April 8
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| Eric Walsh Photo |
Here's Mystique; all complete. I am quite happy with her and especially fond of her expression. You can visit her at the Craft Council Gallery until April 26th. I am going to get more detail shots done when she comes home. As with everything, there are a few choices I would have made differently if I had the time, but that is the creative process!
March 10
Well Mystique is off to the framers. I tried to get a photo of the finished piece but it was late and the light wasn't cooperating. I will post a picture when the photographer shoots it. I did change a few things, including the colour of the flowers, I made them closer to the heritage honeysuckle colour; pale and soft. I am happy with the finished piece, now it is up to Nesting jury whether they feel she is worthy.
March 8
Thread painting is one of my favourite techniques. I just lose myself in an image and stitch until it looks finished. Lots of coffee and good television. I use DMC floss for all my thread paintings with a #10 crewel needle. DMC offers a large selection of colours, it is locally available and cheap. Mystique (the hen) is approximately 4 inches high and the 'slip' is stitched on cotton organza, it will be cut out and applied to the background doily. It was a lot fun to immortalize my girl in stitches.
March 5
I was right about the weather, I didn't really feel the need to be out and about it -20 weather. Other than feeding and watering chickens and collecting eggs, it was a lazy few days of stitching. The honeysuckles are complete. I used vintage linen and silk thread. The stems were completed with just an inch of thread to spare! I am happy with them, I decided not to use any gold but I may change my mind. I feel it is a little naked without it. Although my embroidery is very traditional, in both technique and design, I use the computer quite frequently in my design process. My tools are quite simple: a variety of scissors, embroidery hoops and needles, my blue washout pen and my computer and printer.March 1
After some thought about what to do, I am finally getting started with my piece for Nesting for the Craft Council's Gallery. My Grandmother's barbecue chicken recipe transferred to a vintage napkin dyed with Labrador Tea. Pleased with the results so far! Hope to use the Reading Break to get it complete. One good thing about the cold weather is that I won't be so tempted to spend the days outside. One of my favourite parts of the whole process is preparing the base material on to the frame. Sometimes I spend months with the design in my head. Once I have the material stretched in the frame, I know I will be soon stitching. That's the fun part!