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Monday, August 23, 2010

Queen of Hearts Three Ways

My color study continues somewhat circuitously with Mary Konior's "Queen of Hearts."

Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts
All threads are size 40 Lizbeth

All three hearts are charming in their own right. And yet...

My July 27th post stated I wasn't sure how shoe-lace-tricking my way right-and-left-grand style through the rings affected the color flow.

Let's take a closer look.


Switching threads to alternate rings mixed things up in an intriguing way, but the effect got lost. You really have to scrutinize to see that every other ring is a solid orange.

Look again - variegated rings are surrounded by solid chains and vice verse. This is an appealing effect, but two solid colors are needed to really show it off. 


See how the stripes leap off the screen? The contrasting waves of color make this a winner.

Heart 3 surrounds colorful rings with solid chains. To me, the variegated rings add more visual interest than solid ones. (Not that there is anything wrong with solid ones.) The purple chains hug the graceful curves of the design and compliment the Fruit Fizz.

Does this create a stained glass effect?


Not quite, because the dark chains do not completely outline the bright rings. They Allemande Left around the rings instead.

Last but not least is Heart 2. Tatted with Fruit Fizz on two continuously-wound shuttles and tatted according to pattern specs. It might not be as flashy as the previous two, but it is so pretty!


If the color distracts from the design (some would say yes, some would say no), I would still choose to tat this again and again.

For folks who like to know:

Shuttle 1 Shuttle 2
Heart 1 #139
Fruit Fizz
#696
Autumn Orange medium
Heart 2 #139
Fruit Fizz
#139
Fruit Fizz
Heart 3 #139
Fruit Fizz
#633
Purple Dark
Heart 4 #696
Autumn Orange medium
#633
Purple Dark

My three-way analysis turned into a four-way analysis. And in answering my first questions I came up with a few more. But look at all that I learned (and you too) from this little experiment with color.

Thank you to Mary Konior, God rest her soul, for designing this versatile and always lovely heart.

This will be my last post before leaving on Thursday morning (before the sun rises) to catch a plane to Toccoa, GA, for Tat Days. But I am taking my camera and laptop so I can (cross your fingers) deliver at least one live update from there.

Gotta start packing!

8 comments:

  1. I did this one with Spring green for the chains and Spring Fling for the rings. It makes it look like a wreath of flowers and greenery. I think it's quite striking. Yours are very pretty, too-- they inspire me to try other color combinations.

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  2. Thanks so much for sharing your explorations in color. I'm going to link this as a good site for new tatters.

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  3. Very interesting post but I love them all!!!! IF I had to choose which I thought worked best I'd not be able to!!!

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  4. Interesting exploration in colour.

    Love this pattern. Nice work!

    Have a great ...sob....time...sob...
    I will not...sob... be seeing..sniff... you there...sniff, sniff, this year.
    Take notes and photos, please!

    Sad Fox : (

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  5. Thank you for all the information! I've never thought of doing a color study. I like your idea!

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  6. What an interesting post and I do love the colour ways.Anyway have a great trip.

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  7. A great study, I love the one with the dark chains, it emphasizes the flowers. With green for the chains it's like a garden.
    Also like the two solid colours, very striking.
    I did a similar thing

    http://tatsakoolchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/03/tribute-to-mary-koniorpart-1.html

    and it was great fun.
    I love that you did this.

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  8. Tatskool, so THAT'S where the great idea came from! *grins* Wow, your study was in March and I had forgotten all about it. See how schlocky my memory is?

    Your hearts look so perfectly perfect in every way. Your lassies' hearts do too. (Because they have a great teacher no doubt!)

    Thanks for sharing the link to your study. It is even more instructive when you can compare more than one result. I know I learned loads!

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