Motif No. 9/25 - The Merlion

The Merlion was first designed as an emblem for the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board in 1964 by Mr Fraser Brunner. The lion head represents the lion spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he discovered Singapura in the 11th Century. The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek (meaning “sea” in Javanese) by which Singapore was known before the Prince named it “Singapura” (meaning “lion” (singa) “city” (pura) in Sanskrit), and represents Singapore’s humble beginnings as a fishing village.

If you are interested, you can read the legend of how The Merlion came to Sentosa island here: http://www.themerlion.com.sg/

I have wanted to tat the Merlion for some years, but only took the plunge now. Can’t believe I have been working on it for one and a half months! Had mental blocks on how to go about tatting it, and in between, I completed Jane’s TIAS 3, designed the bookmark “Dancing Kristine” and tatted a few more bookmarks. Phew! finally, its finished! This is Motif No. 9 – the Merlion, tatted with Manuela 20 thread and with 3-cut beads:
This went to Hanna for the animal motif for our International Round Robin project. I enclosed more small animals on paper clips for Hanna too, a token of my apologies to her for the long wait. Hope Hanna will like the selections. To give the credits, the bat is Mark Myer’s pattern, the snail is Sharren Sarver Morgan’s, the bee and caterpillar are Roger aka Freedman’s, and the butterfly is from Rebecca Jones’ book.