Wrestling with Pharaoh's Background

The last time I showed you Pharaoh, I was basketweaving the statue and trying to figure out how to stitch the cream and gold striped background.  The black areas on the statue took a long time as I had to stitch them during the day when I don't really have stitching time. I find black on black (and navy on navy) too difficult to do after dark, even with good lighting.  So I stitched a length of thread each day in the daytime, which is all I have time for.  But the statue is finally done.  More on him in a minute.  Let's talk about the background of the canvas now.

Background Auditions

I knew I wanted to use DMC's cotton floss in ecru but I had no idea what stitch would look best.  I needed something smooth and on a small scale that wouldn't outshine the statue or the fan.  I needed a background stitch that would stay in the background and not try to overshadow anything.  So I did some testing of various background stitch that are small and not overpowering.  That's the mess in the margins.

I ended up with two stitches that I liked and tested on the canvas itself.  The top stitch is Double Hungarian, stitched with three plies of the cotton floss.  It is in rows like the stripes are painted but the gold paint shows through and it seems a little too busy now that I've stitched a few rows.

The bottom stitch is Byzantine 2 which I found in Ruth Schmuff's iStitches Volume One.  It is a smaller version of regular Byzantine stitch which normally is over 3 or more threads.  You can see the stitch and other variations of Byzantine diagrammed on Susan Robert's Needlepoint Teacher website. She calls it Byzantine Variation 1.
https://www.needlepointteacher.com/stitches/numbered-a-b/byzantine-variations/

I ended up using Byzantine 2 (also called Byzantine Variation 1) with my three plies of DMC cotton floss in ecru.

Cream and Gold Area Done

As a finishing touch, I backstitched the "ditch" between the rows of the Byzantine stitch with gold Bijoux, which is a very thin gold metallic.  That adds a touch of subtle gold in keeping with the original cream and gold paint job.  Note that I ripped out the cream area at the top of the ornament and restitched it as lime.  I didn't think the compensation of the Byzantine stitch at the top would look good.

Original Unstitched Canvas

As a reminder, here is how the design was originally painted by Leigh Designs.  You can see I adjusted the cream areas to work with my vision of Pharaoh.

Next time I'll finish the statue and add a special touch, then tackle the feather fan.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.
https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 4, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Learn to Ruche Frosty Rays: The Movie

Jinny at Needlepoint.com has a short video explaining how to ruche Frosty Rays to create a flower, dress trim, clouds, or a really fun caterpillar.
https://needlepoint.com/blogs/needlepoint-know-how/all-about-working-with-frosty-rays

Bonus pro tip:  Thread a metallic in a contrasting color in a needle, then using the eye end, thread the metallic through Flair to create a custom thread with a fun look.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 11, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

A Brief History of Needlepoint (not tapestry)

The Mr. X Stitch website has a regular column by Ruth Singer that talks about various types of handwork.  If you are interested in how tapestry differs from needlepoint, her two-part article will be quite interesting.  Of course if you are English, you'll call needlepoint "tapestry" which adds to the confusion Ruth talks about in part one.
https://www.mrxstitch.com/tapestry/

Note that she's really talking about 16-17th Century European tapestries here.
https://www.mrxstitch.com/tapestry-2/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 10, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Turn Your Needlepoint into an Art Gallery

Needlepoint.com's latest blog posting is all about creating an art gallery wall with your framed needlepoint.  It is a fabulous idea.  I've seen collections of teacup canvases, someone who gathers food labels on a kitchen wall above their table, and another person who puts needlepoint portraits on two adjoining walls of her house.  The groupings are always fun and they are quite revealing when it comes to your artistic sense.
https://needlepoint.com/blogs/needlepoint-know-how/turn-your-needlepoint-into-a-gallery-wall

So put all your framed needlepoint on the bed and arrange them to your liking, take a photo, and then reproduce your favorite grouping on your own gallery wall.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 8, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Finishing with Betsy Morgan

Mary Corbet has reviewed Betsy Morgan's first book on her website.  It's called "Willing Hands," which is the name of Betsy's embroidery company.  It's published by Inspirations magazine out of Australia, so you know the illustrations are going to be absolutely beautiful.
https://www.needlenthread.com/2020/07/willing-hands-full-of-great-embroidery-finishes.html

Normally I don't talk about embroidery here, but Betsy's a very talented embroiderer and designer and a great teacher.  She used to live over the mountain from me so I have seen her work up close and personal.  Fabulous!  She's wildly talented.

So when Mary says her book, which is all about creating etuis and smalls, is a wonderful guide for finishing, I thought I'd mention it here.  Folks are always asking how to learn to do their own finishing.  I don't think Betsy's etuis are going to be easy to put together but the little needlebooks and other things that go into the etuis are not difficult.

If you love beautiful embroidery, admire etuis, and you want to learn how they are made, this is a good place to start.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 8, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.