Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Wizard's Ring


Last night I worked a lot of background behind the wizard. I'm trying to get it stitched all around his bird companion so that I can finish the firebird at least. I did take a break and give the wizard a ring on the hand holding the globe. It just hit me while I was stitching miles of background that would be a nice touch.

I used a single black bead from Mill Hill's Magnifica line. Magnifica beads are highly faceted, so they sparkle more than the regular Mill Hill Petites. The facets mean they have flat sides, too, which means the bead sits flat against the wizard's finger. I stitched right through the bead's center twice with a length of DMC metallic thread that comes on a sewing spool. I think it is just called DMC Metallic but my label's come off the spool so all I can be sure of is that this is Or clair, which means light gold. The label says this is Art. 282. This thread is thin and stiff, thicker than blending filament by a bit. It is very shiny and two threads of it going through the bead middle looks like the band of a gold ring with a black stone. Remember those black onyx rings that men used to wear in the 1950s-1960s? Most of them have something cut into the black stone so I took one ply from a skein of DMC's metallic floss that is pewter colored. (#5287). I laid it right across the bead perpendicular to the two gold threads that went through the bead's middle to give the black a little shading like there was something on the stone. I like how it turned out myself. It adds a little something to the wizard's personality using just two threads and a bead. Easy enough to do, particularly when you have a nice stash of threads and beads to choose just the right colors from.

I love you, Stash!

Can't see the ring well? Try the photo on the main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Seminar Fun

Both ANG and EGA Seminar photos are available on the Internet if you'd like to have some vicarious fun.

The well known counted thread teacher Gay Ann Rogers posted many photos from the EGA Seminar on her website. Just click on EGA Photos to start looking. Don't miss clicking on various photos on the home page, however. Gay Ann likes to hide surprises under these photos, including hints of the charts she will sell in her annual online sale of extra charts which is coming up soon.

ANG has lots of photos of events at the ANG Seminar. These photos aren't that great (usually they are dark or the backs of folks) but some of them are especially interesting.

http://www.needlepoint.org/Seminar-08/photos.php

Click on A Star for Seminar (Sept. 7) to see one of the pieces auctioned off to raise money for ANG programs.

Click on Selected Winners (also Sept. 7) to see some of the big winners from the exhibit. I suspect--but I don't know for sure--that the geometric design in the center is Jim Wurth's "The Cross of St. Joan" which one the new Jean Hilton award for best use of Hilton-type stitches.
I can't see the other two pieces well enough to identify them sadly.

By the way, the blue ribbon for painted canvas without a stitch guide (professional) *and* the first Nina Goerres ribbon for Christmas projects went to Vicky DeAngelis who stitched Kelly Clark's Twelve Months of Santas. I think these are Vicky's pieces which served as the models for the stitch guides.

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/events/kellyclark/index.html

Just String has mentioned several classes she took at EGA, plus posted illustrated information about Marion Scoular's lecture. Look for any blog entry with Louisville 2008 in the title.

http://juststring.blogspot.com/

EGA itself has posted a few photos from their 2008 Seminar on their blog. Click on the titles above the article to move to earlier or later postings.

http://www.egausa.org/scripts/blog/?p=25

Everyone comes home from these things exhausted but doesn't it look like fun?

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow