Open Canvas

A motif is like a fresh new canvas to me. It's in black and white on paper. The vintage ones are always black and white since they didn't use color ink or color photography all that much. It allows me to imagine more fully, in color, with embellishments, accessories, and little changes that sometimes have a huge impact.

I wanted to try a few more things with the Ground #1 motif before I moved on.

I added some beads to this one but in the end, they felt a bit overwhelming or out of balance in the places I put them. I should have used only 1 bead or smaller beads. These are size 11, I think, maybe size 10. Overall, I think I prefer it without beads. It is ornate enough on its own. I also forgot the stitch count on the first ring, inadvertantly tatting the first ring 6-6-6-6 so I continued with the same mistake all around and then in the second round, I had to make the chains a few stitches longer to accommodate the larger ring.

On this one, I used two colors. I also changed the outer small ring to a "puff picot" that I learned from Bina Madden's article in The Bulletin. I need to find a current email for her to ask if I can do an online tutorial for it. Again, I felt it distracted from the original ornateness so I probably would not tat it this way again. That little blip of navy blue in the center is because I started out with the two colors knotted together but realized I didn't need the second color until the next round and it would get all fiddly with the split ring if I kept it. I even considered doing a SSSR but it wasn't necessary and why make something harder than it is? I had already closed the ring so I just cut the blue off.

It's a sample piece, an experiment. If I were going further with it, I would tat it right. (smile)

So now it's back to the little squares I was working on and next week I'll do the next motif in the DMC Ground series.