O'jishi, The Noh Theatre Lion

Here is O'jishi, the stylized lion mask used in traditional Japanese theatre.  Although I do a lot of Asian themed canvases, he is totally different than anything I've ever stitched.  Very few canvases convey fierceness and drama the way O'jishi does!

Here is a close-up.  I'm sorry I can't get all of him on the scanner bed for a good image of all of him but you can always search Blog using "O'jishi" to find all my blog entries about and photos of this design.

You might enjoy looking at all the Noh Theatre masks in this series. O'jishi is my favorite but there are seven others.
http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp467x.html

Many thanks to Leigh Richardson for allowing me to stitch O'jishi for you.  In a few weeks the stitch guide will be ready for purchase and I'll tell you more about that when it is.

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

Frown Lines and Wrinkles

The very last thing I did to O'jishi was finish up the whipped backstitched frown lines on his forehead and the wrinkle outline of his cheeks and at the top of his nose.  This was slow-going since the backstitches and whipped thread go on top of other stitching.  It is very easy to catch a nearby stitch or bead with the tip of the needle and at one point, I snagged the very delicate Empress Silk of his eye and had to put it back into position with a short length of metallic thread.  I learned this trick (which I've mentioned here before) from my buddy Mimi who got it from someone on the ANG email list.  If you displace a stitch, take a piece of Kreinik metallic (I almost always use #4 braid since it is not very fat) and thread up with it, making sure you DO NOT knot the end.  Put the thread down in the same hole as the snagged thread and pull it through to the back.  Nine times out of ten it will pull the snagged thread back into place.

The final touch was to add a little dark reddish/brown whipped backstitch line above the heavy dark brown line of his top eyelid.  I could see just a touch of red there under the stitching and wanted to emphasize that.  It looks good in person although I doubt you can see it in the photograph.

All these thin emphasis lines in whipped backstitch make O'jishi a fiercer and more detailed lion.  It's a great stitch for adding detail and color on painted canvases, especially if you need a little something extra.

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

Robin's Faux Bamboo Border Erases Leigh

Whenever you add a border to a needlepoint design that didn't originally have one, you can run into problems.  Sometimes there isn't enough blank canvas around the margins; sometimes the signature on the canvas covers part of the border area.  O'jishi has the latter problem.  If you squinted at yesterday's final photo, you saw that the Leigh Designs signature was going to be partly under the faux bamboo border that Robin and I came up with.

If your border is going to be fully covered by threads and stitches (if it is all in tent stitches in a dark thread, for example), this isn't a problem.  You thread up and stitch right over it!  But if you plan to use light coverage stitches or a light colored thread, you can have a problem.  So now we have to erase Leigh.  (Sorry, Leigh, but I said "erase," not "rub out," so you are safe.  No hitman squad of stitchers is headed to your design studio.  LOL)

I generally do this by covering the signature area in tent stitches using the same colored thread that will go on top. In this case I used my tan Felicity's Garden.  Make the tent stitches tight so they don't stick up much.  If the tent stitches are too high, they'll make the top layer of faux bamboo stitches that go over the dark signature lines higher than its neighbors.  We don't want that.  You'll see my tent stitches in the photo above.

Here is the same area after I stitched on top of the "erased" signature.  If you know where to look, you can see a dark shadow, but if you don't know the signature is there, you'll never see it now.

If the thread you plan to use in the border is too bulky to erase the signature or title area, try DMC cotton floss in the correct color.  If you just use 4-5 plies, you'll get good coverage in most cases and it won't stick up very far.

By the way, in the second photo you'll see that I attached a crystal cube bead in the corner, using my coral red thread from the backstitched area in the faux bamboo border.  I wanted to add a subtle decorative touch and a bit of red there and that's the best way I could think of to do it.  The bead is a crystal 4mm cube from Miyuki (color SB3-131 and 138).

Here is a photo of the faux bamboo border with more of O'jishi showing so you can see how it looks from a distance.  I'm very happy with it.  It finishes the edge and adds a bit of coral to the border but does so in a subtle way.  It's just what I wanted for this piece.  Thanks again to everyone who commented on the border, especially Robin who led me to the right stitches.  You all helped a lot.  Knowing what you like and what you don't and why is a great help to a stitcher.

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

Robin's Faux Bamboo Border

The somewhat messy looking charted stitch set above is what I worked out with major input from Robin King (of Amy Bunger fame) for O'jishi's border.

The first step is to backstitch over two threads all around the outside edge of the background.  I used my Soie d'Alger silk (one ply) for this.  This is the line of red stitches on the left.

In the center you see step two, two pairs of long stitches over eight threads.  The first lines up with the red back stitches; the second pair is offset two threads higher.  I used a strand of Felicity's Garden from my stash that is a shade between the dark milk chocolate and the tan of the background colors.  It is Fawn #010, by the way.  Lovely color!

Step three completes the Double Brick with Bar Stitch that Robin recommended from page 73 of Linda Corirossi's Canvas Embellishment:  Exquisite Needlepoint Stitches Made Simple book. It is just a horizontal stitch across the middle of each pair of long stitches.  Actually, this was the hardest part as it is easy to snug down the tied down stitch (done on my border with my milk chocolate/silver metallic from the background -- Kreinik size 16 braid in color 4002) too far and pull the long vertical stitches so that they curve.

But it makes a lovely border.  Here it is from the canvas.  You can see how I am working the corners, compensating as necessary.

There is one problem with adding a border to this canvas.  It wasn't designed to have a border, so Robin's faux bamboo border is covering up the designer signature and the black lines from that show through.  Tomorrow I'll show you how to handle this and show off the completed border. (There's a hint in the photo above....)

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

More Border Ideas

Stimulated by all the great ideas and comments you guys have posted, I kept trying border ideas out.  Above you see my attempt to mix colors in the Staggered Slanting Stitches at the bottom of the canvas and add a red corner treatment.  That is pretty but just not right for this design.  Robin King came to the rescue with an idea.  Below you see the Photoshopped image she sent me.

Robin (who you know because of her teaching at Amy Bunger's shop in Memphis and her stitch guides, Amy newsletters and the behind the scenes work on Amy's CD series) told me to consider using Van Dyke Stitch (the coral red stitches in the image) and Double Brick With Bar Stitch (the black ones) as a complex border.  Robin thought that two rows of Van Dyke Stitches sandwiching the Double Brick With Bar Stitch between them would make a great border.  So I tried it!

In the first photograph you can see the Double Brick With Bar Stitch in two threads:  I used my lovely overdyed Watercolours in shades of coral first, but it seemed too strong a border that detracted from O'jishi himself.  I switched threads to a Kreinik metallic (#5550) in size 16 braid that is a chocolate milk color, tied down with the same silver/brown metallic I used in the background.  That seemed too bland.

What you don't see in the photo because I accidentally cut it off is the Van Dyke stitch, done in my coral red silk.  It was too heavy and dominated the canvas.  I couldn't use one row of it, much less two!

For your information, here is Van Dyke stitch (except called Braided Knitting, many stitches have multiple names) diagrammed so you can imagine it in red.
http://www.needlepoint.org/StitchOfTheMonth/2002/Apr.php

To see where I went from here, you'll have to wait until tomorrow as I'm running out of time.  Let me just say that Robin King is the Queen of the Needlepoint Universe in CH this week....

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