The Staff and the Trunk

Last night the wizard's staff had its jewel added. I used a blue flower shaped crystal with a hole in the center from Mill Hill. You probably can't tell from the photo, but I used a blue bead to hold the crystal in place. Bring your needle up in the center of the Holograpic Fyrewerks oval, put the crystal on the needle, then go through the bead's hole and back down through the crystal and tie off on the back side.




I also added the trunk's brass lock, stitching it on using the same brassy gold colored Fyrewerks that the edges of the trunk were stitched in. The really interesting thing I did was I used the same ribbon-like Fyrewerks for the decorative stitches underneath the stone on the top of the staff. Look at the top photo again. See the gold lines at the base of the oval? That's Fyrewerks, too. I simply came up with a short length in my needle, then twisted it over and over and over until the thread resembled a perle-type thread instead of a flat ribbon. Then holding it steady about an inch from the fabric, I plunged the needle. That holds the twist in place. Come up again, repeat for as many times as you need to do the tight cord that resembles how Joan Thomasson decorated the base of her staff's stone.

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

Want to Be an Angel for Christmas?

I got this message from my friend Mimi last night (below). If you have anything to donate or want to make an ornament, email me at chillyhollow at hot mail dot com and I'll put you in touch with Mimi. Remember, nothing breakable and it's got to be at her front door before Halloween so things can be packaged and mailed to our military.

Mimi's worked on cookie shipments to the troops in the past and also on shipments of small toiletries. This year it is trees and ornaments they are collecting, so help if you can! Make an ornament or donate some you no longer need, your choice. Thanks.

"We have 200 Christmas trees and 400 stockings we are trying to get ready to send to the troops. If you or any of your friends have any needlepoint tree decorations you no longer want I would gladly take them. Or if they want to make some that would be great, can be knitted or crochted as well. (Just nothing breakable) One lady cut up old cards, punched holes around the picture and then crocheted around and made a loop and they are going to be cute ornaments for the trees.

I am looking for some easy ornament patterns that I can NP that don't have to go to a professional finisher, will see how I do. I have lots of blank canvas so I should be able to do something. Anyway if you have anything, have friends who have anything, I need it by October 31st as we have to make get everything ready to go by beginning of Nov."

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

Wizard's Beard

This photo shows the beard and hair underway, and also gives you an idea of what I've added to the firebird to give him more personality (or at least a louder voice).

I'm stitching the hair and beard with a mix of threads and a mixture of split and stem stitch. As you can see, I try to indicate the movement of the flowing beard or the direction the hair grows with stem stitch, then fill in with split stitches that go between (or on top of) the stem stitched outlines. The threads I am using alternate between two plies of my light grey Splendor and a length of silver Sulky Metallic (#142); and one ply of the light grey Splendor, the Sulky Metallic and one ply of white Anchor cotton floss. I will do the flowing ends of the beard in a mix including 2 plies of grey and the mustache, which I want to come forward, with a mix that has a ply of white, one of grey and the metallic. I am always using three threads and one of them is always the metallic, but sometimes I use 2 pies of grey and sometimes I use 1 ply of grey and 1 of white. This provides highlights where I want them.

Because I used light grey for the background, dark grey for the floor, and a lot of silver trim on the wizard's clothes, I thought his beard would look odd if it were white so I went for a grey head of hair and beard on this piece. White can be a tricky color since it ranges from snow white to ivory to cream. I think it important to choose the right hair and beard color for any Santa piece, especially since Santa figures often have fur trim that is white. I don't want a Santa (or wizard) whose beard looks odd compared to the rest of the piece.

Tonight I hope to finish the hair and beard and do a bit more with the background. As a treat for myself, I'm also going to work on the jewel at the top of the staff. Study yesterday's blog entry to see how Joan treated her staff jewel. I'm going to steal some of her ideas.

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

Plans without Photos

Since last night I worked mostly on the background behind the wizard and the firebird, I didn't bother taking a photo this morning. I did add a topknot and a tongue to the bird and have started the wizard's hair and beard. Once the wizard is no longer bald I will add the stone to the top of his staff. I don't want to do that until I am no longer stitching in that area or I'll snag each pass of the threads on the stone!

After that I will need to finish the background and do some final touches. Will I give the wizard glasses? Will I adjust the title on the apricot book? Will I attach the silver moon and brass star charms around the globe the wizard holds or stitch them instead? Am I going to add tassels or something else to the end of his sleeves and tip of his cloak hood? Lots of decisions to ponder as I work the background!

You might want to look at Joan Thomasson's original Holiday Spirit Santa to see how she used the moon and star charms and how she handled tassels on this piece. You can see the piece here by clicking first on Catalogue, then on Holiday Spirits. After that, choose the size of the wizard image that you are interested in viewing, depending on the detail you want and how fast your Internet connection is.

http://www.joanthomasson.com/

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

The Wizard's Ring

Last night I worked a lot of background behind the wizard. I'm trying to get it stitched all around his bird companion so that I can finish the firebird at least. I did take a break and give the wizard a ring on the hand holding the globe. It just hit me while I was stitching miles of background that would be a nice touch.

I used a single black bead from Mill Hill's Magnifica line. Magnifica beads are highly faceted, so they sparkle more than the regular Mill Hill Petites. The facets mean they have flat sides, too, which means the bead sits flat against the wizard's finger. I stitched right through the bead's center twice with a length of DMC metallic thread that comes on a sewing spool. I think it is just called DMC Metallic but my label's come off the spool so all I can be sure of is that this is Or clair, which means light gold. The label says this is Art. 282. This thread is thin and stiff, thicker than blending filament by a bit. It is very shiny and two threads of it going through the bead middle looks like the band of a gold ring with a black stone. Remember those black onyx rings that men used to wear in the 1950s-1960s? Most of them have something cut into the black stone so I took one ply from a skein of DMC's metallic floss that is pewter colored. (#5287). I laid it right across the bead perpendicular to the two gold threads that went through the bead's middle to give the black a little shading like there was something on the stone. I like how it turned out myself. It adds a little something to the wizard's personality using just two threads and a bead. Easy enough to do, particularly when you have a nice stash of threads and beads to choose just the right colors from.

I love you, Stash!

Can't see the ring well? Try the photo on the main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow