Pharaoh Ramses II is Finished

My Leigh Designs Pharaoh is done!  Here is what he looks like.  Click on the photo to see a larger view.

I used two of the larger Gemstone beads from Sundance and a mix of olive-tan, red and gunmetal colors from Sundance's Color Inspiration Collections: Shells for the rest of the beaded area.  The beads are still wiggly and easily move out of position.  I've gone through them all 3-4 times to try and keep them in position but they are contrary things.  I may add a dab of glue on a toothpick to keep the worst offenders in place later.  (I use Eileen's Tacky Glue which dries clear.)  But I will wait until I decide how I am going to finish this before I actually use glue.

Here's a tilted photo to give you a better idea of the dimension I have.  By the way, I've always planned to not stitch the little hanger at the top of the ornament, so this section of the canvas has been ignored.  I didn't forget it—promise!

So what do you think?  Did I meet my goal of conveying a granite statue that wasn't overshadowed by a fancy feather fan?  Did my change of the gold and white striped background to a zigzag one work out well?  Would you stitch this?  

I hope to add more of the series to my stash and probably will do others from the Egyptian Dynasty collection over time.  Until then, time to move on to another project!

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharoah's Fan Finished

Last time we talked I had chosen the beads to use on Pharaoh's feather fan.  But I had not finished stitching the head and shaft of the fan before adding the beads.  I could have just tent stitched the whole thing except for the spaces where I wanted to put beads, but I thought given that all the beads I'm using are round and some are really large for the space, that I might do little boxes around most of the places where the beads go to help corral them into position.  Beads are very wiggly things, especially round beads like the smaller ones I'm using from Sundance's Color Inspiration Collections.

So I got out my size 8 Kreinik gold and went to work.  First I did a little ladder shape — going up the shaft.  I was able to do the straight stitches going vertical as I went around the arched area so it looked natural.



Then I did back stitches with my Kreinik gold to make the sides of the little boxes.  I ended up with this.  At the bottom of the head of the fan I added a few tent stitches to cover spots that were not even.  Hopefully you can see where I am am going—I have empty spaces to settle my beads!

Boxes Done

I attached the beads in sections, doing the beads around the outside of the gold head first, then adding the rest of the head except for the two spots where I planned to use larger Gemstone beads.  Finally I worked down the shaft adding beads there.  I had to go through each bead 2-3 times to get them roughly where they belonged, using clear beading thread from Gutermann's. 

This is what I use.  It is actually nylon machine thread that I buy from Joann's Fabrics.  It comes in clear and brown.  
https://www.joann.com/gutermann-invisible-thread-273-yards/prd37982.html#start=1

I used the clear.  This is a thinner version of the clear beading thread you buy from companies like The Collection.  I like it better than the fatter version but it does knot itself.  However, a friend gave me a great tip—run a length through a flat iron and it straightens right out.  I never would have thought to do this myself for fear the flat iron would melt the nylon thread, but she turns her flat iron on low.  My flat iron—the cheapest one I could find at Walmart— doesn't have temperature control but I ran it over the thread as fast as possible and it straightened out fine with no melting.  It was also very well behaved after that!  Thanks, Sheena!

This is getting long so next time I'll show the finished fan and we'll talk about the final piece.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharaoh's Feather Fan

Fan Feathers Done

Once I finished the feathers on the fancy fan behind Leigh's Pharaoh, it was time to stitch the rest of the fan.  Above is the fan with all the feathers stitched so you can see how it doesn't overwhelm the statue of Ramses II.

If you look carefully at the fan you'll see I've done a lot of tent stitching on the head of the fan.  The red area is stitched and at this point I've also added gold tent stitches with Kreinik around the head's central area.  I ended up tent stitching the golden yellow areas, too.  With all that out of the way, I could bead the rest of the head section.  But first, I needed to rummage in my stash for beads in the right colors.  

Here's what I selected, all from Sundance Needlepoint.

Gemstone Beads from Sundance

Color Inspirations Collections from Sundance

The Gemstone beads are 3mm in diameter, roughly, which makes them larger than size 11 beads.  The little round beads from the Color Inspiration Collections: Shell are smooth and much smaller, probably close to a size 14 bead.  They are also more even.  The gemstone beads have been tumbled to shape I think and they are not smooth.  I like all of them.  The colors are right and I think they will add to the feather fan without drawing too much attention from Pharaoh.

When I laid them on the canvas, though, it was obvious that 3mm beads are too large.  I hope you can see the beads laid on the canvas.  One of the gemstone beads is at the bottom of the fan head and there is a smaller round bead below it and also one to the left.  

For me, scale is very important on a painted canvas.  Unless I'm stitching a portrait of Dolly Parton, I don't want one are to overwhelm another.  So although I might be able to use a few of the larger Gemstone beads, I will have to bead the fan head and shaft with mostly the smaller ones from the Shell Inspiration Collection.

However, before I can bead, I have something else to do.  Those who have sharp eyes can see the next step which I've already done but not described.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharaoh's Feathered Fan

Starting the Fan's Feathers

A lot of people have trouble with stitching feathers. I think this has to do with the fact that feathers are often not painted perfectly symmetrically.  Fishbone is my favorite stitch for feathers and leaves, but it didn't seem to work well here.  I think my problem is that each feather is shaped differently.  I found it hard to work fishbone from the base up and keep the sides even.  I ended up using a variation   of fishbone stitch called Raised Fishbone that is worked from the tip down.  You can see it demonstrated on Mary Corbet's website.
https://www.needlenthread.com/2012/07/raised-fishbone-stitch-video-tutorial.html

I'm using one ply of High Cotton from the strand.  (High Cotton is a five ply cotton thread with a tight twist to each ply and a slightly matte finish that I really like.  It's discontinued, sadly, but I have all the colors I need in my stash, so High Cotton it is.)  Fishbone and its variations are easier to work smoothly in a single stranded thread like perle cotton, crewel wool, threads that aren't used in multiple plies, basically.  It was pretty easy to switch colors as I worked down the feather, too.  I worked the purple feathers first, then the teal, and finished with the red as the purple ones seemed to be in the back, the teal ones in the middle and the red ones on top.  I always work from background forwards if that is possible.

9 of 12 Feathers Done

Raised Fishbone gave me a slightly raised effect without trying to grab attention from Pharaoh.  I did end up tent stitching the dark red area around the base of the jeweled fan before stitching the red feathers so I could tell where to stop stitching feathers.  I'll discuss the jeweled base of the fan next after I work all the red feathers in Raised Fishbone.

Feathers Finished!

Here is the slightly raised effect I got in my feathers.  It isn't too much dimension so it doesn't fight with Pharaoh for attention.  If you wanted more dimension, however, you could work this in Straw Silk or a ribbon and it would be more prominent.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 6, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Pharaoh's Statue

Highlights on Basketweave

I've finished basketweaving the statue on my Pharaoh canvas!  It took a while to do because I had to do the black areas in stolen moments during the day when I could see to stitch black on black.  I am not sure you can see the final touch I added to the basketweave.  I added metallic highlights.  To do this, use a very fine metallic and a beading needle.  Then turn the canvas a quarter turn so that Pharaoh is lying down and do a few tent stitches over the tent stitch layer you've already done.

This is the thread I used—Sulky's overdyed #7027 which is a mix of gold, red and green.   Sulky is a machine embroidery thread that is very fine.
https://www.sulky.com/catalog/sub/thread/metallic/original/

I bought my spool at Joann's Fabrics.  I had a spool of copper Accentuate but I liked the color mix of the Sulky so that's what I used.  There are sparkles on his shoulder, around his eye and cheek and a few on his headdress.  They are hard to see but this is the best photo I could get.  In person the sparkle is more apparently.  I wanted the look of granite which has crystals in it.

Once the statue was done, it's time to stitch the feather fan.  I'll explain how I worked that next time.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 4, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Wrestling with Pharaoh's Background

The last time I showed you Pharaoh, I was basketweaving the statue and trying to figure out how to stitch the cream and gold striped background.  The black areas on the statue took a long time as I had to stitch them during the day when I don't really have stitching time. I find black on black (and navy on navy) too difficult to do after dark, even with good lighting.  So I stitched a length of thread each day in the daytime, which is all I have time for.  But the statue is finally done.  More on him in a minute.  Let's talk about the background of the canvas now.

Background Auditions

I knew I wanted to use DMC's cotton floss in ecru but I had no idea what stitch would look best.  I needed something smooth and on a small scale that wouldn't outshine the statue or the fan.  I needed a background stitch that would stay in the background and not try to overshadow anything.  So I did some testing of various background stitch that are small and not overpowering.  That's the mess in the margins.

I ended up with two stitches that I liked and tested on the canvas itself.  The top stitch is Double Hungarian, stitched with three plies of the cotton floss.  It is in rows like the stripes are painted but the gold paint shows through and it seems a little too busy now that I've stitched a few rows.

The bottom stitch is Byzantine 2 which I found in Ruth Schmuff's iStitches Volume One.  It is a smaller version of regular Byzantine stitch which normally is over 3 or more threads.  You can see the stitch and other variations of Byzantine diagrammed on Susan Robert's Needlepoint Teacher website. She calls it Byzantine Variation 1.
https://www.needlepointteacher.com/stitches/numbered-a-b/byzantine-variations/

I ended up using Byzantine 2 (also called Byzantine Variation 1) with my three plies of DMC cotton floss in ecru.

Cream and Gold Area Done

As a finishing touch, I backstitched the "ditch" between the rows of the Byzantine stitch with gold Bijoux, which is a very thin gold metallic.  That adds a touch of subtle gold in keeping with the original cream and gold paint job.  Note that I ripped out the cream area at the top of the ornament and restitched it as lime.  I didn't think the compensation of the Byzantine stitch at the top would look good.

Original Unstitched Canvas

As a reminder, here is how the design was originally painted by Leigh Designs.  You can see I adjusted the cream areas to work with my vision of Pharaoh.

Next time I'll finish the statue and add a special touch, then tackle the feather fan.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 4, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Let's Create a Pharaoh Statue

Brick Stitch on Head

Last time I showed you my Leigh Designs Pharaoh Ramses II, I was stitching away on the statue.  I'd chosen to use brick stitch over two for the coronet on top of the Pharaoh's head, then tent stitches on the rest of him.  The photo above shows my progress.

I swear that the tent stitches on his face and the brick stitches on top of his head are the same color of DMC cotton.  They are even done from the same skein, so there are no dye lot color changes.  What you see is the play of light on the straight brick stitches versus less light bouncing off Pharaoh's face.   There is a darker terra-cotta color in DMC cotton but it was too red to use, so my only option is to rip out the brick stitches, even though I like the texture of them on his headpiece.

All Tent Stitches

I ended up with what you see above.  It's much better.  I still really like brick stitch, however, so I used it on the cream and gold stripes on the left side.  It's running in a horizontal fashion.  I just turned the canvas on its side so Pharaoh was lying down to stitch it smoothly.

More Brick Stitch—and More Ripping

And that's too much texture!  Sigh  I'm going to have to rip the brick stitches out and try for a smoother look that doesn't detract from the fan and statue.  Oh, well, on the bright side I managed to do basketweave on the cream section at the top under the ornament hardware and in the lime section of the fan.  I had originally planned something else for the lime sections of the fan but I don't have lime in the threads I plan to use.  Given the difficulty of shopping for it, I opted to use tent stitches for the lime. 

By the way, the lime area is done in size 8 perle cotton but I had to rip out the size 8 perle cotton section in ecru.  The ecru thread seemed thicker than the lime, even though they are both size 8.  The lime is from Prescencia and the ecru is from DMC, so probably the manufacturer of one makes a skinner version of size 8 than the other.  Not to worry, I used three plies of DMC cotton floss in ecru and that looks good.

Plans change all the time as I stitch.  Sometimes things don't work, sometimes I can't get threads or embellishments I want.  So needlepoint embellishment for me is always changing and evolving to meet my mental idea of what I want a painted canvas to be.  This involves a lot of ripping out but sometimes you don't know what it will look like until you try and sometimes the threads surprise you.  On Pharaoh the threads and stitches certainly threw me a lot of curve balls!

Stay tuned to see what surprises the threads and stitches have for me next time.  

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 26, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Introducing Pharaoh Ramses II

I have chosen my next painted canvas, an Egyptian Dynasty ornament from Leigh Designs.  It is four inches in diameter (if you ignore the metal hanger for the ornament) and is on 18 count sandstone canvas.  This is called Ramses and it is one of a series of eight designs.  You can see all of the set here.
https://needlepointus.com/products.asp?cat=Leigh+Designs&pg=8






I suspect it was inspired by the photo of Pharaoh Ramses II in the British Museum.
https://sites.google.com/site/100objectsbritishmuseum/home/statue-of-ramesses-ii

This is going to be a challenge as the statue should look like solid granite and it cannot be overshadowed by the fancy feather fan on the left side.

Of course the pinkish clay color of the statute provided impossible to match in thread. The closest I've come is DMC cotton floss in 356. I wanted a metallic sheen to the statue—that's not only realistic as granite has some sparkle naturally from the crystals in it, but it will help to focus the eye on the statue, not the feather fan—but that's impossible. I studied the Kreinik online color card for a long time. They have a lot of pinks and a lot of siennas. It's possible that the new color 5006 Ore will work.
https://www.123stitch.com/item/Kreinik-Ore-5006-8-Braid/B85006

I thought about ordering Ore but I suspect it is more salmon than brick-clay in color, so I stuck with the DMC cotton floss. I have a plan that might work. Or it might not.  Fortunately I can always rip out.  I already have, in fact.  My first thought was to use the DMC 356 to attach clear beads. I tried that last night using both size 11 round clear beads and size 15 round clear beads with an iridescent finish. The smaller beads have too much sparkle that hides the color of the paint and the thread used to attach them. The size 11 round beads do let the color show better but it's not right. The beads detract from the statue. You see the round shape of the beads more than the detail of the statue, so Plan A is out!

On to Plan B. Here's what I got done last night. The circlet on top of his head is the circlet of uraei, according to the museum website above. That roughly means the sacred serpent. Egyptian art often used stylized cobra to signify sacred snakes. The statue is wearing a circle of them, sort of like a diadem. I used brick stitch over two (3 plies) there and I used my DMC 356 in basketweave on his neck (3 plies).  Plan B says to use the brick stitch in black DMC cotton floss (also 3 plies) for the shadow on the right of the face and the head cloth in shadow.  I'm not sure that will work. The head cloth might need to be in tent stitch, which is what I plan to use for the face, neck and shoulders using my DMC 356 with touches of black for the features.

Guess we'll have to see how this plays out.  I have an idea about how to add metallic sparkle and a gloss of hardness to the statue but that needs to wait until I have the whole thing stitched.  I'll come back with a progress report once I have something to report.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright June 21, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.