11.17.08
Posted in Finished Projects, Stitching Genres, "Freestyle" embroidery at 8:00 am by deRomilly
This is a post for Mary Corbet, who posted this summer about the Inspirations camels, and for whom I promised to search for the photos. I was lucky enough to find them.
I’ve read Inspirations Magazine constantly for the past many years — I didn’t realize just how many until I pulled up these photos and found I’d stitched them in 2004! Now I really feel old! I’ve been reading the magazine for a long time before that, too…
Usually I read the projects and get inspired and go off and do my own thing. But when the camels found their way into my hands, I was happily ensconced in my bellydance troupe and looking for a way to thank them all for the wonderful times they’d given me. These were perfect!
I stitched them individually on small pieces of Weeks Dye works hand dyed wool felt for each of the troupe members. This let me try out the stitches and experiment with the specialty threads on the blankets — since I couldn’t get many of the Austrailian threads in the states at that time - and didn’t have the money to order them all at once.
The wool flannel blanketing for the blanket came from Jenny June before the owner folded the business (I’m still bummed about that closure…let me go pout in a corner for a while). I got the last yard she had of the blanketing. There is still enough for me to stitch the camel sequel for me (Inspirations # 43), but I haven’t gotten around to it.
If you have access to this magazine, sadly no longer easily available, I highly recommend this project! It’s quick and fun, and absolutely stunning in person. As usual, click the photos to enlarge them. I still see the camel on black every week at a friend’s when I go to rehearsal with my new troupe, Phoenix Rising (which shares two of our old members in addition to me) and I’m still honored that it hangs on her entryway wall.
Closeups of the blanket camels:
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11.12.08
Posted in Drawing, Artwork, "Freestyle" embroidery at 7:00 pm by deRomilly
My mother doodled all the time. — she made little geometric designs on napkins, scratch paper, letters… once she even doodled in ballpoint pen all the way around my father’s good drafting tape (on the EDGES, not the main part — she ruined the whole roll) I took the heat for that one - mom wasn’t home when he found it and “she knew better,” so I was obviously lying. Well, yes, she did, but it didn’t stop her. and I didn’t, at that time, doodle at all.
Why not? Doodling was hard for me. I’d ask Mom or friends how they did it, “Just turn off your brain and move your pen” was the answer. But I couldn’t seem to achieve both of those things at the same time, although I am perfectly capable of doing either at once (and I’m capable of turning off my brain and dancing!). What I realized much later is that the “turning off your brain part isn’t really necessary - what they really meant was “make your brain get out of the way for a while.”
Doodling, like rough drafts of writing, requires you to turn off the inner critic that says to you “but you’re not accomplishing anything. That’s not REALLY art!”
Well, no, it’s not. It’s the building blocks of the practice of art, however. Think of it as a brainstorming activity - it doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to be finished, it just has to BE.
Geometric Doodling
I have a few rules I set myself when I doodle geometrically. They were very effective in getting me started on geometric doodling.
Start with a small iconographic image in one corner. I use flags, flowerpots, a smiley face, hearts, a stylized cat, anything I can quickly churn out.- Draw a diagonal line from that image across the page in some way.
- Add a ribbon over the middle of the page. The image is sacred, but I’ll cross any other lines with the ribbon.
- Start filling in spaces with random patterns. I played roleplaying games for years, so sometimes I’ll role a polyhedral die to decide what to put where. Things I often use, set up for rolling two six sided die are (when you roll a number, fill the space with the description:
- 2 Wavy lines or wavy stripes
- 3 Dots
- 4 Large cowspots (blobs)
- 5 Concentric outlines
- 6 Lines radiating from any point
- 7 Checker Board grid
- 8 Stripes
- 9 Spirals
- 10 Checkerboard made from radiating lines
- 11
Crescents
- 12 Cross hatching
- Repeat the last step until all the spaces are filled or you are bored out of your mind. (Or it looks cool to you and you want to stop!)
Organic Doodling
These are the first doodles I taught myself to do in high school.
-
Take your pencil and draw a squiggle. It actually works better if you don’t actually look at the page while you’re scribbling.
- Open your eyes and look at what you have scrawled. Stare at it until you see something in it — like looking for cloud shapes in the sky.
- Darken the outline of whatever you see. Instant (sort of) doodle!
- Or, draw your squiggle large and use the list of geometric fillers to fill in the spaces.
- Expand your horizons and try different combinations when doodling. Pretty soon you will be doodling with the best of them! And sometimes, those doodles can inspire embroidery!
Doodles that are currently inspiring embroidery pieces, though they aren’t on fabric yet:
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12.18.07
Posted in Drawing, "Freestyle" embroidery, Dance Accessories, Knitting at 11:23 am by deRomilly
My determination to write regularly seems to have been stymied at every turn over the course of this year. That has got to change. But I’m not sure how to change it. I’ve got several posts started, and I’ll continue to work on them and try to get better. In the meantime…
I’m on a “finishing” kick right at the moment. And I made the decision, mistake or not, of announcing it to my husband before I started it. He jumped up and down and said “Yes!” very emphatically, so apparently my tendency to start projects and take 8-10 years to complete them is weighing on him again! He’s very supportive, but he’s a “finish before you start another project” type of person. And as you can guess, I’m not.
So in any case, I’m quite “knitted out” right now. So I’m trying to finish up several knitting projects that I want the finished garment, but not so much the knitting. Last month I completed my Shapely Tee from the White Lies website. I have to say… if you haven’t knit this? KNIT IT! I have never had a sweater fit so well. I knit it without any ease at all- the other option was a full 2 inches, and I did actually knit that first and just swam in it. Your mileage may vary. I’m so proud of it that I’m actually going to post a picture: (as soon as I can download it from my camera, sigh).
Let’s see. What else have I finished? I got almost all the way finished with a candlewicking project and ran out of thread. There probably was JUST enough, but the last yard had so many knots in it that it was useless for the end of the stitching! So now I’ve got to find about a yard of a candlewicking thread that matches what I’ve got… and the kit’s at least 30 years old. Found it at a garage sale a while back! Then I’ll have a new cushion for the couch.
So. Two down. All I have left is the very top of the back and the hood on Fiona Ellis’ celtic hoodie (not the real name) to finish and of course blocking and sewing together and I’ll have a really neat knotwork hooded sweater. The celtic knots done in cables are amazing on this piece, and I’m looking forward to wearing it, but I can’t bring myself to knit.
I’ve got the sewing up and the button band to finish on a big fluffy acrylic sweater of my own design. One more seam and then the button band.
I’ve finished my first piece for Sumptuous stitches, over for lots and lots of weeks now, and I’m almost done with the sequinned flowers for the dance troupe. I think the next step is to finish the second piece started for Sumptuous stitches. I really like it, and want it finished, too. It’s deer staring at you, based on an experience I had this summer that was simply magical. So. Sequins and deer. Then I can start some of the new designs. Which are… well, VERY different from what I’ve done in the past. Before I can do that, though, I need to finish the sequinning that actually goes ON my dress for the troupe, separate from the appliques.
I picked up a book last month called the Keys to Imaginative Drawing. Actually following imagination has recently been my downfall. This book actually steps through a process and rules for doodling and noodling those doodles into something better. Though it’s aiming at people who want to draw, it’s been very freeing for needlework designs.I’ve now got a stack of so-called doodles that really need to be rendered in thread and fabric; one is crying for goldwork. But I’ve got to finish a few more things first. That’s really gnawing at me right now. 
(Since I wrote this I actually transferred one of them to fabric and took a break to stitch it. It’s going to become part of a tote bag…)
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11.15.07
Posted in "Freestyle" embroidery, General at 12:00 pm by deRomilly
Owls burst into my life this morning when I was reading my blogs over my cup of tea. There were owls everywhere, from Doodle-Wednesday yesterday to a link from In a Minute ago to an owl pattern…
My paternal grandmother collected owls. Owls of all types. She had soapstone hand-carved owls from Seattle’s Olde Curiousity Shoppe that I bought her, glass owls her daughter brought her from Italy, Owls from every city she’d ever visited. She was an owly-looking person, too. I realized as I thought about including a photo that I don’t have any. I’ve emailed my aunt, keeper of all things geneological, to hopefully remedy that problem. Fingers crossed. My paternal family was very photogenic, and I would really like to have the old photos, at least in computer form to use in my textile art and to just have, for that matter. THe pattern would make a lovely addition to the collection, which I don’t know who has now. I was moving so often twenty years ago that I passed it on to one of my cousins for safe-keeping. I hope it’s loved.
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08.07.07
Posted in Classes, "Freestyle" embroidery at 9:26 am by deRomilly
I’m so used to shrinking photos down for the web - and taking dance photos, that I forget that people might want more detail in my photos of my needlework. The colored pencil works fine in a smaller format… But needlework, not so much! Try this one for a bit more detail (just note, it’s over a meg in size so will open slowly):
And just because I mentioned them, I’ll try to post some of my colored pencil work tomorrow, since I don’t have digital copies at my day job.
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08.06.07
Posted in "Freestyle" embroidery at 3:43 pm by deRomilly
I’m finally done!
OK, to give myself credit, I was mostly done by last week, but couldn’t bring myself to take a picture without the final pieces of glass in the stars…
I’ve never done anything with this many layers of embroidery on it—embroidery over embroidery, even. I’m really pleased with how it actually does what it was supposed to do… progress from the rough at the bottom left to the smooth at the upper right. Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.
Week four, which is now almost over, has been back to the design process. I’ve got several ideas that I’ve been playing with over the last few years, and I’ll now be able to work them (which makes this course worth every penny…). However, for this installment I want to continue working relatively small, and those designs… aren’t. I think I’ll be ready with a cartoon for the design by the next class installment despite the late finish on this one. Stay tuned…
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07.26.07
Posted in Classes, "Freestyle" embroidery at 2:03 pm by deRomilly
This is the project after all the low-relief (and a few french knots) have been added. Not looking much like a beach right now, is it?! I know from my colored pencil work that the beginning layers you put in often don’t look anything like the final work — people become orange and hot pink before they look like a real person! If there wasn’t a point behind this, I’d be tempted to turn it into a shooting star of some sort. But I think it will look much better as it progresses… So, I’m off to add more, which is the focus of week three of the class.
Adding more… that’s something that’s hard for me, whether I’m writing, drawing, or stitching.
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07.24.07
Posted in Classes, "Freestyle" embroidery at 10:22 am by deRomilly
I finally dug my camera out from under the pile of papers beside my computer and took photos of my progress with the Sumptuous Surfaces assignment. Yay! Click the thumbnails to see bigger pictures.
The design process started with a mind map that began with “Peace”. Since the supply list had encouraged not just monotone, but neutrals I had chosen whites and ecrus for my color palette. Not something I usually work in, unless I’m doing dresden work. 
But hey, is challenge, yes? I’m going to need to expand what I have further into the beiges as well, I think.
I ended up playing with thumbnails on the theme of “sea changes”. The first set of thumbnails I still like, but I think they’re going to require full stumpwork, and possibly a slightly larger color range to realize properly, and I just don’t have time to fiddle with it right now.
So I moved on.
The second set of thumbnails is decidedly abstract, something I don’t normally play with. So this ups the challenge for me. I liked my last one, with it’s slightly curving lines and stars. No, I have no idea where the stars came from, unless it’s starfish. The thumnails are messy - just a way to get an idea on paper so I can remember it later, and maybe get an idea of how it may work. They are only about one by two inches.
The final design sketch is a lot less messy, and has a lot fewer lines on it. This is just the outline of the main areas, with no hint of the stitching, but a LOT of notes!
And I’ve had a chance to play a bit with the beginning of stitching this little monster. I used the Portuguese stem stitch to mark out the diagonal lines in the sand, and am using pulled work to add a little texture to the negaive space, letting it follow the same refinement the center line will follow: from rough texture at the bottom moving up through the buffing that sand and sea does to the smooth and even top right corner. The upper corner is pulled with small pulled cross stitches over three threads with silk floss. Just below that is an area of pulled cretan stitch, in a silk twist that’s the equivalent of #8 perle cotton. I’ll finish the bottom area, rougher, with pulled cretan stitch in a silk ribbon of similar color. And I may actually then lace the pulled stitches so that there is more ribbon on the top as well… I’ll have to see how that actually works in the white.
So, that’s the project so far. I should actually be caught up by Wednesday!
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07.18.07
Posted in "Freestyle" embroidery at 11:39 am by deRomilly
I did indeed sign up for Sharon B’s Sumptuous Stitches class. And only one lesson in, I’m already glad I did. (Well, actually lesson two arrived in my inbox this morning, but I’m not quite there yet…)
I don’t know what I expected, but what I’m getting so far is a detailed design class that focuses on textiles. Yummy. I’m self-taught in the design area, so it’s rather nice to get some of the details and hints and “whys” that I might have gotten had I actually taken a degree program. A lot of my design learning has been book-taught, or instinct: I think I absorbed a lot from my mother, who was a graphic artist, even while rebelling against art in my growing up years.
In any case, the first lesson was to start with Concept. Mind mapping, which I’ve used to great effect in my writing, and being assured that any method of “just picking one to work first” including throwing darts at the list on the wall was perfectly appropriate has helped.
Googling “mind mapping” will get you more hits than you’ll know what to do with! I liked this step by step one. And this is the one that Sharon included.
I don’t design small. Because I’m expecting to actually FINISH stitching this piece in three to four weeks, I chose to work in the suggested 6 X 4 inch postcard format. It’s a challenge. As I said, I don’t work small. I tend to work both large and detailed. I’m a bit overwhelmed right now with design ideas, most of which need at least 8 X 10 inches to work properly. So narrowing the design down from the concept is difficult. I guess I just need to sit down at lunch today with my sketchbook and work thumbnails until I find one I like.
The concept I came up with was from starting with the mind map center of Peace and working outward. I’ve got quite a few ideas now from that one, but the one I lean toward in an exploration of the sea changes that come from finding inner peace: something that I’m in the process of going through right now. And probably always will be, for that matter! Sea changes, “Those are pearls that were his eyes” and so on. The process that takes a rough piece of glass and turns it into sea glass… I’ve also got ideas on the side of an oyster turning a speck of sand into pearls…
Glass, found objects, high-relief embroidery. These are things that I haven’t done a lot with over the years. So now I need to play with the ideas. When I actually have a sketch I’ll post a copy for you. Lesson two starts the stitching in the low parts of the design - that should go relatively quickly for me, so I feel I can take the next couple days to refine the pictures in my head a bit more.
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06.18.07
Posted in Historical, "Freestyle" embroidery, General at 10:56 am by deRomilly
Embroidered book bindings, when I hear the words “Embroidered book bindings,” I tend to immediately think of the book embroidered by Elizabeth and given to Katherine Parr. And, of course, that is the most famous.
The British Library has a Guide to Embroidered book bindings, and images of the bindings online to view . Well worth the time to snoop around them. Very very pretty. To get the best results from the binding search page, search for “embroidered” rather than “embroidery.”
Project Gutenberg has a book on embroidered bookbindings that was printed in 1899. The illustrations were not transcribed into the online copy, but there are detailed descriptions of the objects illustrated. In addition, if you download the html version, the plates are reproduced within it.
However, embroidered book bindings were extremely popular in the 17th century. The blog Mindsigh has a post on these embroidered bindings…
Then, of course, there’s the fact that one of my best friends was/is a bookbinder. I remember well the time in college that she did an embroidered book binding for an art assignment — it didn’t go together very easily and as frustrated as she was at the time, I’m surprised our then-roommate survived when she told her –but it will be so pretty when it’s done! I, also, made the mistake of pointing out that the roommate was just trying to help. If it helps, 15 years later, it WAS beautiful when it was finished! I wonder if that book still exists?
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This is a post for Mary Corbet, who posted this summer about the Inspirations camels, and for whom I promised to search for the photos. I was lucky enough to find them.
Usually I read the projects and get inspired and go off and do my own thing. But when the camels found their way into my hands, I was happily ensconced in my bellydance troupe and looking for a way to thank them all for the wonderful times they’d given me. These were perfect!
I stitched them individually on small pieces of Weeks Dye works hand dyed wool felt for each of the troupe members. This let me try out the stitches and experiment with the specialty threads on the blankets — since I couldn’t get many of the Austrailian threads in the states at that time - and didn’t have the money to order them all at once.
