Stitching a Geisha

This lovely painting by Suzanne Tornquist has been transferred to needlepoint canvas and is for sale on eBay this week. Here's the auction--

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120291004220&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002

She's a beauty but before you buy, read the details and study the photo carefully.

This is sold as a 14 count canvas but you can get larger count, which to me says that this is probably going to be a silk screened or transferred design onto NP canvas.

If you are thinking about picking up a piece on eBay --which is home to a ton of transfer designs--you need to think about several things. The first is how much trouble a silk screened or heat transfer canvas is going to give you. If not knowing exactly what color is on a particular canvas intersection drives you nuts, avoid silk screened canvases like the plague!

Do you like working on 14 count or do you want to try it? If you really need 10-12 count, it looks like you can have this size made for you, which would be a reason to bid.

The auction doesn't say if the 14 count canvas is interlock or Zweigart or another type of NP canvas. You may want to find out before you bid if this is important to you.

The auction does say that this design is an "exclusive copyrighted image" which makes me think the artist licensed this to be turned into a NP canvas. Many silk screened or transferred image canvases don't have permission and very often these turn up on eBay. I've seen rip-offs (or counterfeit) Melissa Shirley designs on eBay and I'm sure that some of the people selling these things ignore copyright. I wouldn't buy anything I thought stolen myself.

How well will the design tranfer to the grid of a needlepoint canvas? Look at her mouth and eyes. Will the curves there translate well to NP?

Only you can answer these questions for yourself, but think about them before buying a silk screened canvas. I'm not saying don't buy something as gorgeous as this. I'm just saying think before bidding.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Bohin Needle Info from Ruth

If you go back two blog entries to "New Website, New Newsletter" you will see mention of Bohin needles from France and my plea for more information about them. Ruth Schmuff has come to my rescue with news about the needles which are carried in her shop. She says,

"I generally tell my customers that I don't really care about needles. Don't have a favorite etc. etc. A needle is a needle right? I had the same ones for years. Lamora from Access Commodities told me about these needles and I tried them. OMG have I mentioned they are wonderful! I immediately threw away every needle in my possession and now only use these. As I tell people this and they try them, they do the same thing. They come back the next day and buy more. Everyone loves them. They glide through your canvas. They make stitching faster and easier.

there's my 2 cents worth :-)"

Unlike Ruth, I don't use the same needle for long as my acid hands--you should see the steering wheel in my car!--eat away the needle surface. I stick to Piecemakers needles which I find both very silky smooth to use and also which seem to resist my body chemicals well. So I asked her if she'd gotten any reports on the Bohin needles from customers with the same hands. Ruth replied that no one had mentioned this problem to her and she thought the Bohins ever smoother and silkier than the Piecemakers needles I use.

Here's Ruth's shop website where you can order the needles if you are closer to Maryland than Texas where Chaparral carries them. After all, you want to get these in the mail right away!

http://www.bedeckedandbeadazzled.com/

Jane, your friendly Master Enabler

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

New Website, New Newsletter

Chaparral Needlepoint in Texas has revamped their website and also posted the Summer 2008 newsletter. The newsletter links are right under the box to sign up for the newsletter. You owe yourself a visit to check out the over-the-top finishing style they are famous for!

http://www.ndlept.com/

If there are two items in a photo, often you can see a larger photo of each separately by clicking on the one you want to study in a larger photo. The photograph above is from their 4 piece smaller canvas club series using Melissa Shirley's Circus Dogs designs.

The email I received announcing the newsletter mentions they have a shipment of Bohin needles from France. I am curious about these. Anyone used them?

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Baroque Silk

Yesterday I mentioned using the new Baroque Silk to stitch the black felt slipper the wizard wears. Above is a photo of some of the colors available in this thread. I used the black, which is called 1498 Witching Hour. A strand of black runs out of the skein with the end divided into the three plies that make up the perle twist of this thread. You can separate the plies to stitch with this on 18 count canvas. See the tiny crinkly thread that is a short strand cut loose? That is how the thread looks unplied. I didn't dampen the thread to get rid of the kinks and everything looked ok when stitched, but depending on your stitch, you might want to.

My opinion is that this thread has a quiet glow. It's not as shiny as silk floss, but it isn't as matte as wool. It looks like a lighter weight crewel wool to me but it doesn't feel like it. Doesn't feel like silk, either. It's a strange animal, but a nice addition to the stitching basket.

Remember that when I plied my black Baroque I found white areas that the dye hadn't touched. If you are stitching something where this might be a problem on 18 count (you won't see this unless you unravel the thread which you wouldn't do on 13 count), use another thread.

Needle in a Haystack has lovely photos of the colors (which are glorious!) and a link to Pure Palette's website.

http://www.needlestack.com/thread.html

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Wizard Feet on the Floor (and more)

The wizard now has a felt slipper, knit socks, and a good start on his purple under-robe and two undersleeves.

The left undersleeve has a line of couched #16 braid from Kreinik in silver, held down by silver Petite Treasure Braid. I haven't started the right sleeve yet.

Our wizard, who lives in a drafty stone building, now has wool knit socks. I used the knit stitch variation of Kaleem stitch in overdyed Impressions in the same color as the undersleeves. That's the advantage of using a variety of threads from the same company (Caron in this case)--you can get a variety of textures in a similar color. Silk takes color differently than wool and cotton and synthetics, but I have a similar color in various spots, which is good for this design.

He is also wearing black felt slippers stitched in Interlocking Goblein stitch with one ply from a skein of black Baroque silk. This is a perle-type silk thread that is not particularly shiny. It is made for 13 count canvas but you can untwist the perle and use one ply on 18 count. I'm not sure I'd recommend doing this because my black ply had light spots where the dye didn't penetrate. For some things the color variation won't matter (and it won't show unless you untwist a ply from the strand) but it looked a bit odd on the black felt shoe. I had to over stitch some areas. But it looks ok if you do that and I think the overall effect looks like the black felt Chinese slippers. By the way, I chain stitched a line around the shoe top where it met the wool sock so it looked neater.

I've also made a good start on the purple under-robe. Inspired by Whimsey Gini, I made up a stitch similar to what she used on the red pants of her first lady (see the Stitching Club canvas I posted about on Sunday night). I am doing long \ slants over 5 threads in medium plum Impressions (a silk/wool blend) that are tied down with one little backwards tent stitch in my silver Petite Treasure Braid. The effect is sort of like rows of Xs if the NW to SE slant is huge and the NE to SW slant is tiny. If that makes sense.

Here's a close up of the floor. You can see the slipper and sock better and also the mistake I made on the stone flag stitch under the shoe and going left. I am now continually adjusting the stitch on the left in each row but that's ok. I like the irregular area.

But just how do you know when you should rip out a mistake and when it is ok? Well, some of this depends on your personality. Is it going to bug the life out of you forever? If so, rip out the mistake and do it right so you don't have to avert your eyes and shudder every time you look at this piece.

If you are submitting your piece to be judged, you are better off ripping out the mistake and stitching it over. Judges will almost certainly notice and you might have points deducted from the piece.

If you are more easy-going like me (or counting challenged, also like me), then look at the overall design and decide if the mistake is noticeable or not. Remember, NC Pat had to really look to see the mistake. That tells me no casual viewer will notice. I think the stitch's getting larger and more irregular on the left side draws the eye toward the left which is where our wizard is facing and probably walking. So it is ok.

But if the design is like what Jeanne is stitching, you can bet every mistake has to be corrected.

http://juststring.blogspot.com/2008/08/good-stitching-weekend.html

What I'm trying to say is that mistakes aren't fatal. Many stitches are the result of a mistake that looked so good the stitcher kept it. It all depends on your personality and the type of piece you are stitching and why.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow