Grumpy Old Man

And here he is at last! My finished, mounted blackwork. The RSN didn't think much of him, but I have become quite attached to his battle-weary face. The scar on his lip adds character I think (OK, so I'm weird!)

 

Tracy to the rescue!

We had always planned to highlight the curls in his hair, but I got cold feet about it all and panicked horribly. Anyway, Tracy steadied me down when I was in Durham with her last week and here is the final result.

I am not at all sure that his mother would recognise him - but I rather like him (after all that grief).
I will be quite pleased to hand this piece in for assessment, he has hung around my house for far too long. Now it is just a case of finishing touches, mounting and handing in.

Panic!

I have been putting off posting this image. All there is left to do is define his curls and finalise the background. But ................. I hate the hair! I know that Tracy will help me to sort it out, but, right now, I can't imagine how!

Sorry! I have been away - again.

Well, at least I went to the RSN at Hampton Court this time! An excellent few days with Jenny Adin Christie. I can highly recommend it. Mind you, it was awfully hot, but I shouldn't complain about being warm.

I have been working on my man since I arrived home and, as you can see, the hair is slowly growing. Tracy and I made the decision about the background when I was in Durham a couple of weeks ago - I am going to stitch the background (the paper is foxed in the original), but only very lightly and sketchily.

And now the other eye!

OK. Sorry about the long absence, but we have been away again. This time it was up the East coast of Scotland and then a little way along the North coast. We must have done something right - the weather was dry! 

Following that I had two days in Durham with Tracy trying to catch up and sort out in my head the way forward. On due consideration, the other eye (his right eye) needed a bit of a sort out.

I have put before and after shots below, see what you think.

Before

After

A quick eye transplant

I took the eye out and replaced it. Was it worth it? I am not sure, but probably.

Before

After

Home at last.

Yes, I have been away again - and the embroidery has suffered I am afraid. I have been stitching. I am working on a cot size whole cloth quilt for a friend's daughter's baby, so am definitely working to a deadline.

Anyway, below is a picture of my man as he was yesterday. It's interesting, the photographs give a different perspective on the piece. I took one look at the picture and took the eye out again. I also need to calm down the highlights I think.

I have started the hair and am using small diamond stitch. I am aligning the "tails" of the stitch with the direction of the curls, as far as possible. Then I am using a very free stem stitch to highlight the curls. What do you think?

"The ayes have it"

One of the benefits of having a 16 year old in the house revising for her GCSEs is that every time that I insist that she sits quietly in the kitchen working for an hour, I also can sit quietly working for an hour! So, progress is being made on both fronts. Mind you, I'm glad that it isn't me doing the GCSEs. I hated it all those years ago (about 50) and certainly wouldn't enjoy it now.

In contrast, I am enjoying my blackwork. Feeling my way around the creases of the eyes ...............

Post-holiday guilt.

We have been away for a few weeks (Mexico - and yes, it was amazing!) so it has taken time to get back into the swing of blackwork. So, I spent two days with Tracy last week. It really doesn't look like a big result for two days of solid stitching. I am also falling hideously far behind schedule. This really is all about attention to detail though. It can't be rushed. Funnily enough it is quite soothing to concentrate hard on a small area.

Anyway - his nose is almost in place, then I think that I need to do his right ear. I am having qualms about the density of the area of his sideburns.

Slowly, carefully.

Anyway ........ slowly I am making progress. It may not seem like a lot, but it's not like doing straightforward blackwork infill of shapes. Trying to get the shading right takes time. This is about pleasure - lets take our pleasures slowly!

It is time to start the hair and to think about the background. In the sketch the background paper is lightly foxed.

Sweet lips!

Sweet they are not! I think that this is an image of an old soldier. He has his front top teeth missing - you can see the scar on his lip.

I also have a theory that Leonardo da Vinci was a time traveller called Leonard Vincent (The blackwork is of a Leonardo sketch by the way). At least this would account for all his futuristic designs.

Anyway, back to blackwork: the jawline was interesting to do, but it has worked out I think. I have used open zig zag stitch  for the lips, reduced to half scale  - otherwise it would have been too sketchy. The lips aren't quite finished yet. This week's task is to get the whole mouth area finished.

I bet that you still don't know what it is!

This photograph is a few days old, but I didn't want you to have too much excitement all at once! Now the eyes are starting to appear it is a bit more obvious what the image is. 

I have to use a total of 5 different stitches. The face is definitely waffle stitch. The hair is small diamond stitch, swinging the "tail" to give the direction of the curls. I am not sure about that, but we'll see what it looks like.

This really is all about attention to detail.

I am back!

I am sorry about the gap in blogging, put it down to holidays, family, Christmas ................ All my sewing reached a hiatus, but I am back at it now.

I am enjoying blackwork. It felt at first as if I was groping about in the dark, but things seem to be falling into place a little more now. Anyway, this is a bit of a retrospective picture. Things have moved on, but I will save that for another day.

I know that it still looks like nothing but ................

I am using waffle stitch for the face, which is really pretty. So I thought that I would include a close up of the stitch.

The shading is fun. I annoy Tracy by referring to it as "Paint by numbers" in due deference to my total lack of artistic ability. 

And on to the next thing

And the next thing is ................................. blackwork. As I said, I know nothing about this.

I have chosen as my image a Leonardo sketch of a grumpy old man, although I bet he was handsome when he was young!

So far all I have done is put the linen onto the frame and marked up key features by stitching through a tissue paper copy of the image in a very pale thread. 

I have had a bit of a practice at the stitches. The actual stitches are simple, but they build up into quite complex patterns and need to be carefully counted.

I'm pretty vague about how the shading works! Wish me luck.