Taking my own challenge

Since I started this challenge it's only fair that I give my rendition of the challenge image. I started with a couple of ideas and began tatting. This was my first drawing. The drawing only mildly resembles the initial image,

but that didn't matter because no matter how much I tried to make a hexagon with it, it just wanted to be an edging, so I cut it off and started again...with the same results.

That wasn't working so I sat back and looked at the image that Bev called a Rorschach blot. At first all I could see was the letter 'W' but when I looked at it again I saw butterflies. So I played around and came up with another drawing. This one looks a little more like the original image.

So I started tatting. I wasn't sure of the spacing between the butterflies and the chains at the bottom looked weird and disconnected, so as I did more repeats I changed it, adding a short chain between the large rings and adding a join on the tiny split ring at the bottom. It got closer to what I wanted. So I cut the thread and started over again.

See all the ends hanging? When a design gets tweaked over and over again, I just work with whatever thread is still on the shuttles and add more thread in as I need it. There's no point in starting out fresh with fully loaded shuttles because chances are that I'm going to have several tries at it. I weave the threads in as I go if I can, but if I can't, I just let them hang and then sew them in when everything is done. I don't attempt designing with specialty threads as it's most likely just going to be a waste of thread. Sometimes I load the shuttles and tat the design that's in my head start to finish and it comes out perfect the first time. Other times it doesn't.

Here is the latest result. I think I should re-do it adding a longer chain between the large rings at the top because it wants to cup a little. One extra stitch between the butterflies would probably work out better. It's heard to tell since this piece hasn't been blocked yet.

This was one variation of the image. I have another one I'm still working on. After 3 false starts, I'm about half way through it.