I've been concentrating on getting more background stitched these last two nights. As you can see from the photograph, I've worked more rows in tent stitch around the perimeter of the design and have done quite a bit of stitching around the geisha's head where the burn hole is.
Looking objectively at the background and scorch marks, you can see that despite my repair to the underlying canvas, the damaged areas are still visible. I can probably hide the corner brown area that peeks out from behind the stitches by putting beading on top of the canvas but the hole just above and to the right of the ears is going to have to be hidden by trim in the finishing. Despite my best efforts, the burned canvas threads break and peek out (particularly under the tent stitches which are distorted by the breaks) and the hole, although compensated for by the woven thread, is a bit lumpy.
It is possible that Summer Louise (the finisher) will just turn back the upper right hand corner of the canvas along the diagonal line of split pavilion stitches to hide the damaged areas. This will give her a straight line to work with and that missing corner might be a nice place for a monogram or a fancy button. We'll see what she thinks of this idea after Christmas when this will be made up.
I've discovered an unintended side effect of spritzing the canvas with water before stitching. This really does soften the burned areas and makes them less brittle so I can stitch over them without breaking the burned canvas threads, but it also softenes the patch of 18 count canvas underneath and makes it fray around the edges. The original piece stuck out past the edge of the canvas design a quarter inch but now that it is fringing itself, the real stitchable edge of the patch is at the tent stitches and some of them are not even because of that. If you plan to patch a canvas, you need to make the patch at least an inch bigger around all sides than the damaged area. A half inch or less is just not going to be stable.
I thought about hemming the edge of the patch or covering it with hem tape or just doing a zigzag stitch around the sides of the patch but all these will add bulk and be difficult to stitch through, so just having a larger patch and ignoring the fraying is the best way to go in my opinion.
I've also found that dampening the burned areas does make them softer and more easily stitched over but I think that once they dry, they are even more brittle. Since I am no expert in restoring canvas, I am following common sense and instinct in repairing this canvas. Sometimes they lead me astray. I'd encourage anyone with a canvas they want to salvage to try using a good sized piece of 18 count silk gauze on top of any hole with a patch of an equally good sized piece of 18 count mono canvas (or whatever size the original canvas was) on the bottom for stability. I think that would avoid the lumpy appearance I have just above the ears, although it does not do anything to solve the problem of burned canvas threads breaking.
I might have done well to completely remove all the burned areas, enlarging the hole and then patching it. For the scorched areas, painting a matching color on top of the brown area should hide the brown color that shows between the threads. I am not convinced that painting a scorch mark will be good in the long run, but in the short run it might hide the mark.
However one goes about repairing a canvas like this, a full coverage stitch will be needed on the repaired area.
Hope all my musings on fixing a damaged area helps someone with a repair, whether it is a cut thread, chemical damage or a burn from a magnifier in the sunshine.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
10 comments:
You raise some interesting variations on how to fix this. How or what are you finishing it into? It is so pretty that I hope it will not be an issue for the finishing.
I want this on a tote bag, although I will have to discuss this with the finisher as the piece is 13 inches tall. That would be a big tote but I would love to carry things around in something adorned by the Rabbit Geisha!
What if you curved the top of the piece, so GeishaBunny is effectively standing under an arch ? That means you lose both top corners, but it would get some of the badness out of the way. If you have a dark piece of construction paper, you could quickly cut some shapes and see how that might look ....
Don't be afraid of a tote that's tall ! If you want to carry a stitching project around, you might need that much height.
Jane,
It looks like the gray in ear is not lost against the blue background. When I had confetti show on a canvas, I used a permanent marking pen in matching color with a fine point and colored the canvas that was showing. I gently moved the thread(s) aside and dabbed at the canvas. It worked for me with black thread on a white canvas.
I have a bunny canvas by Shorebirds and am getting up the courage to stitch it. There are five bunnies facing both front and back and I think there will be a lot of turkey work for the tails. Then I need to decide on stitches for their bodies.
Thanks for sharing.
Judy
There is most certainly a special place in stitchy heaven for you. I'm thinking that it will be the most comfy stitchy chair and that you will be surrounded by all of the people and things that you love and that you will be able to stitch whenever you want.
Your loving repair of this canvas is truly an inspiration!
Why, thank you, Coni! That is a nice thing to say. I'll say a place on the comy stitchy couch for you. Unless of course That Dog gets there first.
You know who you are, dog!
Beverly, curving the top might be a good idea. That is going to be up to the finisher, though. It is possible that a fabric piece could frame Our Geisha nicely but I'm not in charge of that area. I'll mention it to Summer Louise, though. Very clever idea--thanks!
Judy, the Shorebird canvases are drop-dead beautiful! I bet your bunnies will be belles when you are finished with them. Can you use the same stitch but different colors for them? I might try that to make each individual but give them all something in common by using the same stitches.
Just an idea. Thanks for letting me know you think the Rabbit Geisha's ears look ok against the background. I was a bit worried about that....
I am sure Summer can curve the top and it might be a great accent for the piece. Or, think the shape we did with the fireworks if it not a finishing nightmare!
Pat, I'll keep your arched mat in mind when Summer and I talk finishing this winter. Sadly we will all have to wait until after the Christmas finishing rush is over for her to make up the Rabbit Geisha but that's the deal I made with Summer since I knew I couldn't get her stitched before the Christmas rush. This is the most hectic time of year for Summer and all our beloved finishers, the time when they have to work flat out making our stitching into treasures for years to come. So we'll have to be patient. But I have a cute Christmas piece or two to distract us, not to mention a gorgeous canvas just waiting for me....
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