The flower petals are coming along well. I'm attaching the wire edge now. after that I'll do the embroidery on the back. I use detached buttonhole to cover the back of the stitching so that it looks good. I'll probably run gold thread in the stitching for a bit of glitz.
Both the milagro and the vest are coming along. Yesterday more pearls happened to the vest. I am absolutely loving these 2mm pearls. they just sit so well on the fabric. I'm also having a lot of fun with the textures of the little heart. I think it's turning out not half bad.
I'm trying to get as much done as I can this week on these projects because next week I add another. I will be doing calligraphy on fabric, and then embroidering over it. This should be entertaining.
Happy Stitching!
The flower is coming along nicely. Today I should be able to attach the wires, possibly even cut the petals loose. I'll also be working on the vest. I'm not showing as many pictures of it, as progress is slow.
I'm teaching a class next week, and want to be up to date on some of the latest textile techniques. I'll also be doing some writing to explain how I think about design. Some of these excercises may work their way to the blog. (Or, they may not) Today and tomorrow will be a lot of cleaning and tidying of the studio so that I have space to think, and spread out.
I'm starting a new flower brooch, based on the vest. I'll probably have a few others as well. These should be the largest of the petals. I think the next layer will be lace and then the smaller petals.
on to the stitching!
Well, this experiment didn't quite work. Though I did learn from it. Cross stitch does, indeed, look better on even weave fabric. At 45 stitches per inch, mistakes show up, remarkably, clearly. And, I can stack magnification. I can use my reading glasses, with additional magnification clip-ons and use my magnifying visor. I have a focal distance of about 2 inches, but everything is clear.
I think this fabric will work well for future Or Nue projects.
(And amazingly, I realized this wasn't working, with only four hours of fussing and stitching, instead of 40)
Happy Stitching!
The milagro is almost done. Just a little more buttonhole stitch outlining and it's finished. Today I'll be cranking on the vest, and starting the next milagro. (Most likely egyptian themed, but that may change) I have a large Pinterest board of color combinations that I'd like to try out, and these little embroidered patches are a great way to do that.
This is a recent piece that is currently hanging in the League of NH headquarters on main street. It's another vest that is covered in numbers from a numbers station that moves around the southwest United States.
There's about 600 hours of stitching in it, mostly split and back stitch with a layer of needle lace on top with pearls and metallic beads.
I'm getting better at these long term pieces,. or at least not bored doing them.
Happy Stitching!
This is almost done, I think I have about 6 hours of stitching left on it and it's done. I'm doing a series of small embroidered applique's for a local art show called "Love, Lust and Desire" and this just seemed to resonate with me for the theme.
I set up a Pinterest board where I've been collecting various images of different milagros. The next will be more Egyptian themed. (I also have plans for a green heart with designs from Italian manuscripts)
I'll be posting updated pictures of the vest tomorrow.
The experiment is working out well. I should have it finished later today. There'll be some french knots and probably some pearls, or other beadwork. So, now it's time for some coffee and then back to the stitching.
I'm going to work on a series of small embroideries based on milagros. These should be pretty quick to do.
No post yesterday, we had a gallery opening here at the Kimball-Jenkins school of art. I did a lot of grocery shopping and food prep, and ended up sleeping almost 14 hours. Unfortunately that means there's no significant progress on the stitching, so instead you get a short text post. More pictures tomorrow though.
So a very late start to the day today. I've proposed some classes to both the Kimball-Jenkins school of Art and the League of NH Craftsmen and then went home and crashed.
There is a call for fiber art entries in February, if I can find the link, I'll post it here. It looks interesting, it's based on the urban environment, which to me is a lot of fun.
I'm going to try and get some solid stitching done tonight, if my guts will let me (the C. Diff has flared up again, bacteria are such fun). See you tomorrow.
Happy stitching!
Well, I'm at the point in this project where I'm couching down 8 to 10 strands of gold thread at a time. I'm using this to evoke mermaid's hair, so there will be strands of this throughout the piece. I'm using a thread that is very very close to the background fabric color, that way it will be as if the hair appears and disappears. I think it's a nice effect, and it casts a good shadow.
I apologize for the quality of my photos, I'm using my phone to photograph and write these posts It's easier for me to do this every day if I'm using tools that are readily at hand (like the bluetooth keyboard I use for typing this out, spiffy little thing)
I'm not entirely comfortable being outgoing on the internet yet, but I hope other folks can use the way I work as a jump off point for their own creative endeavors. We all see further by standing on the shoulders of giants, or even each other. It's a way to support the next generation of artists and craftspeople.
So, please, feel free to stand on my shoulders and see what you can make.
Happy stitching!
I've begun laying out the areas for more gold couching and the third panel of the vest. I first drew everything out with a large piece of sidewalk chalk (useful stuff!) and then quick basting stitches to outline so that way when I'm working I don't care that the chalk has rubbed off.
I've stapled rope to the edges of a stretching frame so that I can pin the work in place as I'm doing quick stitches. It's not taut enough for me to be comfortable doing elaborate embroidery, but it's enough for this kind of thing.
Happy Stitching!
Well, I've added more pearls and another piece of beetle wing. And it's starting to look like a thing.
What has helped is that I've found the story for this piece. It's how I work all my art pieces. There needs to be a story, and mystery. I won't bore you all with the details of the story, since I'm the only one that needs to know it, but it has a revised title. "Ripples: or, Mermaids and the sailors that, briefly, loved them." That's enough of a story to carry over in to a couple of differentt pieces, a brooch, possibly a bracelet and hopefully a neckpiece.
Happy Stitching!
There is progress on the vest! I like how the pearls are working on this. I'm using size 15 beading needles for the little 2mm freshwater pearls. and for the rest of the embroidery, I'm mostly using size 12 quilting needles. It's a lot of fun.
This is the first of many beetle wings to go on the vest. I'm cutting them into smaller pieces and sanding the edges to shape. After the sanding, I use a teeny-tiny drill to make some holes to stitch it down.
If I wanted the effect, I could gently steam them, and gently flatten them out a bit.
