New design - stitching begins

This past week had lots going on....but sometimes this can be a good thing.  We had our first guild meeting since June so it was fun to catch up with everyone.  And my husband and I had a chance to have lunch with our older daughter and son-in-law and had a great time.

But that means things in the studio kept piling up and it's now a big mess with the supplies for lots of individual projects covering every available surface.  But at least I have plans to get it all straightened out....the first step!

But I did complete a few things.  I marked all the canvases for an upcoming pilot....so that is great!  But I had to move back to the dining room table to mark them as there was no flat surface big enough in the studio. 

And, I stitched each evening on the new design.  As you can see I have started with (generally) the top two layers.  For this design it seems the best approach is to work with lightest teals and greens first.  So these are now in.  Step two is two stitch the areas with the lightest/brightest gold and orange shades.  The first small band is almost done. 

I have been continuing to experiment with the best combination of markers for the background and think I'm about ready to take the plunge and color it in.  You can see where the background color will be blocked in by referring back to the scan of the original sketch (posted a little over a week ago.  The small narrow band inside the picture frame in the center of the photo is what I've decided to work toward.  It's a tricky color as it appears slightly green when stitched (next to greens), but it is really a dark indigo blue thread.  At this point I plan to use three different markers and four passes of marker to approximate of color. 

Major goal for this week:  finish the instruction book for the upcoming pilot and start putting together the thread kits. 

And stitching continues....

A New Design - prepping the canvas

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!

ANG Seminar

I'm afraid I didn't have time to get back to working on the Leaf Collage design as I had hoped.  Things just kept cropping up which needed to be done before I leave again. Now the time is almost here and I leave for the ANG Seminar on Thursday morning and won't return home until the evening of September 5th.  If you are attending I know you will have a great time.  Please stop by to say hello!

The week after I return home I will definitely be working on moving the design forward so I can begin stitching it.....and posting photos of any progress.

Wishing everyone a great few weeks.....and lots of stitching time.