Mizrach Sunrise, Cropped Detail

Size: 9″x12″, not including tassels
Stitch: chain, twisted chain, net stitch
Materials: Linen, DMC perle cotton

According to my blog, I started this piece somewhere around February 2008. The artwork was finished at least 6 months ago, but it sat in a drawer waiting for me to be motivated/inspired to do the “finishing” work. I’m a notorious procrastinator about doing finishing work. Usually it’s fear related. I’m so afraid of making a mistake and ruining a piece that’s taken months of work to complete.

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6″ Diameter Wall Decor / Hanging

Fabric is simple muslin that I printed a page of an old Sears catalog on.  I love the old catalog and thought  it could be fun to play with on fabric.  For some reason, I really loved the corset images.

I decided to embroider an old fashioned light bulb on it.  Shedding a little light on things?

The whole thing is securely framed in a 6″ wooden hoop that has been wrapped in copper wire.

Listed in my Etsy shop if you’re interested — and more to come!

Technorati Tags: steampunk, embroidery, hand stitched, artwork, fiber art

Size: 5″ Diameter
Materials: Muslin, Metallic floss, glass, pewter, leather, wood hoop
Stitches: Satin Stitch and Straight Stitch
Private Collection

This piece was made as a gift for a friend who is a gifted henna artist, and regularly practices her craft on me. She’s not Jewish, so I didn’t want to give her a hamsa. I asked her if her tradition had an amulet/luck charm like the hamsa, and she told me about the cimaruta. The design is based on the one I found on a Stregheria website, which is the foundation my friend’s spiritual path.

Traditional cimaruta are made from silver, so I used metallic silver floss for the majority of the design. It’s a floss that is “antique silver” so it has a mix of black and silver. the final result, before the charms were added, reminded me of a silver gelatin print.

The traditional items embedded in a cimaruta didn’t speak to my friend, so I chose things for her that I thought would be protective and relevant. From left to right: algiz rune of protection, yoga practice, evil eye ward, henna’d hand, cat. The small image in the bottom right corner is my signature cipher: a pomegranate with the Hebrew letter Kuf in the center for my name Ketzirah.

Technorati Tags: amulets, amulet design, cimaruta, embroidery, fiber art, hand-stitched

8″ on cotton “Empress Woo” fabric
Stitches:  Back stitch, blanket stitch, french knots, satin stitch
Private Collection

More pictures on Flickr

Musing on Empress Woo is a new direction in my “musing” pieces.  With these pieces I draw on the fabric with air erasing ink and stitch as the ink disappears.  Generally, I have to redraw the design many times – which ensures a very organic experience.

With Woo, I only knew what I wanted to do as I did it. I wanted to enhance this gorgeous fabric, but it’s a fine line between enhancing it and over doing it.

The final piece is 8″ framed in a round embroidery hoop.

I used a mixture of silk, cotton, and metallic floss used.  Primary stitches are back stitch, blanket stitch, french knots and a touch of satin stitch.

The piece was created as an original design to be donated to the 2009 Open Hearth Foundation Spring Ball Auction.

A shot of a work in progress called Musing on Empress Woo.  A little departure from the other Musings, as this one is on a printed fabric not a plain one.  I fell in love with this fabric, called Empress Woo, a while back and finally hunted down a fat quarter to experiment with.  Of course, I had to buy a bunch of other fat quarters with it that I didn’t really care about, but it was totally worth it!.  I’ve discovered that few people seem to have any of the actual Empress Woo pattern with Empress Woo on it in stock anymore.  There are several floral Empress Woo patterns, also by Robyn Pandolph, out there – but they just aren’t as awesome.  FYI, I found Empress Woo to begin with at Free Spirit Fabric. I think my favorite designer there is Jane Sassman.  I used some of her fabric to make a “mused upon” tarot bag for a friend a while back.

But back to the piece at hand…
In case you are wondering, her dress did not have a pattern on it.  Following the same procedure as the other musings, I drew the design on the fabric freehand with air disappearing ink.  That means, of course, that it disappears as I stitch.  I love the temporal nature of it!

Piece is 8" round and will be framed in a hoop. There is a mixture of silk, cotton, and metallic floss used.  Primary stitches are back stitch, blanket stitch, french knots and a touch of satin stitch.

It’s planned as a donation for the 2009 Open Hearth Foundation’s Persephone’s Ball silent auction.

Technorati Tags: embroidery, empress woo, robyn pandolph, hand stitched, WIP