Number 6. A Gaggle of Geese

First up once again was one of Martha Ess's block tatted critters. Her goose is just fabulous and I soon had a gaggle running around as fast as their little legs could carry them.
After much deliberation I coloured the beaks with a felt pen and liked the effect a lot.
The goose and gander...do they look different I wonder are made in Flora 10 and measure 2.75 inches and have metallic green eyes about size 9. The goslings who probably shoud have been fluffy lemon with black beaks are in Flora 20 and measure 1.75 inches and have blue iris eyes size 10. I did try them in Coates Anchor sizes 30 and 40 but they have yet to get their legs.



One interesting thing in this photo is can you see the difference between the bodies of the leading gander and all the others. For that goose I tried Jane's (and others) method of block tatting. Very easy to do using one shuttle and ball in this case gives a more rounded effect to the body. This is a particularly nice effect in these animals. Click on the photo for an enlarged version.

Next in line was Jane Eborall's goose, yet another brilliant pattern. Made in four sections wing,rest of body and neck, legs and beak, it is easy to tat providing you can do split rings, SCMR and make rings off SR's. I tried to make them a little different from each other by making the gander with a larger green metallic eye and a thicker beak. I liked the way she made the wing section in ecru to give it definition. The shape of the head and the beak are my favorite bits.
They are both made in Flora 20 and measure about 5 inches.



I had a fancy to make an angry goose with its mouth open and it's neck stretched out but that is for another day, the neck and head suggest lots of different postures to me.

BUT I did try out another goose, wanted to make a Greylag goose and experimented with different colours. Gave him a shorter thicker beak. He doesn't look much like I intended but I rather like him and I love the way his neck curved, so here he is a new species of goose, wonder what I should name him.


He was made on Flora 20 too in light and dark grey.

Trying another one adding a DMC 80 in variegated shades of grey to both the light and dark threads, not sure I like the effect so far in this the wing section.
Lots of potential here.

Number 5. A Tatted Medley of Meerkats

If you haven't already seen the latest critter to come from the ever increasing design collection of Jane Eborall, then here he is 'The Meerkat'.
I am not sure that I have ever seen a Meerkat in the flesh, certainly not in the wild, but recognised him instantly such is the cleverness of Jane's design.

I didn't have a great detail of choice for the right kind of colour for him so here are a few I tried.



First attempt was the variegated one using Twilley's 20. A difficult thread to use, rather coarse and hairy, had to keep using thread heaven in the end to control it.
Was not too happy with him, colour not great and beads too big.
Second attempt was in Oren Bayen 50 a soft 3ply thread that I am not too keen on but it tatted up really well, bit too dark though.
Third attempt was in DMC Perle 8, an even softer thread that I hadn't used before and it tatted up really well.

The Meerkat is fairly easy to tat, with a bit of concentration, especially with Jane's instructions for easy block tatting. In these threads he stands a little under 5 inches tall.

Now I know I am getting very pernickety about my animals but when I put them on a display board (you may have seen my display on my other blog, if not it will appear here soon) I think that it would be really nice to have two versions of the animal so that they don't all look identical.
The two flamingos look so well together that I thought that a Meerkat looking the other way could be good. Jane said 'Go for it!' so here he is. She will put him up on her web site I think.



The other 3 Meerkats were a bit suspicious of him at first but he will soon settle in!!




And then there were four.
Now dare I ask has anybody else designed a Meerkat for me to try!!!!

Number 4. Penguins

Martha Ess has the cutest, irresitible Penguins in her book 'New Critters on the Block' and I couldn't resist tatting up a colony of them.



The little guys are made in size 20 Flora thread and the big ones in Size 10. Can't tell you the height of them right now as they have gone off to an exhibition. Little ones prob about an inch high.

Visited our local wildlife park Fota last week and made a beeline for the penguins (amongst other things) and this little guy sitting on a rock really took my fancy.
He really is a little fella probably not much more than 20 inches high. I think maybe he is a Humboldt Penguin from South America.



Had anybody designed a side view of a penguin.

Well the answer is yes, Pam Palmer has one in a publication from 'The Lace Guild','The Penguin Pattern Book', the book contains penguins and related items made in a variety of crafts but this tatted penguin is the star of the book to me, he is a winner. Made in 4 sections he is fairly easy to tat.

Here is a little group of them made in size 20 Flora



And a singleton in size 10, sorry again that I can't give the measurements at the moment. He is probably about 4 inches tall.




Have one other pattern to try, does anyone know of any more penguin patterns??