you should watch some of the wonderful videos collected by The Immortal Geisha website.
http://www.immortalgeisha.com/videos_01.php
I highly recommend the fourth clip from the bottom, "Twelve Layer Kimono Dressing" which shows how kimonos are layered.
You also will enjoy watching the third clip from the bottom, "Traditional Japanese Katsura Stylist" which shows a man dressing a traditional Japanese wig, or katsura. This is what our geisha is wearing, a highly stylized and carefully composed wig.
Finally, don't miss the short four-part series entitled "Sakurako - Asakura Geisha" which shows a 25-year old modern geisha putting on her white makeup and being dressed by her maid in kimono and obi.
Many of the videos I wanted to see are File Not Found when you click on the link but luckily the ones above are still there for our viewing pleasure and to help us understand the Japanese tradition and beauty I'm trying to recreate in needlepoint.
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
Monday, December 15, 2008
Progress Report on Three Women and a Peach
It's time for an overall photo of the Squiggee design of three Japanese women I've been stitching. After all, the separate parts of the designs have to look good together. It's not enough for one part to look great if it clashes with the rest of the design. So here you go.
The figures on the left and right are finished. You should go back to the Dec. 13 posting about the lady's maid and look at the left side of her yakuta where it touches her neck. See how jagged it looks? This happens in NP because you are working a grid. When you do tent stitches along a diagonal, they look like stair steps. Most of the time no one notices but when you have a very dark thread like the black outline of the robe against a very light area like the white skin all our ladies have, it can look odd. It bothered me enough that I laid a long stitch on top of the area with my black Soy Fiber and then tacked it down with a few little tent stitches right on top of the old ones. This seemed to smooth out the line somewhat and make it darker. I prefer the new look.
You can also try turning your tent stitches into cross stitches to see if that helps make the jagged line disappear. It didn't in this case (I tried) but occasionally this is the way to make the line less prominent. Gee. Make a line less prominent by stitching it twice? Who'd a thought that would work!?
I've been working on the central figure of The Geisha off and on for a while. I have tent stitched the darkest plum purple sections of her kimono (Splendor #S1035) and have started work on the satin labels and the flowers. But I'm running out of time today to talk so just take a look at her wig. It has the long lines of Soy Fiber put in right on top of the hair ornaments to use as padding. I'm going to stitch her hair with black Japanese flat silk but not until I finish the kimono.
Hope you like how this is coming together.
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
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