to create a more cross-like shape - one possible variation. Another could be with a longer lower arm. Lots to keep me busy....

5. Sewed in beads using Anchor size 40 in same colour. In case I didn’t have the same colour, I would’ve followed Jane’s tip here.

In Anchor size 20 (close to a size 10 Lizbeth), this pendant measures 2”x3”. In smaller thread it can be used for earrings.

I call it “Charmed” because one can use a charm of one's choice instead of a teardrop in the negative space. I don’t have any in my stash to show though.

It can be tatted in one pass using a split ring on the side pair to climb out, and Floating Beads method to add teardrop beads/charms. The crystals can be loaded on the shuttles.

I like how this has shaped up. Fairly elegant, even if I say so myself ;-P

However, was the initial goal accomplished?

The medallion is more spindle shaped inside and angular outside, than an oval. 
My next trial will be with a short chain between each of the trefoil rings as in the lone sketch on the left. It defeats the trefoil criterion, but may be I’ll learn along the way … 

happy tatting always :-)