Robert,
Those are pretty good. The two you showed need a little more masa/maseca spread across the entire oja. I like them with a lot of meat, but you need more masa spread evenly to get them "pretty." I got schooled on tamale making when I entered my wife's family a decade ago. "Grandma" was so good at tamales...she basically schooled the entire town on how to make them correctly. Newspaper articles, local restaurants, friends, and family took heed and followed suit. Somehow I immediately got promoted to "filler." I have done the various jobs on the assembly line, but "spreader" is an art form.
Everyone makes them differently. My uncle (who married into my Aunt's Mexican family) makes tamales completely differently than I do. Tradition is a funny thing. Why people do what they do or use what they use.
We use the largest ojas and don't tie (just like you). One trick you may have learned is to use the medium pieces of the ojas to make a larger surface. Some people use olives...some don't. We actually flavor the masa with a little chile to give it some added flavor. One of grandma's workers taught me...it's the color when it's right. Some people even skip the ojas and make "tamale pie" in a pyrex dish. Whatever you do...have fun!
@Titch...you don't eat the husks. My wife's old roommate one time went to a restaurant and ate the whole tamale (husk and all). When she saw my wife eat tamales and commented "You don't eat the husks??" My wife quickly retorted: "Not unless you're a horse!"
That still makes me laugh.
