My own windows I might add – more on that in a minute. I’ve turned my attention to wall hangings recently as I mentioned previously and, in the way that usually happens when I allow my mind to wander, I have since moved on from woven wall hangings (although they are still very much on the to-do list) to hand stitched tapestry ones.
The reason for the side step in technique is two-fold: one being that I don’t have a tapestry loom, and two that I wanted to represent a picture and for the wall hanging to have a visually recognisable subject in the way that can be created with a tapestry, but not so easy with a loom like mine.
Lately I have developed a peculiar fascination for going outside my house and looking at it after dark through the bushes in front of the windows. Yes I know this sounds really weird!!
I tend to do this if I’m taking the dog for a walk during the evening and I find it looks so appealing. We have various spiky plants outside the house such as trachycarpus fortunei and phormium which have the most amazing leaves especially when silhouetted by a light behind them. It’s something to do with the tropical shape of the leaves and the warm light coming from the windows.
So during the daytime I took a photo of this view and used Photoshop to fiddle with the image and came up with this:
The idea is to make it into a hand-stitched tapestry. I say ‘idea’ because although I’ve started it, there’s an awful lot of stitches and it’s going to be a l-o-n-g project! The eventual size is about 1 metre wide and probably 1.25m long. I’m in such a hurry to get it on the wall though. MUST STITCH FASTER!!!
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Very cool! The image would be a good woodcut as well.
ReplyDeleteAlice
I love the idea of tapestries, but handstitched tapestry is so slow!! I used to stich cushion covers and they took me months. You can weave tapestry on any loom - it is often woven on horizontal looms.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! You're right ladyoftheloom, it'd work well in relief. In fact on the picture above you can't see the colours so well - there are more purples and blues involved.
ReplyDeleteDorothy you've just made the penny drop in my mind! I wasn't thinking laterally, thanks for that! I like the fact that it's portable though so I can watch TV and stitch away but that's very much food for thought!
That's an ambitious and impressive project! I'll bet it will look fantastic.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your patience and perseverance will be a good influence on me!!
Sue
I love the picture - reminds me of Andy Warhol. I'd love to see what the picture looked like before PS manipulation.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about a portable project, I like to have something small and often sit on the sofa knitting socks at the end of the day. I don't need any more socks now though so need to think of a new portable project myself! ;)
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