Tatted Mandala Wall Art

Every once in a while, I actually finish one of my projects.  Crazy huh?  Today I'm happy to share one such project.  Actually, I haven't blocked it yet, but it's finished enough!

It was last fall when I had the idea to tat a mandala inspired piece of wall art.  I began by working out the design in size 3 crochet thread.  It took quite a few tries to create the shape I had in mind.  Finally, on December 7th, I posted my small tatted mandala.  Here's a little excerpt from that post,

"In the center of the mandala is a circle surrounded by four arched chains.  These arches represent the four gates that you see on traditional mandalas.  On my final row, I have repeated the gates with the four large rings that point north, south, east and west.  They line up with the four arches in the center.  As a matter of fact, I decided that I would use the number four as the core of my design, so every chain and ring on the entire mandala has either four stitches or a multiple of four."

The mandala prototype measured 4.5 by 4.5 inches.  The one I completed today is four times that size measuring in at 18 by 18 inches.  It was an unruly mammoth.  There I sat carrying two strands of extra bulky yarn with my homemade, 12" wooden tatting needle.  My arm would start to tire from pulling the yarn through my stitches.  I very often had yards worth of yarn threaded.

This is also the largest tatting I have completed to date.  It's hanging from one screw that happens to be on my wall.  One of the things that motivates me to create these large tatted pieces is that I think it's cool to have wall art made from yarn that holds its shape.  I'm not using any stiffeners or special hanging materials, the pieces are able to lie flat against the wall and maintain their form.  I totally dig that!