Sundance's Barbara Elmore has been having eye problems and this is impacting her stitching. She's still stitching, though, and wrote an essay she posted to Facebook about how she's getting around the problem that is both interesting and inspirational. With her permission, I'm reposting it here along with the photos of her current piece to show what she means by color contrasts.
Now, here's Barbara!
"Learning to stitch with vision difficulties:
1. Accept that you need to learn new ways to do things, and figure them out by trial and error.
2. Be patient with yourself, but do not give up on quality or consistency of work.
3. Have good light. If nothing else..this is crucial. I recently had my Dazor on/off switch replaced after a lot of effort to find a new one. Dazor Company would replace it, but the cost to ship the lamp part to them was exorbitant. Instead, I took the thing apart, saw a name brand on the switch, and found one like it on eBay for $19.00! You know I snatched it right up! And then, a friend's husband kindly put it back together for me.
The next issue I had was that the new bulb I had purchases was too warm. Meaning..visually too warm. I needed brighter "Daylight" lighting, so this time, Amazon came to my rescue, and with overnight shipping! Back in business with a daylight bulb! YAY!
4. I am struggling because my thread color is very close to the painted color I am stitching over, so my progress is very slow. I guess this circles back to 'patience.'
Someone asked me why I didn't fill in all the background on this piece first, before stitching all the embellishment type flowers. Normally, I would have, but this painted canvas was so detailed, and the designs were not created with colors that contracts very much, except for the white and reds.
I did fill in first along the bottom part of the canvas, and then, it became difficult for me to see the wispy painted leaves and stems. So, now, after all that fun of creating the flowers with ribbons and beads, I am, once again tackling the basketweave/tent stitched background. And I guess this is where I circle back to 'having good light,' and 'learning to do things in new ways.'
Were I to start this background from scratch, I would stitch it in all colors the contrasted more with the painted background color. Perhaps I would even choose a light teal instead of the 'colonial blue.' When one's eyes have trouble distinguishing color values, one has to learn new ways.
This project has inspired me to stitch my next piece with radical color changes from what the painted canvas may dictate. What is that expression…? Necessity is the mother of invention! Why not!"
As Barbara says, why not? Don't give up your stitching, folks. Maybe your eyesight is no longer 20-20 but your brain will find ways around that.
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© Copyright July 19, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
