Experiments

After finishing the doily of the last post, I thought I'd carry out some tatting experiments before picking up the Norma Benporath doily again.

An idea came to me to tat the 2-layered flower motif in two colours.  Here are the two that I tried.

On the right, I did  the two layers in alternating colours, while on the left the bottom layer is in one colour and the top in another.  I prefer the one on the left for its clean arrangement, though the one on the right may be okay too if I can arrange it so that the top and bottom rings are aligned instead of skewed as in the picture.

Exploring it further, I joined up three motifs together and I think it would made a pretty bracelet with beads in them.  My idea was to keep it simple and just have one bead in the centre of each flower.

I remember an instruction on making a 3-layer flower but I can't find it anymore.

Added later:
Fox and Charlette pointed the instruction to make the layered flower, which is by Jennifer Williams and you can find it here. It is the bottom-most on the right column and clicking on it will give you the instruction in pdf file.

Then, another light bulb flashes - Can I alternate the colours in an interlocking ring?  I think I can, and I did but only after numerous tries.

The tension is uneven and there is a big blob in the centre where I knotted the two threads together, but I think  it is possible.  Still need to polish up the technique some more and try and get it simplified.

Conclusion:

The experiments were successful.