This beautiful piece was a gift from a dear friend and I didn't know it was coming in the mail. Much to my surprise the mail lady showed up at the house one day with an opened mailing box in hand, telling my husband she'd found the package she'd put in the mailbox the day before lying on the side of the road, ripped open, the wrapped contents set fire to by a match, and dumped in the ground in disappointment that there was nothing worth stealing, I guess. The match and the ribbon that tied the canvas in a roll were in the bottom of the box but the tissue paper was burned away almost entirely. Some of the canvas was damaged by the fire as you see above.
I was really sick about this, particularly since it was a gift, but the lovely lady who sent this to me briskly told me to pull myself together and not let the sick person who did this win. So I put the canvas away, determining that I would stitch it and make a masterpiece out of it. Fortunately there is no burned smell and the damage is repairable.
Here is the bottom of the design. The three burned areas are in the top half, and the one edge that is charred we can forget about as it will be cut away in finishing. None of this area is damaged.
This photo shows both holes patched. The thread tail ends are on top of the canvas so I can easily pull out the stitches when I am ready. I will need to be careful to pick a stitch that covers the background completely to make sure the patches are secure. I considered trimming the background around the rabbit geisha but consulted with my finisher who says it'll be easier to use this as a tote bag design if she has squared off edges to work with. So I am going to use the patches to reinforce the canvas and patch the hole.
I have patched canvases before and never had one separate (my first spliced canvas was done as an experiment in around 1989 when I stitched a glasses case for my Mom who has carried it in her purse for decades without any problem) but you can't do light coverage or very dimensional stitches that are mostly on the front of the canvas instead of going through the holes in these instances. You have to secure the two pieces by stitching right though them both.
I will make sure I do two rows of tent stitches all around the outside edge of the blue painted background to help secure the patches futher. That way the finisher can trim the patch away if necessary.
By the way, the mail lady now brings any boxes we get to the top of our driveway and leaves them in the open garage. Both the post office and the sheriff's office told me there was nothing they could do to track down the vandal.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
18 comments:
Although a lesson in patching canvases is something we can all use, it's a darn shame that this happened. Will you paint over the top part that is charred at all? I do wish they could catch the vandal that did this. If only there really were needlepoint police. CSI:Needlepoint?
If the vandal were caught by CSI:NP, then I might go to jail for doing violence to them! Better not to know.
Boy! That's what we would expect to happen here!! We have to collect any size parcel from the Post Office and even then you are lucky as it can get "lost". I sure that by the time you have finished we will never know that the canvas had been burnt.
What a horrible thing! I'd have been FURIOUS! You're right, better not to know....they would end up with body parts needlepointed with all sorts of stitches...in very painful ways!
Denise
That is really a nasty thing to do . I fail to understand the kick people get damaging nice things, especially when they are long gone when it is discovered. You will have to do a heavier stitch than planned, but that with the patches Bunny G should outlive us all. At least the woods didn't catch on fire.
Perhaps a mouse trap in your mailbox might help.
Good to see that you were able to save your piece.
Oh. my.
I will confess to getting physically ill when I saw this picture. And then I got mad. Really really mad.
So, an open letter to the Chilly Hollow Needlepoint Vandal will be forthcoming. Just as soon as I delete all of the profanity.
You are truly a stitchy goddess for having the ability to rescue this canvas. Methinks there is most definitely a perfectly stitched needlepoint chair "up there" with your name on it.
I am speechless (which would shock my husband). I am glad you were able to turn the bad around and make some good out of it - a lesson fo rus in patching. I hope you end up with a beautiful project.
Thanks for everyone's support on the vandalized canvas. It is a real shame but not destroyed. I think with some help from the finisher, this will be unnoticeable except to those of us in the know.
I will add my condolences on what happened and also add that you did a great job in patching her up! I think my boys are going to have to create a steel locking mailbox that sits on a steel post that is concreted into the ground. I am appalled by what people with too much time on their hands will do these days. I can't tell you how many mailboxes they have made like this so the kids cannot drive by and knock them off with a baseball bat. The first time they try it on one of the steel ones, they end up with a real sore arm for a few days!
This event is so puzzling to the normal mind, I'm just stupified as to what to say. I'm very sorry this happened in your beloved Chilly Hollow and to you and your friend who was doing something very nice. Pity the "evil-doer" whom by now must be surrounded by bad kharma. I admire you for moving beyond this incident and look forward to watching as you perform your magic on this spectacular canvas.
Pat, your company's steel mailboxes must be in great demand. We have had to replace three of them over the last 15 years, all very heavy duty and cemented into the ground. It takes real determination (and a lot of free time on a dark back road) to wreck them but wrecked they are. Someone even stole the number plate off the pole once!
This is the first time I've had damage to the mail, though. It's a federal offense you know, even if the local authorities shrug and say they can't do anything.
That is a shame, what a pointless thing to do.
I am so sorry that this little piece of nastiness came along
It is just stupid, stupid, stupid
It was stupid and vicious, Marianne, and I felt sick about it. But in the greater scheme of things, it is a minor issue that I want to turn into a lesson about recovering from damage. I hope it comes in useful the next time someone cuts a canvas in ripping out, for example.
You always make lemonade out of bad things. Thanks for showing us that even through meaness and hatefulness, your rabbit will become a work of art.
Thank you, Kelly. I hope the Rabbit Geisha is worthy of such praise.
Oh dear! How sad - and such a beautiful canvas. I know you will make it beautiful but it will be difficult to stitch that area without being angry and full of enjoyment.
Oh, Jane, this is just sickening, and just plain MEAN. I'm so sorry this happened to you, of all people, and I'm glad you were able to repair the canvas.
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