The last two pieces of fruit the parrot is eating are the cluster of wild grapes and the seed pod they rest on. I decided to completely bead the grape area using Sundance's size 14 clear hex beads and the three shades of purple from the plum. I also used a bit of white thread to attach beads in the grape highlights. It seemed to take forever and the beads look more like sequins than grapes but I like the look.
The next thing to tackle was the seed pod. It gave me a lot more trouble than I expected. The pod is painted silver-gray and blue-gray--matching those colors was harder than I expected. I started with two silk flosses and satin stitches that I padded but I didn't really care for the look or the colors. So out it came and I tried simple straight stitches using my silks. Didn't like that either. I rummaged around in my stash a bit more and found two spools of Trebizond silk that seemed to match the painted colors very well and two skeins of silk/wool Impressions that weren't as good a match but which seemed to have the right rough texture for a seed pod if I used something along the line of interlocking Gobelin.
Here's a nice diagram on the About.com site about interlocking Gobelin.
http://needlepoint.about.com/od/longstitches/ss/EncroachInterlockGobelin_2.htm
I've always used interlocking Gobelin for animal fur, never for plants, so I wasn't sure how this would work. I've always used rough threads for this stitch as well, which is reasonable for a fur look. But some imp prompted me to try the Trebizond in this stitch because the colors matched the paint so well. Above you can see me starting the tip of the pod and the first row of the full pod length.
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| Cha's Cluster of Fruit Finished |
Sunday night I stitched 2 1/2 more leaves and most of the leaf veins, leaving me 2 1/2 leaves to go before I have to start working background again.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
4 comments:
I love the beads (of course!) and the seed pop is very complimentary to the beads and fruit. Nice!
Thank you, Pat. That seed pod was driving me nuts! Can you imagine?! A canvas this complex and the thing that doesn't go well is the very minor seed pod!
LOL
That's why this is a NP adventure! You never know when the rock will fall in the cave, when the snake will swing down from the tree, when the river will have alligators in it. Better than exploring the Amazon, NP is!
You are our pith helmet-wearing-enabling master. Your journeys take us to exotic places... and, we don't need to get any shots for Malaria. Awesome. Love the Cha-Cha.
I hate those shots. The only needle pricks we have stitching are when we use beading needles carelessly. How lucky are we needle and thread adventurers?!
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