Wednesday, June 18, 2008

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.



16 comments:

LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...

Wow the Merlion is amazing!

Tat-a-Renda said...

Wow from me too. Amazing work. Looks very much like the real Merlion. Certainly worth all the time that you put into it. Thank you for sharing it here.

I wonder if you could register this design as your trademark .. maybe not .. since it is already used by the Singapore Tourism Board. But it would be nice to place it on your web page so that it can be seen by all visitors to your site.

victats@gmail.com said...

I always wonder how people can take the essence of a picture and translate it into something else. The Merlion is wonderful.

Unknown said...

Your Merlion is pretty neat. I never knew there was such a legend. I've never even heard of one until just now. Well, you learn something new everyday.

Marilee Rockley said...

Adding my "Wow" to the others. The tatted Merlion is astounding. Thanks for sharing the story behind it.
The paper clips are so cute and cheerful.

Tattycat said...

I am in love with Merlion! Maybe one day the pattern will be in a book?

Bonnie said...

As everyone is saying, WOW! Thank you for sharing this with us.

Jullie Teo said...

WOW! WOW! You are good la!

Singtatter said...

Thanks, gals!

Trademark, Jon? Does anyone has tatted/tatting trademark? How do we register a trademark? I do have an idea on another animal which will have more meaning for me, but it is still on paper and I have not started tatting it. Wonder how long that will take again!

Well, TattingChic, to be honest, I also just learned about the legend myself when I wrote the blog entry! Indeed, I have learnt new things when I did research on the designs I want to tat!

Toptattyhead said...

As always, Singtatter, your work is beautiful. And what a lovely legend - you did the legend justice with your wonderful tatted version.

Singtatter said...

Thanks, Linda! I'm flattered!

Carol Schockling Lawecki said...

Double Wow from me. Your tatted Merlion is AWESOME! You did a fantastic job designing him. I really like how you used the pearl tatting for the mane. I remember you had a GR-8 shuttle with the Merlion engraved on it. Thanks for sharing the picture. I also wanted to mention that the little doodle tatting on the paperclips are very cute! Your presentation to Hanna is very nice indeed!!

Singtatter said...

Thanks, Carol, for the wows. You sure has a good memory, yes, I have this merlion on the GR8 shuttle, that's one so precious one that I never use it to tat, just to see and admire. I like tatting on paper clips, they are good to hold the small motifs and practical to use, I always have some with me to give away to those who ask what I'm doing when I'm tatting.

Wendy said...

Hi, I'd like to know where to find the patterns for the bee and caterpillar that are Roger aka Freedman’s. Thanks from a beginner tatter!

Wendy said...

Hi, I'm a beginner tatter and I'd like to know where to find the patterns for the bee and caterpillar by Roger aka Freedman. Thanks!

Singtatter said...

Hi Wendy, the patterns are here

http://needletatting.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=membersoriginal&action=display&thread=89