Pharaoh's Feather Fan

Fan Feathers Done

Once I finished the feathers on the fancy fan behind Leigh's Pharaoh, it was time to stitch the rest of the fan.  Above is the fan with all the feathers stitched so you can see how it doesn't overwhelm the statue of Ramses II.

If you look carefully at the fan you'll see I've done a lot of tent stitching on the head of the fan.  The red area is stitched and at this point I've also added gold tent stitches with Kreinik around the head's central area.  I ended up tent stitching the golden yellow areas, too.  With all that out of the way, I could bead the rest of the head section.  But first, I needed to rummage in my stash for beads in the right colors.  

Here's what I selected, all from Sundance Needlepoint.

Gemstone Beads from Sundance

Color Inspirations Collections from Sundance

The Gemstone beads are 3mm in diameter, roughly, which makes them larger than size 11 beads.  The little round beads from the Color Inspiration Collections: Shell are smooth and much smaller, probably close to a size 14 bead.  They are also more even.  The gemstone beads have been tumbled to shape I think and they are not smooth.  I like all of them.  The colors are right and I think they will add to the feather fan without drawing too much attention from Pharaoh.

When I laid them on the canvas, though, it was obvious that 3mm beads are too large.  I hope you can see the beads laid on the canvas.  One of the gemstone beads is at the bottom of the fan head and there is a smaller round bead below it and also one to the left.  

For me, scale is very important on a painted canvas.  Unless I'm stitching a portrait of Dolly Parton, I don't want one are to overwhelm another.  So although I might be able to use a few of the larger Gemstone beads, I will have to bead the fan head and shaft with mostly the smaller ones from the Shell Inspiration Collection.

However, before I can bead, I have something else to do.  Those who have sharp eyes can see the next step which I've already done but not described.

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 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Three Sources for Needles

The Needlework Retailer has just profiled three sources for needles that I've not heard of before.  

Sullivan's, which I thought only sold floss and scissors, has needles with gold-plated eyes.
https://yarntree.typepad.com/needlework_news/2020/07/gold-eye-needles.html

Sullivan's also sells ball-tipped needles, which apparently help the needle glide through fabric easier.  They are a little larger than the tips of blunt tapestry needles but this might be useful if you are stitching on larger counts of needlepoint canvas.
https://yarntree.typepad.com/needlework_news/2020/07/easy-guide-ball-tip-needle.html

Yarn Tree has needles called Pat's Favorite Needles (available in packs of 25 in sizes 24, 26 and 28 only) that have longer than usual eyes.
https://yarntree.typepad.com/needlework_news/2020/07/pats-favorite-needle.html

If your favorite needlepoint store doesn't have these, you can buy two of these from Yarn Tree online.
https://www.yarntree.com/cross-stitch/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=200

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 26, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

How Are Designers Coping?

Just how are our beloved designers coping with their business turned upside down?  Not surprisingly, they are coping just like the rest of us, as these messages from Tricia Heaton Designs shows.
https://www.triciaheatondesigns.com/blog/2020/4/17/self-quarantine-journal-part-1-getting-to-starlight-farm

https://www.triciaheatondesigns.com/blog/2020/5/9/quarantine-blog-part-4-kissing-frogs-to-find-your-special-prince-or-princess

You may not remember Tricia Heaton's name, but you'll remember her designs.
https://www.triciaheatondesigns.com/shop

Stay focused, friends, in what is important.  Make things with your hands and be happy.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 24, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Mary Talks Or Nue' UPDATED

Mary Legallet's latest blog posting talks about or nue' on needlepoint canvas.
http://www.whimsicalstitch.com/about-me

Or nue' as we do it on needlepoint is more similar to a couched, patterned stitch than classic or nue'.  If you want to see what that's like, you should explore Rachel's Slow Stitching TV on Vimeo.  It's done on linen and the gold is completely covered in places and bare in others.  
https://vimeo.com/virtuosewadventures

UPDATE:  I just discovered Jane Zimmerman has posted free information about Or Nue on her website.  Click on the links to read the two articles.
https://janezimmerman.com/Site/Techniques.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 22, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Pharaoh's Feathered Fan

Starting the Fan's Feathers

A lot of people have trouble with stitching feathers. I think this has to do with the fact that feathers are often not painted perfectly symmetrically.  Fishbone is my favorite stitch for feathers and leaves, but it didn't seem to work well here.  I think my problem is that each feather is shaped differently.  I found it hard to work fishbone from the base up and keep the sides even.  I ended up using a variation   of fishbone stitch called Raised Fishbone that is worked from the tip down.  You can see it demonstrated on Mary Corbet's website.
https://www.needlenthread.com/2012/07/raised-fishbone-stitch-video-tutorial.html

I'm using one ply of High Cotton from the strand.  (High Cotton is a five ply cotton thread with a tight twist to each ply and a slightly matte finish that I really like.  It's discontinued, sadly, but I have all the colors I need in my stash, so High Cotton it is.)  Fishbone and its variations are easier to work smoothly in a single stranded thread like perle cotton, crewel wool, threads that aren't used in multiple plies, basically.  It was pretty easy to switch colors as I worked down the feather, too.  I worked the purple feathers first, then the teal, and finished with the red as the purple ones seemed to be in the back, the teal ones in the middle and the red ones on top.  I always work from background forwards if that is possible.

9 of 12 Feathers Done

Raised Fishbone gave me a slightly raised effect without trying to grab attention from Pharaoh.  I did end up tent stitching the dark red area around the base of the jeweled fan before stitching the red feathers so I could tell where to stop stitching feathers.  I'll discuss the jeweled base of the fan next after I work all the red feathers in Raised Fishbone.

Feathers Finished!

Here is the slightly raised effect I got in my feathers.  It isn't too much dimension so it doesn't fight with Pharaoh for attention.  If you wanted more dimension, however, you could work this in Straw Silk or a ribbon and it would be more prominent.

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 6, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.