Nuts about Needlepoint » art

Vintage Clip Art for Adaptation & Inspiration

Janet Perry — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:39:41 +0000

vintage french arthmetic illustration

Talk about stitchy goodness for inspiration and adaptation, thanks to my DD, who is REALLY good at finding these things, I found a blog called Agence eureka, which is chock fill of great vintage printed material.

It’s written in French, but the important thing is the wonderful images. I found things, like this chart from an arithmetic book, that could go straight to needlepoint. There were more pictures from textbooks, illustrated magazines, children’s books and games, and advertisements. There are even tons of vintage alphabets to adapt.

illustration of a vintage french phonics card

Just think how fun it would be to do a version of this snowman in needlepoint. I think I’m in stitching heaven!

Printed vs. Painted

Janet Perry — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:39:25 +0000

There has been some discussion around the web this week about fine art reproductions on canvas and it’s getting me a concerned. It seems to me that people want every decision to be made for them before they stitch (no room for interpretation) and that many seem to want a needlepoint version of a painting to be, I’m sorry to classify it this way, a stitched “paint by number” version of the original art.

As a result I’d like to clear something up. I’ve spent a long time studying both the different ways needlepoint designs can be produced, the different ways to stitch them, and the difference between needlepoint and other mediums.

There are two ways to get a design reproduced on needlepoint canvas, by hand and by a mechanical process. By hand the design is either drawn (line-drawn) or painted on the canvas. A painted canvas can either follow the intersection exactly (stitch painted) or not. Which it is depends on the designer and the design. But it is done by hand, means that irregularities in the canvas can be compensated for.

Because we stitch so many canvases that are created this way, we are fooled into thinking that needlepoint canvas is straight.

Quite simply it isn’t.

So when something is produced by mechanical means, no matter how good or how expensive, there will be drift and things won’t always be straight. This is true whether it is stamped (cheap kits), silk screened (Ehrman and Bradley kits), or computer-printed (Art Needlepoint, Patt & Lee, etc). I’ve seen cheap kits close to perfect and expensive kits to be way off. There are things manufacturers do to minimize this, but the plain fact is that it cannot be helped.

This necessary limitation in the medium. The effect this has on your stitching is that intersection will be more than one color. But the same thing happens in canvases that aren’t stitch painted and we don’t complain. In fact we often enjoy the challenge of working on these more “painterly” canvases.

Why is this lovely in a hand-paint, but not in a computer-printed canvas?

The second limitation is the one of adapting one medium to another. There are two things working here. First a painting is solid, there aren’t holes. Needlepoint canvas js mostly holes. As a result much of the information in the painting disappears into the holes. Think about it. If you took the same exact outline and put it on 13 and 18 mesh canvas, you could get lots of detail on the 18 mesh. Same thing here. Things are lost on needlepoint canvas.

This has two effects. You will have to fill in details, and you will need to make decisions about the missing details.

Second, painting is a two-dimensional medium. In it, texture is indicated by changes in value and color mostly. In needlepoint texture is indicated by thread, color, and stitch. If you tried to reproduce in Tent Stitch the variation in a painted surface you would find, as many of you have, that you are frustrated beyond belief. If you do end up doing this, you may find that the end product looks a but like paint by numbers, it has no soul.

But if you make a change to the stitch or switch to an overdyed thread you would be much happier. What you have done is not just make the stitching easier, but you have also made a decision about the painting and what it means to you. You haven’t made a reproduction, you have made a work of art, adding your artistic sense to the original artist’s through your art — needlepoint.

We are all, I think, to quick to praise the needlepoint on the expensive hand-painted canvas, and too quick to condemn the mechanically produced canvas. But I’ve seen plenty of lifeless expensive stitched pieces and stunning printed ones.

It’s your choice and your art, but don’t let it be a source of snobbery.

Wendy Costa’s Art Now Available in Needlepoint

Janet Perry — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:41:20 +0000

Wendy Costa’s art has now been adapted to needlepoint and is available from Maggie Co. There are nine whimsical dresses and two delightful veggie designs that would be great in a kitchen. They are on 18 mesh. Related posts:Needlepoint & Social Networking More New Needlepoint Products in Canvas, Charts & Kits February 2010 New Needlepoint Products New Needlepoint Products (threads, finishing, canvases & more) – July 2008 TNNA Preview – MAP Designs Related posts:

Adapting Randomly Cut Paper to Needlepoint

Janet Perry — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:58:46 +0000

Santa Fe Needlepoint by Lorene Salt

Last month my friend Lorene Salt & her husband were visiting Napa Valley. We met for lunch and Lorene brought me pictures of her wonderful stitching. I was blown away thinking about the piece pictured above.

In fact I kept thinking about it. It was one of Lorene’s pieces for her Master Craftsman from the Embroiderers Association of Canada. It’s an adaptation anyone can do and so I asked her to share it with you.

This is what she says about the piece:

For this project I was told to cut a piece of black construction paper into various shapes. I was then supposed to glue it onto white paper as if it were an exploding diagram.

Once I had a design that I was happy with, I glued the black pieces on to the white paper. I then traced the design onto canvas. I then picked a colour scheme that I liked, in this case oranges and turquoises. I then started filling in the different areas with different stitches and threads.

From the picture you can see that the black paper pieces I stitched in the oranges and the thin turquoise parts are where the white paper showed through.

When finished, I stitched around the entire piece in black so that is framed the work inside.

She calls the piece Santa Fe, after the color scheme.

There are so many things I like about this piece. I love the color scheme (it’s one of my favorites) and I think she’s done a great job of using overdyed threads in a way that looks natural and not over the top.

I also love that her choice of stitches reinforces the shape of the areas. The ones which are sharply pointed have stitches which emphasize that fact. For example, the Random Rhodes which run diagonally all across the piece look like a river of stars to me. And the rhythmic Bargello really shows off that space.

When it comes to the turquoise area, the negative space of the design, they are packed with texture too. It would have been so easy to just pick a single stitch and use it everywhere, but the design would have been diminished that was. This additional texture makes you want to look at it and explore.

One last point, I’ve talked about Mary Shipp’s rule of 1-3-5 when doing needlepoint so that it looks balanced. One element, in this case the stitches, should predominate. A second element, in this case the colors, should have a middle amount. There are only two colors, but it looks like 20 stitches (by my count). The final element, in this case texture, should be severely limited. I think Lorene used only one or two kinds of thread. The coral is silk and the turquoise is either silk or cotton floss.

The cut paper technique is one often found in art books, and I have often wondered about it. Here you can see how something anyone can do can be taken to make wonderful needlepoint.

Thanks Lorene, for sharing!

The Needlepoint Art on your Walls

Janet Perry — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:21:29 +0000

A little while ago I got an email update from the marketing and forecasting company, Unity Marketing about what people put on their walls.

I stuck many chords with me, as I’m sure it will with you.

“If you want to know about the tastes and interests of the American consumer, you need only look at his or her walls” is the beginning of the article. Your choice of art, including needlepoint, reflects your tastes, you home’s decor, and you passion for needlepoint. Most of the art in my bedroom is needlepoint, and all of it is by one artist. Most of the pieces are small but the one over the bed is quite large.

When we bought the canvas (15 years ago) it was over $300 and the threads doubled that. But, as my husband said at the time “It’s art and you wouldn’t complain about spending that for a painting.”

He’s right. In stitching a piece of needlepoint, even if it is all Tent Stitch, you choose threads. color, and. often, stitches, bringing your vision for the piece and fusing it with that of the designer. If someone writes a stitch guide, the finished piece is a fusion of all three visions.

The article also talks about how it is becoming more important for people to be involved or to create, to some extent, the art on their walls.

As needlepointers, we’ve been way ahead of this trend. Our work is art, it does hang on our walls, and it does reflect our own personalities, or, if it’s a gift, the personalities of the recipient.

So now, the world is giving you permission to stitch, you are participating in adorning your walls with personalized art.

Celtic Art in Cross Stitch – book review

Janet Perry — Thu, 18 Sep 2003 13:56:49 +0000

Celtic Art in Cross Stitch Barbara Hammet

I just love Barbara’s two other books of cross stitch designs (Art Nouveau and William Morris), so I was delighted to see this new books. The book opens with a very good introduction about Celtic Art which looks at it from the point of view of design style and elements.

This is followed by ten chapters of projects related to each other by theme and color. For example, the chapter on La Tene (one of the earliest forms of Celtic art) consists of table linens including a beautiful tablecloth, napkins and coasters. In the instructions there is also information on varying these designs to make table toppers and runners.

For each project there is a full color picture of the completed stitching, a material list, a full-color chart and stitching instructions. A nice touch is the color chart which provides color numbers for the project for DMC, Anchor and Madeira threads. The number of skeins needed is also noted. This is so much simpler than having a conversion chart in the back of the book.

And if all these wonderful projects aren’t enough to get you excited, the book also has a fantastic Celtic Motif Library; 53 full color charts of borders, animals, geometrics and knotwork. Although charted in color, these designs can be combined and changed to suit your needs. In the notes at the beginning of the section, the patterns are divided into categories which show how they are related and each design is identified with a note about its source and some suggestions for using it.

The book ends with a chapter on materials and finishing.

Celtic design is one of the most evocative styles I have seen. But lovely as it is, it can be hard to adapt to needlework. Books like this outstanding one, which provide a wealth of designs and projects feed both the soul and the needle.

Needlepoint and Art

Janet Perry — Sun, 13 Oct 2002 05:39:33 +0000

As a needlepointer, I find that often my work gets trivialized by
artists and by people who do other fiber arts. Needlepoint suffers
from a “little old lady” syndrome, which is completely out of sync
with the reality of the art we produce, which is often far more
advanced than what is done by other, more accepted arts.

As needlepointers we should carry the banner for acceptance of our
work as a fiber art.

We can do this in lots of ways small and large:

enter your pieces in the local fairs as art not as craft or
“home arts” You may not win prizes, but you will start to lay the
foundation.
carry your needlepoint with you, show off the work in your home
host an exhibit of your work at the local library, school or
shopping mall (often they will do this free for non-profits)
do you have a good story to tell, send a press release to the
local newspaper
create a gallery of your original work on your website and
list it in art directories

But most importantly, organizations like ANG can do much to promote
acceptance of our work as art. They need to make and keep to firm
rules about classifications, they need to read and accept the work of the artists when they submit and artist’s statement. They need to look at the classifications of original and adaptation in other
fields of endeavor and use those as a basis for classifying
needlepoint. They need to applaud those teachers who have created
new stitches and techniques and those stitchers who use these tools
to create original work. But most of all, the entire judging process needs to be free of the prejudice, rudeness, and disbelief of artist’s which has been appearing lately.

ANG has a bully pulpit as do other organizations in the field —
let’s ask them to use it to make us and our art better known!