Saturday 10 October 2020

bonding with butterflies

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Together, we tamed the butterfly - Bandini and I !!!

The story goes back to July when I posted the Lock Join Plus series... 

We spotted a potential butterfly in the 4 individual motifs and Bandini Maisheri on FB took up the challenge to create a proper tatting model/pattern. She and her mother both tat and sell their wonderful work under the name Harsha Creation. Do check out the range of their tatted lace appliqued on purses, tableware, hankies, etc. - some are spectacular, some are elegant.

These are the 4 models she tatted, tweaking and improving with each as is clearly visible.


Each of the models has 4 white filler rings in the wings tatted separately and then the body and wings were worked around. The lovely antennae are tatted and joined later. 
This makes the pattern easier to tat, using up scraps (in multiple colours, if desired) for the individual rings, but more tails to hide.
I can't thank her enough for all the work she did in breathing life into the butterfly! If it wasn't for her initiative and perseverance, this project would've remained in the ever-growing to-do-someday pile. 

We finally agreed on her 3rd version and she sent me the count for testing. I've taken a break from the doily to test this (it's been waiting for over a week!) and it was quite an enjoyable experience tweaking and improving the models further. Hubby weighed in with his ‘expert’ comments, too! We are all now pretty happy with this. 

I started with the 2-colour version, working with 2 shuttles following the exact counts Bandini sent. It can be a good practice pattern for the various Lock Join Plus techniques
All 4 methods (LJ, Reposition, SLT, Reverse Join) were used judiciously to get the colours in place, yet work it all continuously.
collar, necklace, or doily anybody?!

Next came the pink model with certain tweaks and finally the purple one to everybody's satisfaction. That does not mean there aren't more tweak/decorative variants running through my head ;-D But everything will have to wait.

Named it Butterfly Bandhan aka Butterfly Bonding. 'bandhan'  means bonding in Hindi and it not only reflects the bonds that got this butterfly flitting, but also sounds similar to my co-designer's name. And if you are interested, we call butterfly 'titli' with soft sounds (a soft 't' sound does not exist in English).

Pattern for the purple one will be shared as soon as I complete the presentation. Will you be interested in tatting it? Please leave a 'Yes' otherwise I can spend that time on other projects ;-P
Love to hear your thoughts, which model(s) you prefer, etc. .....

20 comments:

  1. Fantastic collaboration! Love that idea. My to do list is still very long so don’t write the pattern on my account. But butterflies are a popular subject, I’m pretty sure tatters will want the pattern.

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    1. True, Jane 💗 I got a lot of interested tatters when I posted in my fb album. So pattern is now on it's way to being written 😃

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  2. Yes yes, yes I would love to try this beautiful butterfly pattern, you know my love for butterflies.

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    1. Thanks, Margaret 😄💗 There's another creative blogger from Finland (Marja) who has a tatted a huge flutter of tatted butterflies.

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    2. True, I like butterflies. This one is a balanced and beautiful butterfly.

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    3. I hope this one gets into your collection as well, Marja 😃💗 Than

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    4. Looking forward to adding this pattern to my collection

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  3. Replies
    1. Okay, Joyce 😃💕
      Have started work on the instructions.

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  4. They are beautiful and unique. I noticed in picture 7 (second from the end) that they seem entirely different upside down. With one more wing (lobe?) added in the middle, it would be a lovely leaf.
    Though they are fine right now.
    LindaR

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  5. Po prostu piękne. :)
    Pozdrawiam ciepło.

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    1. Thank you splocik 💗 Always nice to see you here 🌹

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  6. Love the butterfly necklace and collar idea with your collaborated butterflies.

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    1. Thanks, Anita :-))) And now there are even more arrangements that I have shared in my latest post with the pattern pdf. Check them out ;-)

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