Can I have some sympathy here?

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By night.

I re-wrote the book, redid all the charts, diagrams, instructions.  Whew!!  Now it's up on etsy for an instant download. 

This is one of the few designs I did on black canvas.

Rae has been working here for some months now and has caught on wonderfully!  She will introduce herself to you next week.  We all have our strengths.  Rae is an absolute detail person.  She is very careful and methodical and also loves organizing.  You all know how us fiber people need to stay organized...  Rae is doing wonders with that here in the studio. She has been helping me keep up with my Instagram page.  I haven't really been using much of the special lenses, (the antique, or 70's kinda look).  I can't give up the colors that are there naturally.

I'm off to set the place up for a potluck this evening for Nina's school parents and principal.  Having a loft is very helpful when you have a big gathering.  Should be a fun time!

Have a lovely weekend!
xo
Orna

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Even Designs need a little lovin.....

Do you recall, old friends, the Carolina Cuff? This one was designed back in 2003, and recently, I saw a faded, unfocused photo of this beautiful cuff, and knew it was time!   The instructions have been overhauled, and the thread lists have changed to compensate for discontinued or otherwise unavailable threads. A special thanks to Gayle Roelofs for stitching the lovely new models -- her impeccable technique made it easy to show off the design!

I've mentioned Gayle before, we go way, way back.  We used to talk about our pre-adolecsents, now we talk about our grandchildren.

You've seen a preview of the kits for Dolci being compiled.  Over 300 little bottles!  We've had many requests, after the deadline, asking to sign up for class. Well, we were thinking that while we can't accept any more registrations for the class plus kits, we will continue to accept sign ups for class participation only.  The "Class Participation" option for the Dolci class is being extended to anyone who wishes to take advantage of this wonderful class! With this option you get to learn the special techniques that go into Dolci beadmaking, as well as hang out with other fabulous stitchers on the beautiful Dolci forum. What better way to spend all that extra post-holiday time?

Now could I possibly finish without giving you yet another look at Nomi?

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SATURDAY POST: Studio Conquered and other Matters

Genevieve again--so word from ANG is that things went wonderfully! Orna is trekking back and should be home this weekend at some point. In the meantime, I did some serious tidying!!

During my cleaning and sifting, I found a bunch of Orna's thoughts on canvas---I would like to call them Doodles in Silk. I think it's interesting to show an artist's process. Sometimes when we see beautiful art, we don't understand where it comes from. We think it just IS. Even with needlepoint, with it's counted squares and detailed precision---the idea that it comes from a place of complete experimentation seems foreign and uncomfortable. However, as with all art, the first stages--- of playing with color and material and design to see what could happen--- are the most important. And so I give you--Orna's Process:

Not too glamorous, to be sure, but there is evidence of real Creative Problem Solving here.  This grey windmill was gone over a few times---various combinations were tried and pulled out. The Result?

Voila! 

Now that IS glamorous!! More refined, the shape altered make it more elegant. Below left, we have a taste of the early stages of Square Dance. Clearly, the idea that remained was working with multiple tiny squares.  But you can see how much more complicated it became as a finished product.

And then there was this little morsel of a thought I found tucked away in some dark corner of a drawer:

You can see how that one little droplet shape traveled from the center out to the edges and multipled--it started as the green focal point, but ended as yellow and gold border. 

The studio is filled with ideas like these--a sketchbook of thoughts in thread. I hope that seeing the experimentation that goes into these very precise and complicated designs will give you all a little inspiration to think outside the box--errrr---boxes of your canvases and try something new!!

That's it for today--Orna will be back next week--we have giveaways, demos and a new series coming up during the next few months, so keep checking back!

 

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