Have you ever found yourself really inspired to create something artistic, but yet something that would speak out your "vibe" without necessary description?
You'd think: Great, I really want to get started with this something.
Since I've been experimenting with embroidery, why don't I stitch-out something cool? Yes, great idea! I'll just grab my Embroidery Box, settle myself comfortably on a sofa ready to stream a good series on Netlflix and get rolling with my next project!
Sounds like a great plan, doesn't it?
The only aspect of this plan that is missing is... WHAT IS THAT GREAT DESIGN?
Yeah.. And usually this is the point when I hit a wall, as it appears my creative mind decides to take a 10 minute nap leaving me helplessly staring at the wall, while attempting to force my half-asleep brain cells to come up with something.
Having to admit that this is absolutely pointless, it would be the time to deeply sigh with a disappointment and give in to the snugly sofa and your good friend Netflix for an episode or two.... or maybe whole season.... ;)
As you can imagine, this is exactly what happened to me. Together with my slightly damaged pride, I began watching Westworld (for those who have no idea what's it about, I will just say one thing - a creepy take on western films). At this point you might be asking, 'Good for you, but how is this relevant to the embroidery?' And that's a fair question.
So, as I got sucked into the story, suddenly a feeling of excitement arrived in my chest, followed by a banana-like grin on my face....
Western film.. Horses..
I like horses..
And I like art..
Horses and Art???
BOOM!!!
Why don't I stitch-out a fancy horse then?
My great design shall be the proud, magnificent, majestic creature - horse...
So I got my last missing piece and I was finally ready to begin working on the project! In addition to my sudden idea, I realized that this would be an ideal gift for a good friend of mine who, like myself, adores horses and appreciates any form of art with this theme!
That fact motivated my creative self even further to complete this project!
Now, having a bit of a background story as to where did the design come from, we can proceed to the actual project itself!
So.. As this would be only my second embroidery piece, thoughtfully I reviewed my previous work struggles in hope that I will learn from mistakes I made. Therefore, equipped in the right tools including wooden hoop, I searched through various geometric / vector horse images to find something suitable. Perhaps, I could have drawn something from a scratch, but let's be realistic - coming up with the idea itself was in fact exhausting enough. Hence, I felt no guilt at all to use already existing pattern that I found with the assistance of helpful Uncle Google...
Following the tracing method used previously, I got the traced design attached to the fabric on wooden hoop. Finally, I was able to achieve good tension of the fabric what resulted in flat surface - no bumps!!
It was time to pick the colors I want to use. It was a quick one this time. Having on mind that this will be a gift for my friend, I thought it would be another nice touch to incorporate her favourite color - peach. Luckily, I had darker and lighter shades in my stock, as it would come useful to perhaps adding some extra texture or dimension if it goes according to the plan!
The pattern itself is a simple horse profile with flowing mane. To separate the two I decided to use black thread for head and grey for mane.
If I said that my previous work (Pastel Giraffe) took long, I lied.
I definitely spent more time just on the horse outlines, than I did on entire Giraffe. But hey, I am only half way there, can't give up now! I just need to suck it up and stop whining over my sore and blistered finger tips!
Ohh believe me, stitching for hours hurts.
A lot.
Even taking breaks doesn't necessarily prevent it unless you wait a day or two between the stitching sessions and give your poor fingers a chance to heel and grow harder.
Once the outlines were done, I could sit back for a while and give my fingers some rest, while plucking out remaining tracing paper with forceps.
Quite happy with the outlines, I thought. It might not be bad after all once it is finished!
Ready to proceed to next phase, namely adding in the colors, I studied the pattern so I could select right tone for each shape, while trying to achieve some kind of shading.
To make my life easier and not to mix up the colors, I started with the darkest shade, and continued with downgrading to lighter tones. In such way I finished the mane first. Pleased with the result so far I continued filling in the shapes on the head and neck.
It is a slow and tedious process, and if you are lacking patience you'd probably end up throwing the whole thing out the window spending hours on only 5 shapes!! But, I think it is worth it. If you take your time and try to be as accurate as your sanity allows you, you will like the end result!
Unfortunately, not learning on my previous mistakes, namely how to avoid getting ugly and very frustrating thread knots at the reverse side of the fabric, doesn't make it any easier.
With a hand on my heart I will say that it does bother me more than my sore fingertips. I have yet to find a solution to this big issue... So far I am thankful for getting into mindfulness, as it helps me to stay calm while "lovingly" pulling on the threads and trying to untie these bloody knots!!!!! (Deep sighhh).
Anyway, after spending few days working my way through each shape, I finally reached the last one and gladly announced the completion of my second "master piece"!
With a big relief, I quickly stitched out my logo / signature - DOM in the corner, just like all artists do, and disassembled the hoop releasing the fabric. This revealed new issue that I didn't consider earlier - when holding the hoop in your hand, you are most likely to grab it just by its edge, and unless you are washing your hand every five minutes, after touching the edges for hours, it will end up getting dirty.. Surprised with this unexpected finding and not having a better solution at the time, I tried to wash it off by rubbing a warm water and soup over the dirty patches. It helped slightly, but the stains remained. As I was running out of time - I was due to see my friend shortly and this piece took longer than expected - I had to leave it as it is and beg for her forgiveness. ;)
Once I placed completed picture into black picture frame, I wrapped it up with a grey paper and cute bows, and with an optimistic smile I gave the gift to my friend.
Fortunately, she loved it!!! My choice of colors was the bull's eye! It matched perfectly the interior of her new home!
HAPPY DAYS!
Summarizing, (I am going to repeat myself again here ;)) this long journey of stitching in gave a birth to a stunning horse plaque! Of coarse, there are some new struggles that I came across and need to look for solutions, and I have yet a lot to learn about the embroidery art, but overall I am proud of what I was able to achieve with the determination to keep working on it, despite numerous frustrations and blisters, and finished it!
The choice of colors I consider as successful, with exception to the grey outlines for the mane. I believe it would have a better overall effect, if I did stick to black. However, I am pleased that I managed to transfer bunch of geometric shapes into something that somewhat gives a three-dimensional illusion (or am I the only one that sees it hah) ??
So well done ME!
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (including writing this post) and potentially it will inspire some of you to try it out for yourself and see how easy it can be to follow a pattern.. ;)
See you later!
DOM
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