Snowflake patterns are in the shop

The snowflake patterns that I've been working on over the past several months are now in my Etsy shop, a few days earlier than expected. You can get to the listing by clicking here.

The digital file contains 12 snowflake patterns and 2 stars. Closeups of the patterns can be seen in the listing photos on Etsy. For this project, I experimented with different variations on themes. You might notice that several of the patterns are similar to each other. I also tried out a couple of new (to me) techniques including layered rings.

Creating a set of patterns like this is giving me good practice for self publishing a printed book. I still have to do a lot of research on that front though. I wonder what types of patterns I should include in a book?

Anyhow, I've emailed the full pattern file to everyone who test tatted one of these flakes for me. If you were a test tatter and don't see the file in your inbox, let me know.

Little flakes and stars

I'm still tatting snowflakes, and I've added a few small stars to the mix:

I've been testing out different beaded centers with the flakes, and have come up with a formula for calculating the picot gauge needed when using size 20 thread. The picot gauge is used with Frivole's method for adding beads, which you can view by clicking here. Hopefully I'll have more about that next week.

These snowflakes and stars are inspired by one of my earlier designs. I had the idea to create snowflake pairs that consist of one small and one large version, both using similar design elements. In this case, both designs feature outward facing clovers tatted in two rounds:

The small snowflake and star are tatted in Lizbeth size 20 thread while the large snowflake and star are tatted in size 40. I have several other design pairs drawn, and I hope to tat them over the next few months. Part of my goal with this project is to create snowflakes that are suitable for both small and large threads.

To draft these designs, I've been using the Amaziograph app that I blogged about earlier. Here is the sketch of the small snowflake from today's post:

I'm really pleased with this app and can get lost in it for hours. I think it's a great way to visualize a design before attempting to tat it.