Now that the Red Madonna icon is done, I've started on the Blue Angel. I stitched her face and praying hands first, using the same set of Splendor Bronze skin tone silks with a bit of pink DMC cotton tossed in for pink cheeks that is on the first piece. I used the same brown Sheep's Silk for her brown eyes and also did a few tent stitches in it near her neck with this thread. I like using tent stitches for faces and other details like necks and hands. It is the perfect stitch for smooth skin. Note that I had to use 8 plies on this 14 count canvas except when I switched to one strand of the dark brown Sheep's Silk wool/silk mix.
Her blue robe was a quick stitch. I used the same Scollop stitch from Brenda Hart that was on Mary's robe but this time it was done as a horizontal curve like a smile instead of the ) shape on Mary's clothing. Because there is less space horizontally you don't see much of the pattern but it is there. If you look at the photo of the unstitched canvas over on the left side of this page, you'll see that there are three shades of blue in the robe, but I only used two to stitch it. I often ignore shading. This shall be our secret, ok?
I didn't have three shades of the blue thread I wanted to use, so there! If I don't post anything tomorrow you know a Blog reader blabbed and the NP police arrested me.
The dark blue is a silk/Merino wool blend from Felicity's Garden called 023 Blueberry. The medium blue is a silk/Merino wool blend from Silk & Ivory called 102 Cornflower. Note that the two threads are both a 50/50 blend of silk and Merino wool but they have different finishes. Silk & Ivory is shinier and is plumper in diameter. It is actually made for 13-14 count which this piece is. (Brown Paper Packages also has a thread called Trio in the same colors as Silk & Ivory made for either 14 or 18 count that is strandable. You don't use all the plies on 18 count, just like Paternayan wool. You remember Paternayan, don't you?) Felicity's Garden is denser and the shine more subtle. It is also thinner. If you look very carefully at the two tiny compensation stitches at the base of the angel to the left of her folded hands, you'll see that the Felicity's Garden doesn't quite cover there. I pulled a little too tightly on them and the background shows. Not to worry, I just stitched right on top of them with another strand of the Felicity's Garden. Just be careful of your tension when stitching. It is all too easy to pull too hard when you have a tiny stitch to do.
The Felicity's Garden was used for the collar. Again (GASP!) I stitched over the gold on the collar as I plan to use the blue as the base for something that will go on top. Already I've done button hole stitch around the edge of the collar to raise it a bit. I pulled tightly on the poor Felicity's Garden when doing buttonhole to make the raised edge the proper size. The thread doesn't hide the gold paint but that's ok. Blackwork (in a thin gold metallic thread) or beads or perhaps the pearls I didn't use from the Red Madonna will cover the bare bits.
I had planned to also talk about the Blue Angel's curls but this is so long I think I'll wait to talk about that tomorrow. Just note that I used three different brands of silk/wool threads. That's one trick I used to stitch on 13-14 count--fatter threads that have the shine of silk appropriate to an icon and a Christmas piece and the ability of wool to fluff out and fill hole to cover the canvas.
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
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