This is the 18mesh gentleman. I think he is darling. This picture is deceptive, but he really is small enough to be an ornament. However, when thinking about classes, my students (who are older) prefer 13mesh.
This rather portly gentleman is the one from the original snowman canvas that I requested Colonial Needle paint for me so I could teach a class.
I stitched the background in the Diagonal Triple Parisian using silk 'n ivory. The hat is done in the interlocking or encroaching gobelin with silk lame braid. The head is the mosaic stitch using white fyrewerks.
You can see that I have started stitching the scarf using Fuzzy Stuff in the chain stitch. However, this week a long-time customer of Needle Nicely has come to town and came in asking for assistance with about 8 unfinished canvases she has from classes with national needlepoint teachers. The past 3 afternoons Dotty and I have discussed which stitches are problematic for her. She will be here for three weeks which should allow us plenty of time to solve the worst of the bottlenecks. I think of confusing stitches as bottlenecks because they stop your stitching progress and make you feel inadequate. Sometimes it is only one thread to the left that solves the problem.
Anyway, one of Dotty's problem areas is something that should be felted. I've never done that before, but I found a video on line and Michael's supposedly has beginner kits. Guess where I'm going tomorrow morning so that I can felt my snowman's scarf? I'm a little leery of this since I am so clumsy and everything you read about needle felting warns about the barbs on the needles. Think kind positive thoughts about me, please!
Felting is simple. Up and down, repeat endlessly. It helps to keep the needle at a 90 degree angle I've found (the durn things break easily), although if it comes in at a very tiny angle from the side, that helps shape the area a bit. I left that until later on after things were matted together properly.
ReplyDeleteMichael's does have kits with some wool roving in various colors and a block and needles. Here Hobby Lobby also has kits. Good luck. I think you will do fine but don't poke yourself with those needles. They are sharp and have barbs so they would hurt a lot if you did stick yourself. Don't do this when you are likely to be interrupted a lot!
I'm not sure if you need a single needle for your job but the multiple needle felters come with a guard. I do needlefelting, and you know how clumsy I can be. But I only work with multiple needles. ("A man's got to know his limitations.")
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