That's because I haven't stitched the parrot stand yet! But the firebird is done. After I transferred my sketch outlines to the canvas I stitched the whole thing in tent stitches using 5-6 different reds, oranges, and corals and a bit of Trebizond in chocolate milk for his beak and foot. Then using the same fire colors, I put stem stitch on top to show his folded wings, tail and topknot on his head. Once the background and perch are done, I will do the background around the bird and then add a bit more stitching on top of the background to build out the topknot a bit and also give him a tongue. I think he's screaming advice to the wizard on his packing!
Here's a closeup. It's difficult to see but this bird is tent stitches with some colors added on top to suggest feathers. The large photo has the three main colors I used, a yellow orange Bella Soie silk floss from Crescent Colours called Carrot Cake, a toned red overdyed cotton floss from Crescent Colors called Cupid, and an orange-red silk that may be Japanese (there's no label). I put them down at the bottom of the wizard's staff to help me decide if I could use any of these colors for one of the wizard books. What do you think? Will the big book look good in orange Carrot Cake and the little one in the red Cupid?
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