0 replies
  6. admin
    admin says:

    Hee. Of course, I’m sitting there trying to figure out what kind of textile she’s making, with such a complicated shedding system…

  11. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    Just wanted to let you know that I was directed here and told to friend you by someone who found out I’m a spinner with the intent to spin threads for embroidery. I hope it’s okay that I friended you.

  12. admin
    admin says:

    Sure thing! I’m working on (read as: working on getting around to) getting a bunch of embroidery thread worked up for a project, so hopefully I’ll be posting some about that soon.

  14. admin
    admin says:

    There was a good Spin-Off article on spinning for embroidery threads, a while back – like a couple of years, maybe? It had some good points. I wish it had mentioned reeling silk, but what can ya do?

  15. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    Ugh, back then I didn’t do spinning at all.

    Right now I’m only doing yarn because I’m still trying to figure this out. I has the MS, so it’s harder to use my hands than it should be, but so far working on consistency in my yarn is getting me some good results. Once I’m consistent, I can spin thinner and thinner.

    I wish more articles mentioned silk. I learned on silk as was recommended by someone…and it was fabulous. I still spin it (and ingeo, but that’s another story). It’s my favorite 🙂

  16. admin
    admin says:

    It was further ago than I thought – it was Spring of 04, back order available here: http://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/books/spinoff.htm

    Of course silk is fabulous. 🙂

    If you ever decide to try your hand at reeling, let me know – it’s the easiest way I’ve ever found of making a very fine even singles. For embroidery, there’s still a little processing to go, but it’s not too bad.

    What style of embroidery are you wanting to do eventually? Is this for something like crewel work, or blackwork, or crossstitch? There’s a lady who did a whole bunch of different wild species silks, and cross-stitched pictures of them made with their own silk – Louise O’Donnel, and there’s another Spin OFf with them in it, somewhere…

  17. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    Thanks for the link!

    Reeling? I have a hard enough time even contemplating silk if I don’t do it first-hand. I’m Buddhist. I shouldn’t kill things to use silk. (d’oh)

    I do cross stitch, needlepoint, hardanger, crewel, temari, blackwork, cutwork, pulled thread, etc. I’m getting into japanese embroidery.

    I hope to become a master embroiderer.

    Do you want to see some of my work?

  18. admin
    admin says:

    Sorry – I didn’t register the Buddhist thing. I know that silk is a long and complicated issue with Buddhists, particularly in countries where both silk and Buddhism are long-entrenched.

    I’d love to see your work. I’m working on learning silk shaded work, with an eye toward being able to create realistic needle-painted work; I have done a LOT of reading, but only a couple of attempts so far.

  19. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/habibekindheart/

    Yes, don’t even get me started on silk *laughs*

    Have you read Painting With A Needle? Beautifully illustrated, gives a lot of good ideas, etc.

    I’ve worked with silk several times in my embroidery. I love the way it slides through the fabric. I’m starting to design my own patterns and I’m becoming a snob about not using cotton or rayon because it’s just not the same. Of course, that ups my costs…and my guilt 😉

    There’s a seminar up here in November about Japanese Embroidery (Shay Pendray), I’m debating going and seeing if I can still do it with my MS. (I have a slight tremor).

  20. admin
    admin says:

    Very nice! I like the dragonflies one a lot. Is the sheen on the bronze frame accomplished by using a shaded floss, or do you have to follow a pattern and stitch all the highlights and shadows?

    A couple of studies I’ve done:

    http://oakenking.livejournal.com/142599.html – with my own hand-made thread
    http://oakenking.livejournal.com/154722.html – with Kreinik’s Soie Platte

    If silk bothers you, you probably don’t want to see the beetle-wing work. They’re amazing things, tho!

  21. admin
    admin says:

    re: Painting with a Needle (Young Yang Chung)- I’ve got that one, and also Flowers in Long and Short Stitch, which has a lot of excellent realist pieces (albeit stylized for the Redoute style) and another book (can’t remember the title) on Chinese embroidery. I really love Tanja Berlin’s work with thread painting, and Helen Stevens silk embroidery.

    It seems like Japanese, with its highly-precise thread handling, would be a difficult form to work with the tremor – guess it all depends on how much it affects the specific skills you need to use.

  22. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    I’ve seen them! Actually, a friend of mine wanted boxesfull of dead cicadas to use the wings for some of her projects. I figure since they’re already dead…

    The dragonflies, it was just a pattern from Dimensions Gold Collection. It’s several colors stitched in various places. I would have preferred using a shaded/variegated floss.

    I like your work, particularly the second one. My biggest issue with regular embriodery is coverage. It can be a pain in the rear. That’s why I’m trying to get better at crewel.

  23. habibekindheart
    habibekindheart says:

    I figured you’d have it. It’s an excellent book. I have some others as well, specifically re: japanese/chinese embroidery…but they can be used for other things.

    Also check out Shay Pendray’s Inventive Needlework for some good ideas.

    On the plus side, with Japanese Embroidery, I’ve learned to pin thread exactly where I need it to go on fabric already and am proficient with using a floorstand. With how much work I already do, I’d think I could at least do a decent job at it…and I could use the challenge. I’ve done everything else *sigh*

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