Love Fruits (Stilllife: Mangoes on a Bamboo Tray)

Started: January 31, 2010

Finished: March 8, 2010

Number of hours: 82 hours

Size: 29 x 43cm

Materials: DMC Stranded cotton and Rayon threads on pineapple-silk handwoven fabric

It shows 7 mangoes on a bilao, a round hand-woven bamboo tray. Each mango is done in different ajour stitches.  The background has ajour work too. And I am also trying some new stitches.

It is the national fruit of the Philippines, symbolizing love for family and love for nation, because it is shaped like a human heart. It is very sweet when it turns golden yellow. It is so high in sugar, that diabetics are not advised to eat even when mangoes are still green and sour. Each mango represents a family member or a friend or a passion for something, like passion for embroidery. ^_^

Feb.5, 2010: First photo update after 23 hours.

WIP Mangga Feb 5 2010 after 23 hours

After 46 hours, here is another update. The leaves are leaf stitches outlined with buttonhole stitches. All the mangoes are filled with 7 ajour stitches and outlined with 7 “line or chain” stitches. Next is the bamboo tray.

Update February 16, 2010: The bamboo tray is finished. Now comes the laces on the background. They are strips of embroidered lace across the background.

Love Fruits WIP Feb 16 2010 After 51 Hours

Finally the laces are finished and ready for exhibition on March 13 and 14, 2010.

Click on the photos for larger view of the embroidered laces!

Love Fruits (Mangga sa Bilao)

The fabric is transparent not only because of the fine silk and pineapple fibers, the fabric is also not tightly woven. So I decided to just write my signature, rather than embroider it.

Love Fruits (Mangga sa Bilao) signature

Larger view:

Handarbeit / Stickerei in Berlin, Deutschland.

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More Trees in Winter exhibited on Hand Embroidery Network Online Exhibit

The Online Exhibit for Winter is already up. You can start voting for the pieces which you think best represent the theme “Winter Wonderland.”

Here are the links:

http://www.handembroiderynetwork.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=35&cntnt01origid=84&cntnt01returnid=85

http://www.handembroiderynetwork.com/index.php?page=Hand-Embroidery-Network-Winter-Wonder-Land-Exhibition

more-trees-in-winter

More Trees in Winter

Started: January 10, 2010

Finished: January 30, 2010

Number of Hours: 46 hours

Size: 30 x 15 cm

This embroidery represents my stand on the green politics against deforestation and illegal logging. Can you ever imagine a Winter Wonderland without trees?

When one sees this embroidery, one receives the message and will be part of a collective consciousness.

More Trees in Winter is a part of a series of trees, which I designed to be stitch samplers.

I learned 26 needlelace stitches in this sampler, from the Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework by Maria Therese Dillmont.

Cordonette threads are high quality unbleached cotton warping threads.

After all contour lines are couched with cordonette, areas are ready to be filled in with needlelace stitches.

Monday, January 25, 2010 Update: After 25 hours

WIP Jan 25 2010 After 25 hours

Almost finished, just one more tree and then off to buttonhole stitches.

WIP Jan 27 2010 After 32 hours

Finished on January 30, 2010.

Still has to be mounted…

More Trees in Winter

Close-up…

More Trees in Winter Up Close

Handarbeit / Stickerei in Berlin, Deutschland.

Svea

Started: Dec. 13, 2009

Finished: January 20, 2010

Metallics, Silk threads and DMC Rayon threads on white linen.

23 x 23 cm.

Based on photos of Svea, the design features her blue eyes and bubbles which represents the temporal nature of life, like how fast youth and innocence disappear.

I chose bold colors on the hair and clothes, using stitches referred to as “Oriental stitches” in the book “The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework” by Therèse de Dillmont. They are called laidwork stitches in Pauline Brown´s ” The Encyclopedia of Embroidery Techniques”. Laidwork is covering an area with straight stitches, like satin stitches, and couched to hold them in place. Couching can be as simple as a small stab stitch to a decorative stitches similar to filling stitches in crewel embroidery.

Svea´s face was stitched using thin silk thread filaments. It resembles my drawing style of creating shades by using straight lines, when drawing with pencil or pen & ink.

The outline cord is chain stitch using silk and whipped with metallics.

Click on the photo to see the original large format.

Svea Vanitas (Bubbles) Dec 15 2009 After 8 hours

I am now starting to fill in the hair and dress with “Oriental Stitches”, usually found in antique chinese and japanese silk embroideries. The outline cord is now being whipped with metallics. If you click for the larger format, you will notice that the bubbles are also whipped with metallics.

Svea Vanitas (Bubbles) Dec 18 2009 After 12 hours

Finally finished today, it will be shipped to her grandma for customized framing.

I added some more silk on the cross hatching. I struggled with the colors on the hair. Since I am colorblind, I usually trust my intuition when selecting colors. Obviously, I failed again. I could have used one color for the hair and it could have been safer that way. The blue dress end up fine. I thought if I do not start to explore colors, I will never learn to use colors at all.

The linen was not fine enough to stitch my signature on like I usually do, so I just wrote it with a pen. This was also the case in Heiwa handkerchief.

A much closer shot of the eyes:

I wanted to post Svea´s photo but I have no permission from the parents. so here is a photo of one of  my earlier commissioned baby portraits:

Update February 11, 2010:

Svea was featured in craftgossip.com´s needlework gossips.

http://needlework.craftgossip.com/men-embroider-vincent-valiente/2010/01/26/

Thanks to Meri and the team of craftgossip.com!

Handarbeit / Stickerei in Berlin, Deutschland.

Weaving Sampler “Cool Garden”

Started Nov. 4, 2009

Finished Dec. 12, 2009

Materials: Lisa yarns (Acrylic)

I am starting to make this sampler of woven patterns, because sometimes I feel like there is a weaver inside of me, that longs to weave. I am learning a lot, and I indulge in the process. It is a really time-consuming textile-making technique. I forget the time when I am on my table loom. Weaving has become therapeutic.

I will learn some pattern combinations, colors and perhaps materials. Right now, my loom has a rigid heddle. I have to devise temporary heddles before the rigid heddle, if I want to make complicated patterns. I will try one experiment with all three colors.

I am using cheap acrylic yarn for the weft. The warp is single thread of old white crochet yarn. I bought my Kirchner table loom from eBay. I actually first learned to weave using a foot loom early this spring. Table loom is so slow, but I get to learn a lot of the basics and I know what I will be looking for when I start looking for a larger loom with pedals and 8 harnesses.

Nov. 7, 2009 progress

Nov. 7, 2009 Update 8 hours

 Nov. 20, 2009 update: Up to now, these are all variations using 2 string heddles. Something is strange with my camera. These are the same yarns, but the colors look different in both pictures. The latest photo is truer to life. I actually chose a cooler palette.

November 26, 2009 Update: This is going very fast. I am almost at the end of the 2 meter warps. This photo shows variations on a simple pattern using 2 shafts.

The last patterns…

17 hours

The finished sampler, “CoolGarden”

Cool Garden

 I will stop weaving at home for a while.

I have enough weaving with my weaving lessons with Brigitte Staedler. Visit her website. Brigitte is a very talented textile artist and teacher. Her workshop is a wonderful place to be in. Ich nehme in einem Webkurs teil. Brigitte Staedler ist eine sehr talentierte Textilkunstlerin und Lehrerin. Ihre Werkstatt ist sehr schön und inspirierend. Sie bietet Kurse in Weben und Seidenmalerei hier in Berlin. Ihre Webseite ist http://textilkunst-staedler.de/

 

tags: berlin, bildweberei, deutchsland, handweberei, kurs, malerei, sampler, seidenmalerei, textil, textilkunst, weaving, weben, weberei, webkurse

Ajour work or Pulled work “Pace”

Started July 26, 2009

Finished August 10, 2009

After 35 hours.

Embroidery cotton threads, polyester sewing thread on linen.

(Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, Corsican(France) word for peace)

Aug.1, 2009:  After 12 hours

Aug. 3, 2009: After 23 hours

Finished embroidery: 29 Pulled work stitches, 11 stitches for contour (chain, stem, knot, couched stitches), needlelace for the net (double buttonhole)

Handarbeit / Stickerei in Berlin, Deutschland.