As I worked up O'jishi's background--which is 99% done--I have been thinking about a possible border and stitches for the mask, I've also been thinking about whether to fill the empty line between the alternating cashmere pairs with tent stitches. And if I stitch over that empty row, what thread should I use?
I got a private email from Marj the other day. She was impressed by my idea of making a border around O'jishi using my background stitch in a different and contrasting thread like the coral red Watercolours. She'd never heard of doing such a thing and said she'd never have thought of it in a million years. But for me, coming up with this stuff is second nature now.
I might have seen someone switch colors instead of stitches for a border before (I don't remember doing so but I scour each stitching magazine and online photos of finished pieces for such ideas), but it is now my habit to play the Variation Game when I am thinking about stitches.
The Variation Game is just wondering what will happen if I change threads to mix thread textures? Or add beads, or omit them and use French knots or Colonial knots instead? What happens if I drop part of the stitch, or add another step? What will happen if I stitch this stitch in a different order? What if I let the steps in the stitch fade away to nothing (ala Marnie Ritter)? What if I use the same stitch but a different color to make a border? What if? What if? What if?
It's a fun exercise for me and it allows me to analyze a stitch to see how to create something new from it. In O'jishi's case, I decided after playing Variations I would add a bit of sparkle to the dark brown shaded areas by filling in the empty line with tent stitches done in the milk-chocolate-mixed-with-silver metallic thread from Kreinik called Spiced Chai #4002 (size #4 braid). I plan to leave the lighter brown stitch centers empty. In this way I hope to make the dark shadow more solid and leave the lighter background more insubstantial.
In this close-up photo you can see some of the tent stitches filled in above O'jishi's head. I've started to work down the left hand side between finishing more regular alternating cashmere pairs stitches in the background. I'm following the dark paint exactly. If a dark shadow area ends in the middle of a tent row, I end my metallic stitch at the same spot.
You may be able to tell from the photo that my size #4 Kreinik braid doesn't completely cover the thread intersections. This is a 13 count canvas. If I wanted complete coverage, I would use the #12 tapestry braid size which is larger than #8 braid and smaller than #16--in other words, the perfect size for #13-14 canvas tent stitches! But remember, I want light coverage so the fact that some of the canvas color shows next to the metallic thread is perfectly ok with me.
Before I forget, here is Kreinik's size/color card. It lists their metallic colors and shows which colors are available in which sizes. Bookmark this page if you haven't already. It's very useful but also hard to find on the Kreinik website.
http://www.kreinik.com/articles/color_cht.html
I could have used a copper or a gold or silver metallic for these tent stitches, or used the same light tan Mandarin floss and the same darker brown Splendor silk that I used for the main body of the stitch, or used beads in a row, or left the tent stitch row empty and just scattered beads here and there on the background. There are a lot of possibilities and playing the Variation Game helps me come up with ideas.
Then I just sort through the possibilities and decide which I think will look best. The Variation Game may not be for you, but it's an easy game to play and it'll give you many, many ideas for your canvases, especially if you happen to be stuck on an area.
Thanks to Marj for asking about how I came up with my border idea and reminding me to tell you all about the Variation Game.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
