A Random Doodle that Combines Wood and Embroidery

I have just finished having a play with an embroidery that I started in the Summer This really is an unplanned doodle but the outcome means that I have a way forward to work that really does combine embroidered and wooden elements. I only need to work out how and if I can make it move.

Wooden Clouds.

A Wood and Embroidered Queen Jezebel. 

And the reverse of the embroidery that was sadly covered up.

I had a great suggestion from a visitor to try working both sides of the embroidery. To establish the image on one side then flip it and work the back as the front. So that will be my next experiment. 

Embroidering Again

 I've decided to stop experimenting and continue perfecting the method of working on light under-painting with applique and embroidery on top to define the drawing. I keep making these things so big and now I have hours of sewing to go!

Mr Punch Embroidery

I started cutting a new automaton today but it doesn't make an interesting picture as yet, just a pile of oddly shaped wood. I have also started embroidering some of my Mr Punch designs.

This is quite massive at about 4  foot square and quite daunting as I know it will take a very long time to complete. I have started with a quick paint sketch and applique base, now ready to begin machining. This Mr Punch, now I see it at the side of my Blogger About Me photo, looks uncomfortably similar.

A Stitched Doodle

I began embroidering these characters without an end image in mind.

It is quite big and took a few days so I was really disappointed that the end result looked so horribly twee. A good lesson in how important it is to plan before doing anything. I have been thinking hard how to save it and some bits I like: the flowers and the characters expressions. I think my main dissatisfaction is that it looks a bit too much like something that a machine could make and lacks the freedom of human drawing.

No it is just horribly twee, PLAN before you work!

I have tried dying it in tea to see if it would soften the contrast and bring out some of the lines. Marginally better but still too flat, I do like the dead flower.

Embroidery Experiment with Painted Faces

I have been struggling for ages to work out the best way to embroider characters so that they don't just look like badly drawn art. In the past I have used Biro to make the faces. Having looked at a Russian icon I thought that I would try and inset painted faces, a possible way forward if I work on my painting skills. I quite like the idea of contrasting the heavily embroidered cloth with painted elements. 

The Biro faces seem to fade over time, I made these about about 28 months ago 

And the original monkeys doodle.