Well, the ANG Seminar in Milwaukee was great. All my classes went well and all the volunteers did a really wonderful job of making everything run smoothly. But, of course, as much I look forward to it, I am always glad to get back home!
It seems to take about a week to get caught up and ready to move forward. So here I am, just now finishing up the Leaf Collage canvas....with big plans to take my first stitches this evening.
In a recent blog entry I showed a picture of the original proposal and a postcard showing the direction I want to go with color. The next step was to redo the original leaf drawings and change the colors a little to work better with the planned changes. Then, I experimented with transferring these drawings to the eggshell 18 count canvas.
TRANSFERING THE LEAF DESIGNS
I tried both Tee-shirt transfer paper and the new Transfer Artist Paper by Leslie Riley. Both worked but for my needs the Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) gave just the look I was hoping for....and it's really easy to use!!
****Just a note about the pictures.....these are a combination of scans and photos so the canvas color is not consistent - all the canvas is eggshell 18 count mono canvas.
The scan at right is of the right half of the design showing two more leaf designs. You can see a partial image of a leaf shown above (helpful for scale).
For this design I had to plan the general layout in greater detail than I usually do because the leaf transfers needed to be added before any stitching is done. Even though I had work through several of the transfer sheets with my experiments, the combination of the heat of the iron and the length of time I ironed the design caused the surrounding canvas to darken a little....at the beginning, but that is not a problem with this design. And, by the time I reached the 5th and final leaf, I had gotten the timing down pretty well.....15 to 20 seconds is all that is needed for these small leaf patterns. By the way, I scanned in my original painted drawings and arranged them all on one 8-1/2" by 11" sheet so they would print on one sheet of transfer paper. Then I cut them to size and ironed.
NOTE: If you are trying this technique: BE SURE TO CREATE MIRROR IMAGES OF THE DESIGN BEING USED, so it will print properly. Also, Ised the settings of"other specialty paper: and "Best" (printing quality).
NOW TO STITCHING!
I sorted through threads again last night. I had about 10 new ones to add (purchased at M's Canvashouse boutique at Seminar) and then removed about 10 to 15 from the previous selection.
I will post follow-ups as stitching progresses.
Have a great week!