I’m trying to really challenge myself and take some risks.  This piece is definitely doing that.  I’m usually very shy with color., but I’m forcing myself to embrace it here.  I’m also breaking out of neat lines, although it’s hard to tell from this shot.  A core part of the design is that a portion of the final piece will be framed in a round hoop and the rest will “explode” or more likely just escape from the hoop.  It my head, this looks really awesome!

After about 2 weeks of work, I’ve realized that I went in a wrong direction and had to pull out about  2-4 hours worth of stitching.  I’m back down to what you see in the photo.  BUT…I feel like the new direction will be a good one and make the piece more impactful.

I was going to do the whole thing in chain stitch and continue to explore the style of tambour stitch, but no more.  This is probably the end of the chain stitch on this piece.  There might be a little more, but next come the knots!  I think I’m going to move into french and colonial knots and then a new stitch for me: Turkey Stitch (also known as ghiordes knots).

I hope to have some progress to show soon.  I’ll mostly be updating the Work in Progress over on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: fiber art, embroidery, chain stitch, tambour stitch, original designs

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

I’m making a cimaruta amulet for the friend who does all the gorgeous henna on me. I wanted to give her something in return. I asked her if there was something like a hamsa in her tradition, since I had been doing a lot of hamsas lately. She told me about the cimaruta and that she’d wanted one, but with more modern “charms” on it. We decided I would make her one.

Traditionally the cimaruta is a pendant that is all silver and double sided. I chose to use metallic silver thread for the design, but only half of the charms are silver toned. The charms I chose for her are based on her life and things that I felt would be protective for her.

The design is based on the one I found on a Stregheria website, which is the foundation my friend’s spiritual path.

There is still a little more detail and highlighting I need to do, but it’s just about done.

Technorati Tags: cimaruta, amulet, embroidery, hand-stitched, stregheria

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