To do something a bit different than all that split pavilion stitch background I thought I would start stitching the fur on the Rabbit Geisha. In this photo I have done both paws and also stitched her eye. I used two sizes of black Kreinik 005 for the eye. First I tent stitched the black eye lines in 1/16 inch ribbon. That covers very well, although because it is a flat ribbon thread, it twists as you stitch if you aren't careful. After the tent stitches were in, I used #4 Very Fine Braid in the same color to stem stitch on top of the eye where the curve was a bit jagged looking. That smoothed it out and gives the top eyelid a bit of dimension. The final step should have been to put in one white stitch for the pupil but I went a little nuts and used a silver Sundance bead instead. That added more dimension, too.
If you look at the paws which I've stitched, you can see why I want dimension in the eye. The fur might overwhelm the eye if I don't take steps now. I also stitched the pink inner part of the ear and the nose, using #8 perle cotton by Needle Necessities in color 8158 which is a soft shaded pale pink. I might pad the nose later. I'm not sure whether I'll need to or not. I probably will, but I do like how the nose looks currently so I'm waiting to see how things look once I have some of the face fur in.
The second picture gives you a more distant look at the body of the rabbit with her eye, nose, paws and most of the navy parts stitched. I am working on the navy lapel at her neck. One side is stitched, one just started. I am using the same Russell Variant stitch that is used on the obi. (There's a link to this Tony Minieri stitch's diagram in yesterday's posting.)
The paws themselves are stitched in split stitch, starting at the wrist and working toward the fingertips. I used three shades of Burmilana (white 3891, pale gray 3686 and gray 3858) and doubled my strand in the needle. I started the neck last night but the doubled strand is too thick looking there so I pulled it all out and will try again tonight. I decided that I probably should do the gray shading on the rabbit face before the neck is done, however. I'm considering stem stitch for that but have not decided for sure.
Sometimes you have to try something before you know whether it will work. I have no idea why the doubled Burmilana looks good on the paws but not on the neck. Perhaps the neck needs a more receeded, delicate look?
This was a good stitching session in terms of stash credits since I used six new threads (+6), which almost offsets the seven new skeins of DMC cotton floss (-7) I bought last weekend for the background! I decided I would not count the one bead I added since there are lots and lots left in the little tube of beads.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
