Decorations on multiple paths

Question

I am trying to re-orient the decorations on two paths so that the arrows on the bottom one face the other way. I name the paths as follows

 \begin{tikzpicture} [decoration={markings,
                mark=at position 1cm with {\arrow[line width=1pt]{>}},
                mark=at position 5cm with {\arrow[line width=1pt]{>}}}]

                \path[draw, line width=0.4, postaction=decorate,
                    name path=contour1]
                    plot[smooth] coordinates
                    {(1.3,0.1)(1.1,1.7)(-1.2,1.4)(-.9,0.1)} -- (1.3,0.1)
                    -- cycle;
                \path[draw, line width=0.4, postaction=decorate,
                    name path=contour2]
                    plot[smooth] coordinates
                    {(1.3,-0.1)(1.1,-1.7)(-1.2,-1.4)(-.9,-0.1)} -- (1.3,-0.1)
                    -- cycle;
        \end{tikzpicture}

However, I don't know how to make the decorations appear on only one path.

Answer 1

Is this what you need? It's the easiest way: set a style, here called mymark, with a single argument. You can make them two or more, but in your case one was sufficient.

Output

Code

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}

\usetikzlibrary{intersections,decorations.markings}

\tikzset{
    mymark/.style={decoration={markings,
                mark=at position 1cm with {\arrow[line width=1pt]{#1}},
                mark=at position 5cm with {\arrow[line width=1pt]{#1}}}}
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

    \path[draw, mymark={>}, line width=0.4, postaction=decorate, name path=contour1]
        plot[smooth] coordinates
        {(1.3,0.1)(1.1,1.7)(-1.2,1.4)(-.9,0.1)} -- (1.3,0.1) -- cycle;

    \path[draw, mymark={<},line width=0.4, postaction=decorate, name path=contour2]
        plot[smooth] coordinates
        {(1.3,-0.1)(1.1,-1.7)(-1.2,-1.4)(-.9,-0.1)} -- (1.3,-0.1) -- cycle;

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}