Tatting my final hippo

Had another go at tatting a realistic hippo face and am reasonably satisfied with this one, a huge improvement on yesterdays attempt. I am so grateful to Jane for letting me play around with her designs like I do, it is doing so much for my design skills which were nonexistent..



The thread this time was Flora 10 as it is the only size that I ever got this glorious colourway. he measures a whopping 15cm (almost 6inches) and for those who like to know how much thread to use, he took 6m on Sh1 and 5.5m on Sh2.

I am now happy that he can go into the water and do his 'hippo paddle' and have his ear, eye and nostrils out of the water (see my hippo photos in my last post).

Just had to play with my Tanzanian scene again so here are 2 hippos, one swimming and the other wading in the shallows.



If you want to see hippos on the water and on land here is a super link to a U Tube video.

The number of hippos that have come out of the Tat It And See project has been amazing. Lots of people thought that it might be a rhino or pig or even an elephant and felt that they were all very similar and related to each other. I thought that maybe a teeny little zoology lesson might come in handy here (apologies for being a know it all!!) as they are evolutionarly very different. If you are allergic to the science bit then skip the next bit!

Hippos and Rhinos are both cloven hoofed animals that walk on their toes(digits)Digitigrade. So it was not so silly to imagine a hippo ballerina as she is already walking on her toes!

Hippos walk on two toes and are Artiodactyls. Other artiodacts are pigs,camels,giraffes and cattle, goats and sheep. Some walk on 2 toes others 4 but all walk on an even number of toes.

Rhinos on the other hand are Perissodactyls and are odd toed, usually walking on the middle toes of each foot. they are usually fast runners (remember that when you meet a rhino) and include as well as rhinos the tapirs, horses, zebras and asses.

Elephants are a totally different ball game, they appear to walk like us on the soles of their feet with their toes pointing forward Plantigrade. But in fact they are still walking on their toes ( no hooves on these tho)with a lot of padding to bring the sole of the foot to the same level as the toes. The foot sort of tilted forward, this is called Semi Digitigrade. Elephants walk they don't run but they do walk at a pretty fast pace.

Rant over you can breathe again!!

More about elephants when I tat them..that's a threat!!

Number 27. Hippopotamus's.

The hippo I made for the TIAS is in the post before this one(in case you missed it).

Playing around tweaking Jane's Hippopotamus pattern to give him a pointier ear further forward on his head and a bulbous eye nearer to his ear, together with a flatter squarer head.
Here is my first attempt in Coates Madura Red Heart 20 measuring 12cm from snout to tail he is not quite as I want him yet.



Second try is in Coates Anchor Perle in a varigated red to brown, he measures 11cm. His head looks better but he still looks a bit too much like a Pit Bull Terrier!! still not quite right, will have to have another go, I think he could do with some nostrils too. these are very important to a hippo as he spends most of his time in water and can close their nostrils to stay under water up to 5 minutes.



They come out of the water when it is cool at night to eat grass.

Here is my first hippo again...bet you wondered why I had chosen such a dull greenish grey colour. Well when he comes out of the water, rolls around in the mud a bit to keep the flies from bothering him, this I think is the colour you would see as he dries off. Looks like he spotted something tasty to eat.



We lived in Tanzania for two years and went on several safaris to the game parks in Tanzania and Kenya. All this tatting of animals sure takes me back, sometimes it seems like just yesterday, sometimes a lifetime ago. People used to say that Africa gets under your skin and it does.
Dragged out the box of slides, borrowed a slide scanner and here they are, full of dust and sometimes strangely coloured! wonderful what a little photoshoping can do.

We never actually saw a hippo out of the water, just as well as they are one of the most dangerous animals you could meet, very aggressive (especially if you call them fat or ugly!!!!).

This group of hippos ( thanks to Jane just found out a group of hippos is a bloat!)is in the soda lake in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.
Click on the photos for a bigger image.





This look like a mother and baby.



And this lot are in a hippo pool in Serengeti, could almost have fancied a swim in there to get out of the heat.



Finally here is my very own bloat of hippos



I chose this colour thread as it is the nearest I can get to that lovely shiny mahogany/pink colour that a hippo in the water is.

He is making his way back into the water to join his group, just look at that glint of anticipation in his eye. What a wonderful life.

I sincerely hope that the kin of these hippos are still enjoying life in the water almost 40 years on from when these photographs were taken.

Number 9. Scorpions!

I HATE SCORPIONS!!!!!!!!!

So why would I want to include one in the progression of my tatted challenge zoo!

Well, after I'd tatted the Meerkats I watched a programme on Meerkats (fleas and all!) in the Kalahari Desert. What wonderful social groups they live in, taking it in turns to be the 'look out', always ready for the unexpected.
Saw them grooming each other like the primates do, guess this is their way of dealing with those darn fleas!
There is not a lot to eat in the desert and one of their favourite snacks is a nice crunchy scorpion. Makes me shudder! Apparently they are more or less immune to the stings.

Still not a good enough reason to tat a scorpion?

So on to my story.
In 1967 when we were just married (yup celebrating 40 years next week) we took our belated honeymoon on an expedition to a Greek island with our University. Mmmm not much of a honeymoon sleeping in a tent for a month in a sun scorched field in the August heat. But we did have such great adventures travelling there and back thanks to the sponsors, riding on The Orient Express route from Paris to Venice, time in Venice, cruising thro' the Corinth Canal and down the Aegean sea on a small cruise liner to Pyraeus, time to spend in Athens, oooh what memories.

OK I'll cut to the point ...the scorpion!

My job on the expedition was to collect and identify the insects on the island so I'm not unduly squimish about anything with 6 legs. But when it comes to creepy crawlies with 8 legs that's a whole new ball game. One morning as I crawled out of my sleeping bag I felt that something had landed on my hair I instinctively brushed it away, bad move... it was you guessed, it a scorpion and it stung me on the side of my head...OUCH!
Now the only thing I knew about scorpions was that their sting was fatal! So it was lucky that I was on a zoological expedition and had people around (especially new hubby who knows these things!) to assure me that they were in fact not all lethal. I work on the basis that if someone tells me NOW YOU CAN PANIC then that's the time to panic! that's the theory anyway.
Well it wasn't fatal and it paid for that sting and was preserved for posterity!! I blurred it's details on our expedition label to save it's face but I was so amused to read the little addendum on the end of it 'after stinging the latter of us' !!!!!

Here he is with a little mate who didn't get the chance to sting me!




Being stung by one scorpion is an unfortunate accident but be stung by two scorpions is darn right bad luck!

A little more than a year later we went to live in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and work at the University. The first apartment we were given was on the ground floor and it didn't take long to realise that such freedom of access to all things that creep, crawl and slither! was not good. In less than a week I had trodden on a scorpion hiding in the dark in my shoe, can't blame the poor little beggar for lashing out. Fortunately he wasn't lethal either but boy it hurt like hell, ever had dozens of red hot needles stuck into the sole of your foot so that every time your foot touched the floor they shot up your leg. Don't remember much about the pain from the Greek scorpion, it must have hurt but I well remember hopping about on a make shift crutch for days after this one.
Needless to say we applied for a new apartment on got one on the first floor where we lived happily and safely for two years.

So lets say that tatting a scorpion is like laying a ghost for me and for once I can look at a friendly very cute scorpion courtesy of Jane's pattern.

Just a little tweaking honest to make him look more like my scorpion.

This is Jane's original pattern, very cute and instantly recognisable as a scorpion to me, but just not quite right.




Perhaps I better explain a bit about Scorpion anatomy,(those who are bored cut to the end!!).
You all know that insects have 6 legs and spiders have 8, this little fellows legs have been missed out as not necessary for the scorpion effect. But they would have been seen coming from the segments of the cephalothorax. Too big a word, nah...insect body is divided into 3 parts,head,thorax and abdomen but in arachinds the head and thorax are fused into one (hence cephalothorax) so they only have that and the abdomen. So far so good but I can hear you saying if the 8 legs are not on this specimen what on earth are those leg like things with the big claws.
Well unlike us insects and arachnids don't have teeth or hands to manipulate food instead they have mouthparts..extra little 'arms' to help them pick up, hold and stuff food into their mouths!! and serrated 'teeth like bits' to help them 'chew'.
So those long 'arms' are modifield mouth parts. While used to pick up food their are also very useful in attack and defense and are called pedipalps.

Now you know that my aim was to tat realistic animals so with `Jane's permission I tweaked.

The pedipalps on Jane's scorpion are too curved and have too many segments. Scorpions hold their claws out to the side of their body ready for action, so Jane's curve had to be reversed and an elbow made.
I loved the eyes and the way she had shown the segments of the cephalothorax with the loops of chains but I couldn't get them to lie flat so had to tweak a bit.
the abdomen I felt was too short for my scorpion and is immediately narrow as it emerges from the cepho' so that was tweaked too.
here are some shots of my trials and errors.



Finally I found that if I tatted the rings of the abdomen as for wrong side..2nd half, 1st half then it would curl up holding the sting in the tail above the body, and this I am happy with. Thanks Jane I could never have made this on my own.








He wouldn't hurt a fly, honest!
He's made in Oren Bayen thread in gorgeous varig oranges, looks so desserty, and measures about and inch and a half.

What happened to the African scorpion did someone ask.....well he paid the ultimate price too, I just can't find him at the moment, just remember him as being very black and sinister!

Number 3. Tatting Giraffes

Oh don't you all love a giraffe, they have such stately elegance.
Always start simple thats my motto and work your way up.
So simple it is. Jane Eborall's doodle giraffe is instantly recognisable and just great for practicing sets.




Tatted in a variegated Flora 10 he is a little over 3 inches tall
Next up is a lovely pattern by Inga Madsen from her book 'Tatted Animals'.
An interesting pattern to tat with it's patches of block tatting. All Inga's animals in her book were designed to be sewn onto a quilted blanket for a child and are therefore quite stylised.




He was tatted in Coates Floretta 20 and is 6 inches tall.

BUT this is what I am looking for, sorry to inflict another of our photos on you! This is a Masai Giraffe taken in 1969 during our sojurne in Tanzania. He is on the edge of Serengeti National Park, isn't he just a beauty. How lucky we were to get the chance to see so many animals in the their natural surroundings.



If I am looking for realism the first stop has to be Jane Eboralls site and she did not disappoint me. here is her giraffe pattern
and here are a couple of Jane's giraffes heading off into the sunset!





Tatted in Flora 20 variegated they stand 5 inches tall. I really like the effect of the reverse side of the rings in this case. It's quite a complex pattern to follow, needing concentration as to which ring joins to which. Jane has even got the little lumpy bit at the base of the neck, what a talented lady she is.

I have just been out to our wildlife park Fota
Unfortunately the giraffes were all out side their house instead of being out on the plains. Here is my favorite group of mum with the three Fota babies. These are Reticulate giraffes (compare with the Masai), their markings are larger and have a much more geometric outline.

Number 2: Tatting Flamingos

First Flamingos in the tatting firing line were from Martha Ess's book 'New Critters on the Block'. This is a super little book of block tattered little cuties and this one is a real cutie.
This one was made with Flora 10 thread and is about two and a half inches tall.



This inspired a whole line up of tiny flamingos that are certainly destined to make a picture whenever I have time.
These were made in variegated Flora 20 and Altin Basak 50. and are about one and a half inches high. The variegated threads work really well.
The long neck lends itself to posing in different positions and I made some without feet as they were wading in the water.



Next I was looking for something a bit more realistic and where else would I look first but on Jane Eborall's site. In my opinion Jane just has to be one of the best tatted animal designers out there. She studies the animal in question carefully to make sure she has gets most of the characteristics right within the confines of tattings limitations, and is constantly developing new methods to overcome problems.

Janes flamingo is a smasher. I was so proud of my first attempt, showed it to hubby who always truthful,(well he is a zoologist) told me that it didn't look like a flamingo because one of the the characteristics of flamingos is that they have very, very long, very, very skinny legs!

On closer examination Jane's legs were indeed not very, very long, neither were they very,very skinny!

But with a little, well a lot of leg pulling and blocking, the legs became skinny enough to satisfy. The neck also needs stretching and blocking to shape. the body is really good and the best thing I like is the head. She has miraculously captured the essence of a flamingo head with the large black beak.
This one was made in Altin Basak 50 and is 4 inches high.



Flamingos feed on brine shrimps which they strain out of the water with the beak. They walk along head bent with the beak held upside down in the water. It's the pink colour of the shrimps that give the flamingos their colour. We have a wild life park near where we live and the flamingos have to be given additives to the diet to maintain their colouration.

Thinking about flamingos brought back memories. While living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 1968-70, during college breaks we would go on safari. One of the most memorable was to Ngorongoro Crater. Down at the bottom of the extinct volcano is a soda lake just seething with flamingos, as well as hippos and loads of terrestrial stuff. Access was only by 4 wheel drive, open top landrover and boy was it exciting.
Just had to go dig out the slides and take another look.






One of the poses I really love in flamingos is when the stand 'at ease' for hours on end with one leg tucked up behind the other, so I thought it would be nice to change Jane's pattern a little and this is the finished result.




This was made in Flora 20 and is five and a half inches high.


Jane didn't mind having her 'leg pulled'! In fact she likes my version so much that she has put the pattern up on her website alongside her original. Thanks a million Jane.


The two versions made in Altin Basak make a lovely pair.

Number 1. Snakes

I started tatting this snake in October in Chicago surrounded by reptile lovers, (so engrossed they never even noticed me tatting!!).

I can't say that I like snakes very much having had a few close encounters with spitting cobras spitting at our car headlights in when we lived Tanzania. Thankful to be inside the car and protected at the time. Glad the puff adder that I had to walk past frequently was in a glass tank. It gave me the shudders every time it puffed up as I passed. I wont go into other experiences of escaped snakes, suffice to say the my dearly beloved's mother always told him to choose a wife that wouldn't mind waking up in the morning to find a snake curled happily around the window opener!!!!(twas only a little harmless grass snake! but thank goodness St Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland!)



But if I had to choose one snake to like apart from the gentle boa constrictor our friend owned, I think it would be these very well cared for green tree boas that we saw at the reptile show.
I love the way they curl themselves around a branch with a little persuasion I am sure they could make a double stitch!! and so this is the snake that I decided to explore for my challenge. Snakes really do have such pretty markings.

The pattern is Dianna Stevens Snake Bookmark http://www.domesticarts.com/Patterns/snake.htm


First attempt in variegated Altin Basak thread, it was amazing how those stripes worked out so well.



Second one was in Flora 20 a bit too gaudy, better for a chamealeon or a parrot.



Beaded version in Altin Basak with beaded eyes, has a nice shiny snake look to it.

My finished piece and the one I think is most snake like, uses one of my favorite threads, a variegated Flora 20 (sadly discontinued) with opaque yellow lustre beads. I made the snake a teeny bit longer (not long enough) with gentle curves and finally got the eyes looking 'snakey'. thank you Dianna for a fun pattern.


And finally absolutely nothing to do with tatting,but give me a break.. I am learning bobbin lace and my first real project was guess what...a snake!



And here he is in all his glory, a great use for a rather strange Altin Basak thread.
the pattern is from Claire Burkhard, 'Lace for 10 pairs'.