Stitch Exploration 09: March - Assisi

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The rose to the left is from an internet pattern. I just used part of it to get a feel for the stitch. I've done cross stitch , and although I know Assisi work in principle, I've never stitched it.

I have trouble recognizing negative space, so I was relieved to learn I could outline before working the background if I wanted. Next I had to figure out what to use as a design. I couldn't get past the association of St. Francis whenever I tried to think Assisi .

I wanted some color for the background but didn't have the ambition or time to attempt an outdoor scene. I went for a stained glass look , contemporary, with a hint of a cross and just the suggestion of a church window. Most of the background filler is cross stitch done with single strands of cotton floss. As you can see I ran out of fabric length.

TEXTURED SURFACES, First Samples

I'm still working on the Textured Surfaces class I took from Lynda Monk and Carol McFee. I've had so much fun and am learning so much as I perform little experiments every day. Gathering in new art supplies and learning their properties, I'm finding the total satisfaction I missed when I finally got the chemistry set I nagged my parents for way back when. Each day has been Christmas morning and I get to play with a new toy.

In this class (you can register on their FiberInform website for future offerings) we used a variety of backgrounds suitable for stitching and how to create texture and color with different mediums. I've prepared twenty or more samples up to the color stage. Today I show my first two examples. Here is the before picture which doesn't show very much. It is 140# watercolor paper from a tablen. After priming I used molding gel which I swirled around and imprinted with bubble wrap. I wondered about the gel taking color since it is transparent. But look what happened after I added paints and waxes. I can add surface embroidery or even machine stitch at this point.

The next sample began with a piece of canvas from an artist tablet. After applying the molding gel and pouncing around with small bubble wrap, I added cheesecloth and made more bubbles with a stencil and molding paste. When it came time for the painting, I used the wrong color by accident. Then I realized I did not have the interference paint called for and made do with what I had.

I also tried to make do with the metallic waxes I've had for a long time by freshening with xylene. That trick works, but I quickly discovered I could not apply with a light touch. As a result I played around with the addition of pewter over silver and even some mushroom dauber to tone it down. The end result reminded me of abalone shell. The actual piece looks nothing like the photo on the right. I tried scanning, I took camera pix from all different lighting. The canvas has deeper tones that don't show up; there's a lot more tonal interest there. Also from the camera angle and lighting you can't appreciate the irridescence and mettallic highlights that shine through the cheesecloth. The canvas is ready to stitch. I think it wants some gray pearls. I think I want to call it Casting Nets by Moonlight.

Drop by Chaska Peacock's website for info about her upcoming classes. Chaska always gives good instruction, lots of inspiration and always a surprise or two.

SPIRAL TRELLIS - February Stitch Exploration 09

The stitch for February's Exploration 09 is the Spiral Trellis. If you clicked on the second link you would see how beautiful and perfect are Sharon B's examples. I have not yet reached that level of expertise, but I like the stitch and plan to attempt more experiments.

The link I just mentioned directed me to 3 excellent tutorials. Still I had trouble in the beginning. As with most knotted stitches it takes me awhile to get thread wrap right. My first attempt was actually the plain trellis stitch that is worked back and forth in rows, whereas this trellis is worked continuously so a spiralling line of knots results. I looks very much like beading. After frogging my rectangular trellis fill, I went straight for a heart shape in spiral. I should have known better!

A & B are built up too high before decreasing, and the stitching lines aren't flowing. In B in used a chain stitch foundation, an I idea I read about on Elizabeth M's blog Quieter Moments. Elizabeth thoroughly researches stitches and is gracious to share her experiments. Trust me, Elizabeth can find the ultimate innovations possible in a stitch, and not only that, her needlework is supurb. Back to the doodle rag, my use of the chain ( I later learned from Elizabeth she used a reverse chain) was so I could add embellishing stitches to fancy up the dimensional heart. I was thinking of a lacy valentine. I forget what I had in mind adding a second row of backstitching around C. When I remember, I'll get back to it. I did make a heart, but it's sloppy . For D, I switched to a #3 pearl hoping it would help me see the knots and bars better. You can see it didn't work for me. I had a sloppy lacy top (I wasn't going for "lacy"), I lost the heart outline, and I still couldn't wrangle those knots into flowing lines. Didn't get better with E when I returned to #5 pearl.

Here is a continuation of the sampler I began last month. My designs are a little large to cover up the linty cloth underneath. I stitched a number of figures and ripped them all out , even though one of them was quite interesting. I wanted to see if I made an s-line into a snaky shape, could I build it up to create a third dimension. Answer, absolutely! Unfortunately it was weird looking. After building up the sides and finally drawing them together in a single line of knots, I had a leech! I would have saved it as a curiosity on my sampler had I not realized I needled in all the way around instead of needling out.

While the cloth still held together I went where I should have in the first place -- to a circle. I'm glad I went with the overlapping circle design because it gave me the opportunity to try for variation. I began with the navy circle and finally got the lines to spiral nicely. If I'd stuffed it, it would be a dome, but I let mine peak slightly so it actually resembles a Chinese hat. The light blue area is actually a partial circle, but I was still able to achieve the swirl by ending at one side and bringing the thread up again at the beginning. The partially eclipsed circle with the stripes was constructed exactly like the light blue one.

You can see I finally got a heart filled in. I'm not completely happy with the way the swirling knots come together in the center, but it's a start. On the other hand, I am very pleased with my 4-color spiral.