Have Yourselves a Creative Christmas (in Video Games and Elsewhere)

I know Christmas is a bad time for a lot of people. Those of us who have lost friends and family, those of us who don't have the money we think we need to properly celebrate, those who are ill or who love those who are ill, and those of us who through no fault of our own don't have a prayer of achieving a perfect Christmas with a perfect family can feel pretty awful this time of year. And of course those of us who aren't Christian naturally feel left out, and so do those who are deeply committed to their Christian faith when the commercial aspects of the holiday are offensive. Every cheery Christmas song can make one sad for many reasons.

Me, I hide out in my needlepoint when things go badly. At least if something is wrong there I can rip it out and try again--I can stitch an almost perfect Santa, even if Santa isn't going to visit me this year, or stitch beautiful ornaments even if I'm not putting up a tree. Our imagination and the creative spirit are balm for a lot of things, even Christmas Gone Wrong. I've been reading a series of articles by The Brainy Gamer on a video game called Little Big Planet that brought home to me how important a creative outlet is to folks and how much what I do with my needlepoint matters to me.

You've probably not heard of the video game Little Big Planet--heck, you may not even have ever played a video game--but trust me, this game is news for the Under 30 set, most of whom have at least a middling acquaintance with video games. The hero of the game is a little knit doll with a zipper in his tummy called Sack Boy. Sack Boy runs and jumps and climbs in a virtual world made from what looks like felt, string, rubber bands, yarn, cardboard, buttons, pulleys, wheels and such. Sound familiar? Any of us might have knit Sack Boys (or Sack Girls) for the kids to play with at home. Want to see a documentary of Sack Boy in his natural environment?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doF9mSSh03w

The point of the game is to run, jump and hop through the environments as you explore them, then use the built-in ability to make your own environments which you and other people can explore through their own Sack Boys or Girls.

However, as I read the Brainy Gamer blog, I started to realize how much Little Big Planet is like what Ido with needle and thread, except the creative impulse lives inside the Playstation 3 environment of video games instead of in a real needle and threads. Little Big Planet encourages the game player to make their own world in their own way. Which is what needlepoint does. Except I use needles, threads and NP canvas to create and populate my world in my own colors and threads and textures--I'm not using a game controller and software. Stitching the Three Women and a Peach Canvas, I gave the ladies clothing, hairstyles and what actors call a "back story" which is simply personalities and a personal history to help me stitch the design. I entered into a kind of dialogue with the designer, Gail Hendrix, and build on what she designed to make the women in the canvas come alive in a new, unique way based on my decisions on how to handle the canvas. Together Gail and I have created something that didn't exist before for other stitchers to enjoy and explore based on Japanese art and tradition.

Needlepoint painted canvases enhance creativity, encourage exploration and to work with others to make something more than what was there originally. Just like Little Big Planet does for video game players. I do have something in common with 18 year old boys! And they do something very similar to what I do even if you lined us up in a row and had to pick out who was the most creative, the kids might not be your first choice.

So this Christmas I'm going to be grateful for all the other treasures hidden in my stash and start thinking of ways to explore there to find new lands, new threads, new stitches and new designers. I'm not going to worry about a holiday that's missing something, not when I have so much to discover among my stitching. I'm going to work a bit on the stitch guide for Three Women and a Peach so that other folks can follow the path behind me and discover Japanese art and personalities through their needle also. And I'm going to remember that video games are another way to play creatively.

Happy New Year, everyone! Be creative and enjoy, no matter what medium you create in.

Anyone curious about The Brainy Gamer's thoughts on Little Big Planet can read the three articles that got me thinking here.

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/12/made-by-human-beings.html

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/12/family-plays.html

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/12/creativity.html

The illustration of this article is Melissa Shirley's Red Christmas Cottage canvas, currently on sale at Needle Nook of La Jolla. Merry and Happy!
http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/storedir/proddetail.php?prod=ms949&cat=192

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Twelve Days for Grand-mere

A friend got her first grandchild for Christmas! So here's a Twelve Days of Christmas ornament set for all the grandmothers in Louisana. (You know who you are.)

http://www.gardendistrictneedlework.biz/jude.htm

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

A Christmas Present for You

I've been saving a special present for you for Christmas--Anne Stradal has a blog!

http://thecapestitcher.blogspot.com/

Right now she is alternating photos of her Christmas designs with an explanation of how to transfer a black and white line drawing to NP canvas and then how to create texture and light/shadows on a piece with just black and white threads. It's fascinating reading. Go to the bottom of the blog and click on Earlier Posts, then start reading from the bottom forward to the top page.

I hope you enjoy this special holiday visit to Cape Cod and Anne. By the way, the little ornament above is from her website and there's a link to the front door on the upper left hand corner of her blog.

Merry Christmas, Anne!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Half a Wig is Better Than None

I didn't get any stitching done on The Geisha's wig last night--Christmas madness has struck Chilly Hollow and there are many last minute items to see to before the holidays. So you'll have to be satisfied with a photo of my progress to date, which is the lower half of the wig with some stitching done on the top. I didn't enhance this photo. I wanted you to see how the left side wing of the wig looks grey while the right wing looks black. That's the light reflecting from the scanner in different ways. Flat silk when laid carefully bounces light in all directions and these two "wings" are slanted differently. So the light is reflected differently.

I am considering whether to even off the right wing's tip. It isn't noticable in person that there are many separate strands of silk there. I'll think about it. I also see in the photo one of the Accentuate long stitches has moved around. I'll put it where it belongs tonight. A photo or scan is great for these little things which are often not noticable in real life.

Glenda posted that it helps her to stitch black threads on black to put a red cloth or towel in her lap. If I have time to stitch tonight I'll try that. Thanks, Glenda.

The pink comb in the wig was stitched before I started laying the silk for the wig. I first tent stitched the little comb teeth with Kreinik 1/16" metallic ribbon in the lavender/pink shade #093, then I did long slanting stitches \ along the diagonal line for the bottom base of the comb with the same thread. The final step was to do a long narrow cross stitch on top of each comb tooth with Accentuate in Lavender #111 and then do long horizontal stitches across the comb base, again with the Accentuate. This very thin and strong metallic thread adds a tiny bit of darker color to the comb and also holds the long slanting stitches in place.

I'll use the same 1/16" ribbon to stitch the large pink hair stick that is on the right near where the length of black silk end stitcks up on the front of the canvas. I left that untrimmed so you could tell where it is approximately. I probably will bring up that thread at the base of the hair stick before I lay the silk around it, then put it down gentle on top of the silk. I think that will disturb the wig stitches less than having to come up at the hair stick's end in the background area and plunge the thread through the wig stitches.

Everyone else, hope your holiday isn't too hectic -- or too cold, snowy and icy!

Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

What I've Learned About Flat Silk

I'm stitching with black thread on a black canvas. Regardless of what thread or stitch you are using, you need good lighting in this situation!

Flat silk is on a tube with the free end run through two slits in one end of the tube. Pull the plastic wrap off the tube and roll it up and put it in the middle of the cardboard tube so you keep the thread color number on the label, just in case. Unroll 12-18 inches at most and cut it with your best scissors, then put the free end off the tube back in the slits. I found that the flat silk would easily snag on my frame, the other stitches, the metallics, etc. so I kept it off the canvas whenever possible. I normally stitched with lengths of about 14 inches on this piece.

Always use a new needle and your sharpest scissors when stitching with flat silk. It will snag on a worn eye or worn scissors. It looks like a flat ribbon made of at least 6 filaments and probably more. Japanese embroiders twist sections together to make fatter versions of the thread for their stitching but since I am just stitching long stitches, I didn't bother to do this.

Having soft hands is a must for stitching with flat silk. All my prep time scrubbing and putting hand cream on my fingers didn't go to waste!

I knotted the end of my stitching length, then did two L stitches to both start and end the thread within the area of the geisha's hair.

Flat silk is wonderful to stitch with but you need to use a laying tool at all times to make sure the thread is laid flat.

I doubt you'll be able to see the shine of The Geisha's wig in photographs but in person it looks wonderful!


Jane/Chilly Hollow
Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow