More about Backgrounds and Scale

I've been trying to come up with ways to further explain scale, particularly as it pertains to O'jishi's background.  It isn't easy to explain something that I don't understand 100% myself but I'll try to lay out what conclusions I've come to about scale and painted canvases to help you understand scale as it pertains to needlepoint designs.

The background of any piece needs to be less important than the foreground.  After all, you don't want people looking at the large piece you labored over for 8 months and saying, "Nice background" without any comment on the central Santa or whatever!  The background is the bridesmaid, not the bride of almost any piece. (Note that there are some designs without real focal points.)

Let's look at an example.  This is a small stand up piece for Thanksgiving from Amy Bunger's website.  Her stitched model photos are excellent and easy to see in detail.
http://www.amybunger.com/albums/album_image/6262614/4381038.htm

See how the background sky is a tiny stitch?  You see it but even though a fancy overdye thread seems to be used, your brain says "sky" and then moves on to the two figures.  Also note how the ground uses a larger stitch and a darker color.  That makes the ground "heavier" than the "sky."  You don't want a sky that overwhelms the ground any more than you want a background that overwhelms the central design.  The scale is good for this piece in that the sky is a smaller scale stitch than the ground's stitch.

Compare the mostly tent stitches of the Indian to the sky and ground.  They are smaller stitches than those used for the sky or ground but the various colors and the areas that are 3-D make the tent stitches more prominent.  You see, having a small scale area doesn't mean the stitches themselves are tiny.  It's the impact of the stitches that needs to be BIG.

Here is a stitch diagram of something called Greek Key for cross stitch.  Note that each dot is a tent stitch if you are doing this for needlepoint.  Each tent stitch is small, but this is a stitch unit, not one stitch here or there.
http://crossstitch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=crossstitch&cdn=hobbies&tm=8&f=21&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.nancyhearne.com/drawingboard/greekkey.htm

(If this long link doesn't work for you, try the Tiny URL version.)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yhcbe3q

In other words, small stitches don't automatically equal tiny scale.  Small stitches can increase their scale by being colorful or part of an larger design unit.

I wanted to clarify this so that you would understand that scale is important for most painted canvass, that scale doesn't necessarily mean big stitches work with big designs (or small stitches work with small designs), and that you have to suit the scale to the design.

I hope I haven't totally confused you!  I'll talk about scale more as we work this piece and try to come up with clearer explanations as to why I choose the stitches I do.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

New Project of the Month and New Classes

If you love having a project arrive in the mail so you don't have to run around picking up threads one place and a design another, then Lani's got a deal for you.  She is starting a project of the month program via her website.  The first project is a personalized jewelry box.  You choose the lettering and the background color and you can also choose the leather color of the box.  Lani includes a stitch guide and fabulous threads.  I think this would make a fabulous Christmas present.  Put a promise to have it stitched by the recipient's birthday in 2010 inside with all the threads, or perhaps include a promise to teach the recipient how to stitch it....
http://www.lanisneedlepoint.com/leejewelryboxkit.aspx

Lani will do a different project each month, so bookmark her site and see what she comes up with next month.

The other news is for those interested in historical embroidery--Tricia Wilson Nguyen is starting cyberclasses called Online University to teach historic embroidery techniques, particularly from the Tudor and Stuart Periods (which means English embroidery mostly).  The classes are here.  Click on the class name for particulars, including a video that introduces the class material.
http://thistle-threads.com.mytempweb.com/teaching/projects/onlineclasses/index.html

I am always grateful for the new ways of learning our designer and teacher and shop friends come up with!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow