Filed under: General comments, Painting Needlepoint Canvases with Fancywork Finishing
It didn’t take long until I needed to use the Oops paint! A tan jar filled with a tan paint to match the canvas. No wonder she gave us the most of that color.
If you look hard hard enough, you can see where I covered the yellow.
But, once I painted the correct colors, you can’t even tell at all.
That wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be. And, only took 2 and 1/2 hours of painting time (I took breaks). And, while I took breaks from painting, I went back to the graph paper – my 18 count graph paper and transferred the design there. But, more on that later.
Filed under: General comments, Painting Needlepoint Canvases with Fancywork Finishing
I’ve started another class yesterday! Painting Needlepoint Canvases is being held via Zoom by Nancy of Fancywork Finishing (Maryland). We’ll have a class per week for a total of 3 classes.
Zoom is great since we can’t be in person. And, because we are from various parts of the country, we didn’t have travel expenses. She has the proper equipment to project as she demonstrates. It’s good!
We were sent 2 pieces of tan, 13 count canvas. She works mostly on Ecclesiastical projects and uses 13 count canvas and Appleton Crewel wool. I am happy to start on this size canvas. The technique will apply to all sizes of canvas.
I’m also happy to start with a small (4″x4″) piece and basic colors (we can do whatever colors we want but why complicate it when you’re first learning). We traced the design onto transparent paper and then worked it out onto graph paper. It took some tweaking but it was not too difficult.
Because it is 13 count canvas, I will not be able to get all the detail. For example, I modified the 4 corners.
While Bill golfs tomorrow, I will be painting!
It’s been fun stitching the Flower Cuff by Orna Willis. Her color selections are fascinating to me. They aren’t ones that I would select on my own but I love how they work together.
This weekend, the design area grew by an inch on both ends repeating a previous motif of petals and a Jessica. I used darker portions of the green overdyed DMC floss for the background and stayed with the lighter portions for the gobelin rows.
My French Knots inside the Jessica are very small and tightly packed together. I felt the blue ones were my best. They called for 3 strands while the center flower used 6 strands. I like the contrast that provided. As with anything, the French Knots improved with practice.
The construction of the piece is next. I’m not going to make it into a bracelet though. I don’t wear them or a watch. So, I will make a flat ornament for hanging. Wait till you see where more Delica beads go!
This class offered an interesting approach to designing. And, Kurdy gave us so many interesting shapes in supplementary pages to the class that I could be playing with these for days. I do have a design started with some of the interesting and different shapes that I have not seen before. But, that’s all for another post.
For now, I am sharing my finished geometric all beaded and completed. Certain motifs I like better than others. And, experimenting was a big part of the point of the class. Having all 4 quadrants be different appeals to me because it looks more interesting and is more fun to stitch. Colors balanced out well. Very good class!
The 4 mm crystal bicone beads seemed too bulky for some areas. So, I used 2 mm clear crystal bicones and small bugle beads from my stash. They don’t show up really well in the photos so I added close up for each area.
I didn’t work on this since last Saturday’s class with Orna Willis and EGA’s Mid-Atlantic Region members. Between this Saturday’s Stitch-in with members of my ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter, baseball, and football this weekend, I got a lot done.
I followed fellow classmate, Donna’s, idea to place the dark blue overdyed thread in opposite corners. I selected the yellow for the center basketweave stitch since there was enough pink there already. And, I selected the lighter portions of the green overdyed for the 2 rows of Gobelin over 2, the darker portions for the outer row of Gobelin over 2, and the medium portions for the basketweave in between.
Because it called for 3 strands of DMC floss for the reverse basketweave area (yellow and pink overdyed thread), I was able to use 3 strands in the bottom area working left to right. Using the other 3 strands, I worked the top area working from opposite corners. As I needed another thread, I continued with the next color of the skein to maintain the rhythm of color flow of the overdyed thread and used 3 strands in each area to mirror the effect.
This is 2″ wide and 5″ long. There is 1″ more to add on each end and French Knots to add and some beads.
My ANG Main Line Stitchers chapter is stitching Rainbow Ribbons by Kam Wenzloff published in Nov/Dec 2019 issue of Needlepoint Now. I’m well ahead of schedule for our November 9 meeting (via Zoom).
Band 3 is a variation of a Byzantine stitch called Jacquard. It has a row of Continental between the rows of 4 x 4 over 2 Byzantine.
This was an excellent stitch to do while watching baseball playoffs and the World Series.
I would have attended the Embroiderer’s Guild of America (EGA) Mid-Atlantic Region (MAR) meeting in person in Wilmington, DE this month. But, it was canceled due to coronavirus, what didn’t!
But, Orna Willis agreed to hold the class through Zoom in 2 parts. The Flower Cuff measures 2″ wide and however long each person needs to make a comfortable fitting bracelet. I don’t wear bracelets or a watch. Can’t stand them or necklaces. So, why am I doing this? I really wanted to experience an EGA MAR event and Orna’s pieces are such fun colors and she’s teaching how to finish this ourselves. Instead of finishing as a bracelet, I will finish as a flat ornament for a small wall hanging.
Look at the lovely threads! It’s interesting that the threads are numbered 1 through 7 and instructions are written up by number of thread. It looks like 3 Neon Ray’s (ribbon) and 4 DMC overdyed threads. Wait until you see what I do with the beads.
I am in Wells, ME for the week and luckily the office of our timeshare had a small ironing board and iron. I needed to iron the Neon Ray’s. And, I didn’t think to bring my curling iron. Here’s my set up! Great light coming in the window (no need for either the battery or plugged in lights that I brought). I got a head start on class in order to figure out how long the threads should be before cutting. Signing in now.
We practiced French Knots. Mine got better as I moved left.
We went over all the diagrams but I couldn’t stitch and listen and or watch. Orna demonstrated several stitches using a pre-recorded video. So, here’s what I got done in class. But, I will easily be ready for the second class in a month from now.
Large and small crescents surround some of the large and small points. I was able to use pin stitches to end the threads under the crescents which also keeps the last stitch taut and secure better than weaving on the back under threads (in my opinion).
The rest of the large and small points are surrounded by what Kurdy Biggs calls “fill stitches” including various sizes of Jessicas, Fleur-de-lis crescents, and Rhodes. The challenge here was that none of the combinations were explicitly diagrammed for you. Several options were shown and the basic stitches were diagrammed but I had to figure out what I wanted to fit together.
There a couple of Fleur-de-lis crescents and Sprat’s Heads that I had to adjust but it was easy enough to count out once you get started.
All the stitching is done leaving only green and red crystals to add. I left plenty of room in the north and south diamonds but less in the east and west areas but that’s fine. I didn’t want complete symmetry anyway.
Wow. Lesson 4 already done! Despite not being in person, I was very happy with my ANG 2020 Virtual Seminar class, Interchange, with Linda Reinmiller.
I like the balance that the band of Byzantine offered to the earlier band of Milanese. And, that Kreinik has both the green and blue making it very appealing band.
Bargello is always fun to stitch. I purposefully selected a portion of the overdyed Gloriana that went from green on the outside corner in to the pink to pull in the same colors used in the upper left area. This is probably the first time I laid 2 strands of Kreinik rather than using a heavier weight Kreinik. It tended to tangle easily.
It was interesting to stitch the Satin stitch with such a thin thread (#12) but it balances the lightly stitched orange area in the upper left area.
The pulled Satin isn’t particularly evident because the canvas holes don’t look bigger on either edge. Once I compared with an unpulled diagonal Satin (not shown here), I found a one millimeter difference in the over 2 canvas thread stitch. So, the pulled Satin is smaller producing a tighter stitch.
Then, we ended with the most familiar pulled technique that I have seen before, an eyelet. It’s such a pretty stitch but tough to end the thread because it is pulled so tightly.
This piece certainly has challenging issues with ending threads (except for the canvas stitches) and not having them show. Piercing was the method that worked best for me except for Kreinik where I had to bury it.
Thanks to Linda Reinmiller for making this class available in the virtual world, teaching beginning pulled work, and for answering my questions in the earlier lessons. I’m also fascinated by the use of colors repeated to create a cohesive design. It was fun to stitch with such bright colors especially that Gloriana! And, it’s not often that I finish a Seminar piece within a month of starting it! Yeah!!
Filed under: General comments, Painting Needlepoint Canvases with Fancywork Finishing
As I said, I pulled out some 18 count graph paper and transferred the design there. It’s still the same size (4″x4″). But, I was able to get more details on the 18 count tan canvas particularly in the border because there are more canvas threads. It took longer (3 & 1/2 hours) to paint (again, with breaks).
I didn’t get the light blue as light this second time but the color doesn’t really matter for this coaster anyway.
For first attempts, I am happy with them and can easily and accurately stitch these. But, when I compare them to professionally painted canvases, I see room for improvement. There are specs of brown canvas showing on both of mine.
I already have a greater appreciation of the painted canvases and why they cost what they cost. On the other hand, I can easily stitch these from the diagram without spending the time painting first. But, this a simple geometric design.
Since I painted these, I might as well stitch them!