Byzantine Icon Ornaments Are Done

Here are the Byzantine icon ornaments, all done!

The Blue Angel has a single line of the beads I also used on her halo all around the edge to hide the join.

The Red Madonna's corners--I used the same red beads as on the halos--gave me fits. The painted 13 count canvas was really stiff and the corners didn't quite meet the felt backing in the way I wanted. No problem, add a second line of beads just at the corners.

Beads hide a multitude of sins....

I'm sorry you can't see the gold lame, gold paint, metallics and beads shining on these two pieces. They are little gems in person but don't photograph well.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: Front to Back to Edge

Now that the needlepoint covers the finishing foam that has gold lame on one side, let me explain something I didn't make clear when I was stitching the two little Byzantine icons. These designs are on 14 count canvas that has been covered with gold paint, then the figures and borders were painted on top of the gold. All that gold paint makes the canvas a bit stiffer than normal and when I ripped out stitches on the border, I discovered that this dulled the paint. If you purchase such a canvas, be very careful ripping out in areas that won't be covered by thread.

However, when you don't stitch an area at all (like the gold background behind the angel and the Madonna and Child figures), the gold paint looks great, especially with a piece of gold lame underneath it. I showed off the two finished pieces at Scarlet Thread yesterday and folks asked about the gold background. It is bare naked NP canvas, but it doesn't look like it. The gold lame definitely adds to the paint and make the background interesting-looking enough that the people in the shop commented on it and asked what made it look the way it does. Definitely consider trying this on any piece that could use some sparkle, particularly if you have light coverage stitches or no stitches at all in areas.

Ok, back to finishing. It's time to stitch the needlepoint and gold lame piece with its hanger to the back piece of finishing foam. To do this, all you need is a sharp sewing needle and thread that matches the color of your felt. I use a thimble but this isn't necessary. You can substitute DMC cotton floss for sewing thread if necessary but I prefer regular sewing thread as I feel it is stronger and more suited to finishing chores.

First, put the NP piece on top of the felt finishing foam and compare how well they fit. You probably will have to trim the finishing foam a bit but leave the felt alone. Right now it is fine that it is bigger all around than your needlepoint canvas front. Since my finishing foam was self-stick, I had to pull the felt back off the foam a little around the edges but if you are careful you can easily do this. Just don't yank. If I had glued the felt to the finishing foam, my glue would be applied about an inch from the edge so that I didn't have to pull the felt away there. You will need to remove just a sliver from the edges of the foam, just enough that it is very slightly smaller than the front NP piece. Now use your banker's clamps (or clothes pens or straight pins) to attach the front and back. Once things are just the way you want them, you can trim the felt edge so it is a tad more than even with the NP on the front. This gives you a bit of felt to overlap the edge a little. Now start sewing the front to the back. Pinch the front and back together hard with one hand as you go and be careful not to put stitches very far into the front of the piece. Because your sewing thread matches the felt on the back, stitches there will be invisible but they will show on the front if you aren't careful. If you need to trim the finishing foam on the back or the felt a bit, you can easily do so as you work. Remove the clamps and put them elsewhere as you work.

You will end up with an ornament ready to hang but with a slightly rough edge where you will see the stitches that attach the front to the back. This is why ornaments have trim or beads around the edges. They hide this edging.

The last step in finishing the ornament is to cover the edges. I use gold braid trim or beads or both to do this, depending on what the ornament looks like. You can also use ribbon. Beading an edge is tedious work but it seemed to enhance the Byzantine Icons so that is what I did. If I'd attached trim instead, I probably would not have sewn the front to the back completely before sewing on the trim. I normally cut a length of trim and then put one end inside the ornament at the top near the hanger, then sew the trim all the way around to the top again, where I tuck the other end of the trim inside the ornament, complete attaching the front to the back, and then finish sewing the trim. Note that you can also use glue but due to several unfortunate accidents, I prefer sewing. It takes a lot longer but for me it looks better in the end.

Now, if someone will help me remove pieces of self stick finishing foam from my pants, we will be done!
Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: Sew Those Corners Down

The next step in finishing the Byzantine icons into ornaments is to sew the corners together so the raw edges stay turned under. Take a piece of finishing foam that has gold lame stuck on one side and put it, gold side facing out so it can been seen through the holes of the NP, under the turned down raw edges. [You may have to trim the edges of the lame covered finishing foam with your scissors--not the good embroidery ones!--so it fits well inside the needlepoint cover. Trim a little at a time, an edge at a time, until the finishing foam fits snugly without bending the NP front.] Bend the raw edges down again over the finishing foam, but this time once they are just where you want them, use banker's clips (or straight pins or clothes pens) to hold the corners shut over the finishing foam. The photo above shows my banker's clips in action. Because the Byzantine icons are small pieces I didn't need quite so many clips for them.

What I do next is sew the corners closed so they stay put. After all, I can't leave the banker's clips in place!

You might want to use glue here instead of hand sewing, but I find glue messy and I think it isn't as strong as regular sewing thread. However, my friend Pat who does magnificent finishing uses glue a lot for her ornaments, and of course ornaments don't get the wear that a pillow would. Note that instead of sewing thread you can use a ply or two of DMC cotton floss. It doesn't matter what color you use, what matters is that the corners are neat and tightly sewn in place. You might want to use a thimble to push the needle through the layers of NP canvas. I aim for the holes but occasionally miss, especially since there are layers and they don't always line up their holes.

The photo shows the two icons with their corners turned under and sewn together. You also see a loop of Kreinik gold metallic which is how the ornaments will hang. Once you get the corners of the front turned and sewn, make a loop and stitch it securely to the top of your ornament at the back. The felt covered pieces of finishing foam which will be the rear of each ornament are at the top of the photo. You don't need to do anything with them right now. Just get the fronts ready for the next step which I'll describe tomorrow.

It took me almost an hour to sew the corners down for the two sets of fronts and then attach the hanging loops. I am a slow stitcher and I am interrupted as I work, so you may not need as much time. Remember, finishing is a slow process. Turtles do better finishing than racing rabbits!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: Cut It Out

The first thing I did when I had all my supplies together ready to assemble the ornaments was make a black and white xerox copy of both designs. I cut out the paper copies so that they were the same size as my icons. (The photo above shows the pet guardian angel paper copies lying on one sheet of finishing foam. The second photo below shows a paper copy being cut.) Using a loop of Scotch tape, I stuck these paper templates onto my finishing foam and cut out the foam to the correct size. I did that twice as I need two piece of finishing foam for each ornament. The needlepoint goes over one piece of finishing foam and the black felt backing goes over the other.

So for the Red Madonna I had: one NP canvas, one paper copy, and two pieces of finishing foam. Ditto the Blue Angel: one NP canvas, one paper copy, and two more pieces of finishing foam.

Because I bought self-stick finishing foam, I peeled off the backing and stuck two foam pieces to the black felt, then cut out the felt with a little margin all around the edges. These two pieces of black felt will make the back side of my ornaments.

After than, I took the two remaining pieces of finishing foam, peeled off the paper backing and stuck them to the gold lame fabric. This time when I cut out the gold lame, I didn't leave any margin sticking out. These gold lame covered finishing foam sheets go behind my needlepoint with the gold lame facing out so that you can sort of see it in the empty holes of the gold background I didn't stitch. This adds sparkle to the Christmas ornaments and also hides the innards of the ornament from view.


The next step now that the finishing foam pieces are cut and glued to the fabrics, is to cut out your needlepoint, leaving a margin of about a half inch all the way around. (For my 14 count canvas I cut to within 7-8 threads of the stitched area.) With rectangles, this is really easy, unlike the pet guardian angel shapes which you see above. Those have curves which have to be clipped, etc. For your first project, I'd recommend a square or rectangle ornament as those are very easy shapes to cut out and then turn under. MAKE SURE you do not use your good embroidery scissors to cut the needlepoint canvas. That will dull the blades very quickly.

Once you have trimmed your needlepoint canvas, using your fingers press the raw edges under. The edges will stay sort of turned under on their own once you mash them. At the corners it is often easier to mitre the corners. That just means you turn under the corner so it looks like a triangle on the back side, then fold the top and side edges together. This website shows you how in Figures 1 and 2.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mgivU2XxDvUC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=embroidery+how+to+mitre+corners+in+finishing&source=bl&ots=asqEzVSBwf&sig=gqQ0nlckzThFfhSWhNmT3bQe7AQ&hl=en&ei=qeY4SpmmMYOHtgfDqZ3jDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2

Or Tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/lny3rv

That's enough for today. I estimate all the above takes about 60-90 minutes for two ornaments but I've done this many times. Your first attempt will take you longer, particularly if you are constantly interrupted as I usually am or if you have to pull together all your supplies from all over the house.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Finishing Made Easy: The Ingredients

As I assembled the two small Byzantine Icons into ornaments, I took careful notes and photographs so that I could explain how I finished them. It's not a hard process, just tedious and time-consuming. Let me start by listing all the stuff I needed to finish the ornaments. Things that are optional are noted.

________________________________________________________

• Stitched needlepoint pieces
• Black and white xerox copy of my stitched icons
• Scissors (both good scissors for threads and fabric, and not-so-good ones to cut paper, NP canvas and finishing foam)
• 2 sheets of finishing foam, one for each ornament (may substitute 2-4 pieces of plastic canvas, you’ll need extra to put inside to stiffen the final ornament, or a piece of matte board)
• Tape (either Scotch tape or masking tape)
• Fabric glue if your finishing foam isn't self-stick (I generally use Aleene’s Easy Flow Tacky Glue)
• Felt (in a color that coordinates with your stitching)
• Sewing thread in a color that matches felt (may substitute one ply of DMC cotton floss)
• Sharp sewing needle (and thimble if you like)Trim or beads to cover edges of ornaments
• OPTIONAL: 6-10 Banker’s clips or clothes pins or straight pins to clamp ornament parts together
• OPTIONAL: Gold lame (to put behind the ornament)*
• OPTIONAL: Waxed paper to protect your working surface from glue

________________________________________________________

*Since I didn't stitch the gold background of my two icons, my gold lame fabric isn't really optional since I have to hide the innards of the ornaments with it. However, you may not need this to cover up or add sparkle to your design. Lame comes in many colors--I mostly use gold but I have some silver and some variagated blue that I use occasionally when gold's not the right color. Pick the color that works for your project.

Before I end for the day, I need to explain what finishing foam is. It is a slightly rubbery sheet used in kids' crafts that you can easily cut with scissors. Lightweight but rigid, I love using it in finishing. You can buy it at the big crafts stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby or at Joann's Fabrics. Look for something called "foam sheets." It comes in various colors and also in metallic sparkled sheets, you can buy it in archival quality, you can buy it with a peel off back that will self-stick to your fabric. It also comes in various thicknesses: Be sure you buy sheets of the same thicknesses if you plan to use it in finishing.

Here are some photos to help you find it. You can buy single sheets or a package of a dozen or more. I usually buy a big package with a 40% off coupon every other year. There are a lot of brands. As far as I can tell, they are all the same thing.
http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=41880&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=44260&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=41884&dep=50&cat=4&subcat=5&Search=Y

My local stores carry a huge variety of this stuff in kits of cut out letters and shapes to be glued to plain sheets in contrasting colors for signs or to be glued to foam hats to personalize them. If you find packages like this one in the link below, that area will also have the plain sheets nearby.
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc1394

Note that many folks like using matte board inside their ornaments. I personally find it hard to cut to anything but the most simple shapes in matte board but that's just me--not to be trusted with an Exacto knife! I've also used plastic canvas inside my ornaments. I find plastic canvas sometimes isn't rigid enough and I have to add an extra piece sandwiched in the middle of my ornament. I also sometimes think one can see the grid underneath the fabric backing so I have to put quilt batting around it. Also, plastic canvas is not as easy for me to cut with scissors as finishing foam. However, whatever material you use to make your ornaments rigid is up to you and depends on personal preference and what materials you can easily get in your area.

Tomorrow I'll start explaining how the Byzantine icons were assembled.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Background Abandoned

The Red Madonna is done! Boy, that didn't take long. These small pieces (they are 3 inches wish by 5 inches tall) are quick stitches, particularly on 14 count canvas and when you don't stitch a background at all.

Yes, after fiddling with the Maltese Stitch and trying to reduce the example I had to a size that worked on the background, I gave up. I never did come up with anything that looked good using that stitch. So I worked on the bottom corners and the top framework instead.

I took several photos and this is the best one. You can't really see the Kreinik gold and red striped thread I used well on the framework. I'll try a closeup that is heavily enhanced to show detail. Ok, here it is. Let me work from the top left corner out, explaining what is there, then I'll do the bottom corner, again working from the corner out.

I've talked about the outside border I added so we'll skip that, ok. The next thing you see is a red Toho bead (size 11/0) in the corner, followed by a cluster of 5-6 gold Mill Hill beads (size Petite). The next area is my red and gold mix Kreinik #203 couched down with red Kreinik #003 in #4 braid. (203 is called Flame and it is a mix of red and gold in one thread, not very attractive on the spool, but Oh Baby! it looks good stitched.) I laid a pair of stitches across the area and tied them with four stitches, two at the bottom and two at the top. Then you see the gold Kreinik done in the diagonal mosaic stitch. This is the area that I added three crosses on top of. They are all in the red and gold Kreinik mix. Then we return to another pair of couched red and gold Kreinik threads. The next area is interesting. It's just tent stitch but I used ribbon floss to do the tent stitches. I think ribbon floss, usually done in long stitches, makes great tent stitches if you can get over the fact that it twists and turns like crazy while you are trying to do the stitches. A laying tool of some sort is a must when it comes to tent stitches in ribbon floss! I like how the gold is shinier than the gold in the diagonal mosaic section but less shiny than the bright Fyrewerks gold in the halos. When it comes to mixing a lot of gold threads, if you can get the same color of gold but mix the textures, you get a lot of interest in the look of a piece. The last area is more red and gold Kreinik, also in tent stitches. If you look at the original unstitched canvas photo on the left side of this page, you'll see white pearls came with this piece and two were supposed to go in this area. Instead, I used two more red Toho beads. The white pearl in the corner also turned into a red bead. This is what happens when you hand a stitch guide to Jane--she runs wild! LOL

Before we look at the bottom corner, look at the two decorative areas right over Mary's head. I used my gold Kreinik to do a box turned on its corner edge and then my red and gold Kreinik to do a second box under the first. The gold box has a red bead in the middle and the red and gold box has a gold one in the center. These make a decorative pattern in the middle of the arch that the Red Madonna and Child stand under. The stitch I used has a name but I can't remember it and can't find it in a quick browse. Sorry!

Now the bottom corner. It is much simplier, just tent stitches in the red and gold Kreinik with another red bead in the corner next to the gold frame I added. The hardest part was deciding whether to make the two bottom corners match. They were not painted to be identical, in fact the top corners weren't either. Looking at the design, you'll see how there is much more open space to the left of Baby Jesus than there is to the right of Mary. That weighs the canvas to the right and focuses your eye on Baby Jesus on the left in my opinion. So there is more "stuff" on the right side so the corners are a bit less to make room. I finally shrugged and stitched the corners more or less as painted. After all, this is more realistic. Very few things in real life are symmetrical.

After all this, you can see why a plain background looked good to me. Sometimes you need a resting place for the eyes. I'll put gold lame behind the canvas to add a little more sparkle and to hide the finishing foam that'll be inside. I'm going to finish both pieces together, however, so I've put Red Madonna away and have started Blue Angel. You can see the plain canvas of Blue Angel on the left side of this page under the Current Project title.

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Framed by SharonG

Last night I pulled out all the sizes of Kreinik's 002 gold I had and started trying to figure out a smaller version of Maltese Cross for the background. As you can see in the photo above, I haven't worked out anything yet. I discovered I had trouble seeing to stitch with gold thread on a gold background. I'll try again today while it is still light. I probably will use either my 002 blending filament or the #4 braid for the Maltese Stitch background, but that is still up in the air.


I ended up stitching the left corner in diagonal mosaic as specified with my Kreinik 002 gold in size #12 braid. I need to put the cross on top but I discovered my On The Surface vintage gold thread didn't show up enough against the gold Kreinik so I pulled it out. I'll have to see how the two threads look in natural light and rummage around for a better color to put on top of the gold. Red Kreink might look very nice, actually, especially since I already covered my halo edge in red beads....

I always intended to do a second border around the fancy frame painted around the two icons. For inspiration, I turned to SharonG who puts lovely borders around her designs. You can see two examples all diagrammed out for you in ANG's Stitch of the Month for 2005. SharonG did a wonderful dragonfly kimono pattern then.

Here's her Favorite Border. Isn't it lovely?
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/oct.php


And here is the border I used as inspiration--Simply Elegant Border #1.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2005/mar.php

If you look at this smaller photo, you see the upper left hand corner with it's diagonal mosaic stitches in gold and the Kreinik 002 gold (#16 braid) laid in two parallel ditches around the outside of the original frame. At the bottom I've started couching the thread down with a strand of my On the Surface Vintage Gold metal thread. It is pretty subtle but I hope the change in color of the couching thread adds a bit to the piece. It's often the little things that make a difference! You can also see that I'll added three tie down stitches to the corner to make this more like a frame. That's a wonderful touch in my opinion. SharonG is very, very smart!

Now I need to look for red metallic threads for the original border and the crosses that go on top. Wish me luck!

By the way, I've been meaning to mention that I try to explain why I choose the threads/stitches/colors/whatever I did when stitching a painted canvas but if you are at all insecure of your ability to do this all on your own, a canvas that comes with its own stitch guide is a good investment. You can finish a project and know what it'll look like and learn enough to give yourself confidence for the next time. I just discovered that The Needle Works in Austin, Texas has photos of 73 canvases that come with a stitch guide included on their website. It's a nice place to browse if you want a little help before you start your first painted canvas.
http://www.theneedleworks.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Madonna and Child Clothed

The Madonna and Child are completely stitched now and the halo is done. Because this is an icon, it needs lots of glitz so I used red Toho beads (size 11/0) on the outside edge of the halo and gold Fyrewerks on the inside. (By the way, the beads are redder in person. I think the light bouncing off them made them lighter for their photograph.) Fyrewerks is really shiny but it is the same gold as the Shimmer Blend ribbon floss I used for the trim of Mary's cloak. The darker vintage gold trim is On The Surface metallic thread in Vintage Gold. When you are mixing metallic threads, you have to consider if the shades of color are the same or different. In this case I need two golds. I'll need a gold for the background and the frame, too. More about that later.

I did a few vertical straight lines between the red bargello pattern on the cloak using dark red Bijoux. That adds more subtle gleam. You may remember I want my Christmas ornaments very shiny so they look good on the tree with all the lights and stand out from the things around them.

I used my Bronze Splendor skin tones set to do the faces and used dark brown Alpaca in tent stitches for the hair. The Baby Jesus's hair was then overstitched with French knots using Wildflowers, which is a thin perle thread from Caron. I used a skein with various shades of brown. I'll add the color number when I find it. The bangs on His mother were slightly padded with a length of the Alpaca and then I did long straight and slanted stitches with a few tent stitches at the sides for her hair. The eyes are in the same thread and Mary's mouth is the same Sheep's Silk as her cloak.

My instructions call for Maltese cross stitch for the background. I found this stitch diagramed here but it's too big so I will experiment with threads while trying to reduce the size tonight.
http://www.needlepoint.org/Kids/00-03/Laura%27sSampler_Part2.php

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Introducing the Byzantine Icons by Designing Women

I had my next project all picked out until the friend I was going to virtually stitch it with fell ill. So I've put that project aside to give her time to feel better and instead, I'm going to stitch the little Byzantine icons I plan to give my nieces for Christmas. I've enjoyed stitching them little Christmas ornaments and have done many of them, but none have had religious themes. I think it is time I stitch something that really is in the spirit of the season and choose these two little pieces.

They are by Designing Women, a small company in Arkansas. You may have seen their chair series or their large royal portraits but they do lots of small designs. They don't have a website but I did find these links to show off the range of their painted canvases. They have a lot of Christmas stockings. My favorite of their designs are a series of little canvases that depict kids dressed in Christmas pageant costumes that come with little ceramic legs to dangle below the Christmas tree one child wears over his body. Or whatever. Here's an angel canvas but you don't see the legs that come with the canvas.
http://www.pasttimesneedlepoint.com/product.asp?ProductID=25154

Here are most of their canvases.
http://www.stitchersworkshop.com/needlepoint_designers.php?Designer=Designing+Women

The small ones are like little jewels.
http://www.annieandco.com/designers/des_women/index.html

They are famous for their crosses.
http://www.silk-road-needle.com/Designing%20Women.htm

Apparently they do XS charts, too.
http://www.stitchersworkshop.com/crossstitch_category.php?Designer=Designing+Women

There are several small canvases in the Byzantine Icon series. Here is another. There are angels who wear pink, a blue Madonna, etc. They usually also face a slightly different way. You could stitch three angels and they'd all be different.
http://www.pasttimesneedlepoint.com/product.asp?ProductID=7256

I hope this gives you a flavor of the breadth of their designs. My two little pieces came with a packet of pearls which you see in the photo above and with a simple stitch guide stapled to the back. The guide includes unusual stitches, though, like Palestrina Knots and Maltese stitch. The designs are on 14 count canvas that has been painted with gold metallic. The designs themselves are 5 inches high by 3 wide, so these will be a quick stitch. (I'll be facing more finishing again before the horror of the last week has faded. Yeah for me....)

I only have one pair of stretcher bars the same size so I picked up the Red Madonna and Child at random and started on it. Last night I stitched the Madonna's red cloak with a modified Scollops stitch from Brenda Hart's Stitches for the Millennium (page 90). I turned it on its side to echo the rounded shape of the figures in the center of the design. The figure 8 double halo shape is also rounded, so I'm thinking I might need another curved bargello-type stitch there but I suppose I need to figure out what metallic threads I will use on this first. I normally stitch on 18 count and don't have very fat metallics here but I'll improvise. Here's what the design looks like now that I've stitched the cloak--



Before I forget, I used a strand of Thread Gather's overdyed Sheep's Silk, which is a half wool/half silk thread. The color is Cranberry Swirl which comes in shades of cranberry red. I ignored the shading on the original design but because I used only one strand of Sheep's Silk, it doesn't completely cover the paint so you see some of the darker areas still.

Normally I would start with the background but since I need to pick a thread first that will work for both the background and the halo gold, I started with the figures. My next step will be to stitch the Madonna, working from the trim of the gold cloak out to her hair, and then her face. I might do the face and then add the hair on top. I'm not sure yet.

Stay tuned!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow