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I hope everyone found Deborah's question about how I stitched Japanese hair on my geishas interesting, particularly since I reposted old information about how my canvases were worked.  My original blog is no longer easily available, so reposting was the best option to help Deborah.  My apologies to long time Blog readers to whom this was old hat and to those who aren't really that interested in stitching hair.

As you can see, I've been busy finishing side two of the cell phone case.  This has been rather relaxing after Cha which involved trying new techniques and coming up with stitches to interpret the lovely design.  I am about to start assembling this into a pouch.  I have Ultrasuede cloth (very thin version of Ultrasuede) in purple for the lining and a long chain for the handle.  The background above is the lining fabric but I forgot to include the chain in the photo.  Sorry.

Once everything is put together I'll add beads to the side seam where they were omitted when I stitched this.  I doubt I'll put trim on the edges as it will be carried a lot, so I'll have to be very careful to make a neat seam.  I'm going to adopt these mini stocking instructions to make it up.
http://summerlouise.blogspot.com/2008/11/learn-to-finish-miniature-christmas.html

Wish me luck!

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

Break for the Beauty Shop: Part Eight

To make a long story short, I ended up omitting a red ribbon in the Mother of the Bride's hair.  Here is what she looked like when finished.  The other geishas' hairstyles were done basically the same way.  I would sketch out each one, decide where to put the padding, and then how the long laid stitches should slant over the padding on my sketch.  In some cases I left room for the hair ornaments and in other cases I stitched right over them and added them later (or omitted them entirely).

Here are photos of each of the other geishas' hairstyles in the wedding party.  Each geisha's hair was done in Soy Luster but only the mother of the bride and the geisha in purple had Shadow Soy Luster hair in black-charcoal-gray.   I decided the other geishas were younger so their hair was black Solid Soy Luster.

Working from the left to right, here is the green bamboo geisha.  I thought of her as the Bride's spoiled rich girl friend.

Next is the blue Tomboy geisha.

Here is the Bride, all in pink.  She has the most elaborate headdress because she is the Bride!

The next geisha is the yellow Fan geisha, the Bride's closest friend.

The final geisha is the purple one.  This geisha I thought of as the Mother of the Bride's closest friend from when they were maiko (trainees) together.  The purple geisha has gone on to be famous while the Mother retired and started a family.

Here's another random photo of hairstyles-- to give you a sense of how they looked against the finished background.

Deborah, I hope this helps!  The two canvases sold for $650 at the ANG Auction and went home with a stitcher from Houston.  Lucky lady!

Jane, waving to all from CH where I have to get back to that cell phone case.

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

Break for the Beauty Shop: Part Seven

Reposting of April 29, 2006 article:

Attached is my scan of potential bows for the geisha's hair. Pretty horrible, aren't they? There's a row of red sequins that I found when hunting yet again for red ribbon (top), plus the red ribbon floss (middle) and red Flair (bottom) I dug out of The Stash. I also found a spool of DMC metallic (remember the Or Clair?) in cherry red which I used to gather the Flair. The ribbon floss refused to be gathered. It wickedly widened itself like a pair of running panty hose and glared at me. The Flair looks ok as it bunches up nicely but it is all wrong for the geisha, the wrong color, the wrong shape, etc. The ribbon floss has the beading needle piercing it and you can barely see the red DMC metallic which has no French name. It is merely Art. 270. Sad not to have a name, isn't it? Especially when your light gold sibling is Or Clair!

I did come back fromThe Stash with some tomato paste red Felicity's Garden. That's a tapestry wool/silk blend, very nice thread. Not much shine but it is wonderfully soft. I think spilled tomato paste is the perfect color for the background of Two Monsters, don't you? Check the picture--you know the drill--it's over there on the right. Wear sunglasses.   [This is a canvas I was about to start stitching.  Photo here.  I wasn't kidding about the sunglasses.]

I am considering a diamond shaped stitch for the background of Two Monsters. I like using stitches that echo shapes and those monsters are looking out from a diamond shape. 

Susan Portra has kindly diagrammed the stitch on her website [now defunct so no photos, sorry] which she calls Bargello Diamonds. I think I'm going to try it after I finish the geisha's outlining. That means a busy morning for me. Finish geisha outlining, check her in sunlight for missed stitches, take her picture for Blog posting tomorrow, put monsters on stretcher bars, test the Bargello Diamonds in the margins with the tomato red Felicity's Garden. That'll keep me busy for a while!

But first, more coffee.

Jane, slurping it down here in Chilly Hollow

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

Break for the Beauty Shop: Part Six

Reposting of April 28, 2006 article:

I have just about finished outlining the geisha with my single ply of DMC metallic Or clair. As I worked, I referred several times to the picture of the original canvas to see exactly where I should be stitching the obi's flaring shape. After all, most of the kimono is solid black so looking at the picture is the only way to tell where the outlines should go.

While doing this I realized I'd forgotten that the single geisha has a ribbon in her hair. At least, I guess what that is. Most of the geishas have some sort of bow or flared ribbon in their hair. I need to decide whether to leave the geisha's hair as is or add a ribbon in some way.

Originally I thought I'd use a real piece of ribbon, gather one side of it, and tack it down on top of her hair. That's why I stitched all her hair except for the area where the horizontal hair sticks went and the circle around her bun I covered with couched coloured twist. Some of the geishas have bows that need to be stitched but not this one. But I don't have any real ribbon that is the right width. Scale is important on a canvas like this. It's not totally realistic but having a bow that is too big will make the rest of her head look odd. It is possible that I can use a length of red ribbon floss. Maybe. Ribbon floss will come apart when you accidentally put your needle through it. Perhaps red Flair will do better?

Time to experiment! Back in a minute...

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

Break for the Beauty Shop: Part Five

Reposting of April 28, 2006 article:

The geisha's hair ornaments are in place. The long chopstick-like sticks stuck in her hair bun are Jaceron #5 stitched down using one ply of a strand of DMC metallic thread Or Clair (or light gold). The dangling beads are also Jaceron stitched down by the Or Clair.

DMC has several colors of metallic thread (I think there is a darker shade of gold as well as the gold Or Clair I used here, and a silver) which comes on spools like sewing thread. One spool will last a long time. It's a useful thread with one strand made up of three plies which you can untwist and use as I did. The full strand has a tendency to unwind as you stitch with in, so use short lengths and give your needle a twist after each couple of stitches. If you unwind the strand into its three parts, you still should use short lengths as it will abrade and come apart as you stitch with it.

The hair sticks I just added at 1 o'clock and at 10 o'clock are couched down lengths of Jaceron #5 which looks a lot like little gold, silver, or copper toy springs, or a Slinky if you are my age. Jaceron comes in various sizes. I have #8 also but it seemed a little large. Interestingly , the bugle beads hanging down from the horizontal hair sticks are also Jaceron which I strung on like a bead. I am not sure of their size (probably they are Very Fine) but until I used the magnifer, I thought they were bugle beads. SharonG calls Jaceron a "flexible custom bead" and that describes it very well. It comes in a long coil and you cut off what size you want. Here's a picture. Jaceron is the French name. British embroiders call the little springs "pearl purl." I'm sticking with Jaceron because my #5 was labeled that way. By the way, both Jacerons came to me courtesy of Caroline S. Thanks, Caroline! I appreciate your generosity more than I can say.
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/goldworkthreads3.htm#pearlpurls

I couched the larger Jaceron and strung the Very Fine Jaceron like a bugle bead with my #16 beading needle. To couch, hold the Jaceron in place with one finger while couching over it with the other hand. As you pull the couching thread tight, it'll slip between the coils until the Jaceron is held snugly against the ground fabric. Interestingly, the Jaceron #5 was too small for my beading needle eye to go through but it went right through the center of the Very Fine Jaceron. I beaded the Very Fine Jaceron with my one ply of untwisted DMC metallic, using a long length. Once I had the "bead" where I wanted it, I went through it a second time to hold it in position along the longer length of DMC metallic.

I urge you to take any metal thread classes you can. These are very interesting threads and quite different than most we stitch with. You can achieve all sorts of fascinating and beautiful effects with them.

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