Monday, February 18, 2013

Finally! Female Betta Completed

Well, I finally finished the Female Betta. It's not like it was that difficult, I just haven't had much time. I've been busy at work, and I haven't been feeling like tatting much when I get home or am off. I have been playing games on my iPad and reading books and magazines on it too, which has taken up a fair amount of my time. But anyway, I have finished tatting the Female Betta.

As I said above, it wasn't that difficult to create, as I used the same body as the male. The fins were much easier to make too. Especially the tail fin. Here's a photo of the Female:


See? The fins are smaller and less ornate than the male. The colours can vary like the males, though perhaps not as much. Here's a photo of both Male and Female Bettas together:


Don't they make a lovely couple? Now that the easy part is done. The easy part being the tatting, I am now working on writing up the pattern. I'm almost done, I just have the top fin to write out. I hope to have it finished by the weekend, maybe earlier. I should have enough test tatters from my call last time, if they're still interested. If needed, I'll ask for extra test tatters when I finish the pattern. The Male Betta is just about done. I need to tat it once more, then add some in-progress photos for clarity. A little bit of reformatting would be good too. I am getting tired of this project, so once the Female is done I'll probably combine both designs in one pattern for sale. I haven't done much other tatting, and I need to move on.

Finally, I'll show you my newest shuttles. I got these two Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles the last time Jane offered them for sale. Which is getting to be a while ago now.


The top shuttle is made out of Eucalyptus wood and the bottom one is made out of Sequoia wood. I love them both, though I love all my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles. I guess while I'm writing here, I might as well share my newest tatting book too:


The book is in French, as you can probably tell. I'm not sure what it is with foreign language books and me lately. I do have some knowledge of French, so I can understand some of what is written. Not enough though, but I do find it easier to translate than my German and Japanese books. There's quite a few really cool looking designs and patterns. Hopefully I will try some of them soon.

That's about it for now. Hopefully I can get both patterns finished. And some other tatting done to share. Till next time.

Monday, February 4, 2013

I'm Here, Honest!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I haven't done much tatting since my last post. I've been pretty busy at work, and I seem to have "Designer's Block" with regards to the two other fish patterns I am trying to work on. I figured I should work on the Dwarf Gourami first since it needed modifications to the body in order to work. I'm not happy with the result, and then haven't felt like working on it. I think I'll work on the Female Betta on my next day off, which should be Wednesday. I should try to tat another Betta body so I'm ready then. My Male Betta has been tested by a few other tatters now; I'm waiting for Jane to go over it again. I think what I may do is offer the Male and Female Bettas together in one pattern since they share the same body style. We'll see what happens with the Gourami. I don't have any photos to share right now. I got my iPad last Monday; it's awesome! I took a few photos and copied them onto my computer, but that's as far as I got.  Hopefully I'll have something to share next time.

Oh! I do have a photo to share. It's my two Dwarf Gouramis; Bob on the left, and Joe on the right.


Well, till next time.