Cha's Final Touches

Parrot Head with Beads and Embroidery

Yesterday I put the final touches on Cha-Cha from Leigh's Brazil Series.  I added a few extra silk ribbons to the end of the pink tail feather, I added a few violet beads to the parrot's head (mostly around the neckline where the Ultrasuede ended), and checked everything for missed or loose stitches.

The Bird

It all looks ok.

The Flowers, Leaves and Fruit

I think Cha is done.  It certainly isn't typical of my usual stitching, which is good.  My New Year's Resolution for 2010 was to not stitch my usual Asian-themed painted canvases this year.  I wanted to try new things and I've stuck to my resolution so far. (But it is only August!  Don't hold your breath I'll make it through all of 2010 Oriental-free.)

The River Silks ribbons didn't work the way I thought they would.  I had planned something more whimsical for the parrot but it turns out silk ribbons make fantastic, fairly realistic feathers and wings.  The extra embellishment I originally planned would detract from the effect.

Attaching the Ultrasuede parrot head, then adding embroidery and beads on top was pretty easy to do--much easier than I expected.  I like how it looks.  I also like the overdyed pink thread in the background, although the faded and splotchy look is not to everyone's taste.

In fact, this over-the-top style is certainly not going to be something every stitcher will want to mimic.  I just have to get out of my stitching rut occasionally and try something new.  I've been talking with a friend about light coverage stitches and integrating various sections of a painted canvas into a coherent whole.  You'll remember that the flowers and leaves are light coverage stitches. The background is all tent stitches to make it a muted background.  Contrasting those two areas with the solid parts of the fruit cluster (particularly the beaded grapes and the long fruit pod) I think helped it all look ok when I added the very solid and flashy parrot with its moving wings.  The image I had in my head the whole time I was stitching Cha was this Escher drawing.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A13L.html

Cha-Cha Finished

I tried to make Cha-Cha look like a piece of old faded fabric, from which the vibrant bird was coming to life into a 3-D existence from a flat two dimensional world.  I succeeded somewhat, I think.

The new challenge will be Cha's finishing but that is up to Leigh Designs.  Cha is on her way to live with Leigh as a model.  Which reminds me, if you are going to the St. Charles trade show in September, my O'jishi will make his debut as a finished piece of art in the Leigh Designs booth.

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