Phoenix Rising

I have just updated my website with a new wall hanging called Phoenix Rising; it is encaustic wax on silk, with hand embroidery and feathers.  You can find it here.  It is a celebration of rising above adversity, of regeneration, of starting anew.

Phoenix Rising - head detail 

©Christine Linton

Two-eyed needle - more experiments

I started thinking what else I could do with a a two-eyed needle, so I started to use a Twisted Chain Stitch on canvas, using two complementary colours - purple and yellow.  After stitching a very boring straight line downwards, I went back up it making loops with the threads, securing after each pair of loops so that they wouldn't unravel.  As I reached the top, I realised this reminded me of the effect of the Cootamundra Wattle blooms, which are the tiniest little spherical stamens; together a tree in bloom looks like a curtain of golden yellow threads.  The leaves are a blueish-green, with tiny leaflets radiating in lines of pairs from the stem.

Cootamundra Wattle tree - sadly this beautiful specimen has been cut down

©Christine Linton

The blooms of a Cootamundra Wattle

©Christine Linton

I have previously embroidered one:

Embroidered Cootamundra Wattle bloom (turkey stitch/Giordes knot) and leaflets (detached chains) with stem stitch for the actual stems.

©Christine Linton

This is the two-needle experiment that has given me the idea of a different way to embroider this, my favourite tree.

To find out more about this lovely tree, try this page.

Two-eyed needles - yes they have a use.

A fellow textiler sent me the following link about double-eye needles, which you may like to investigate.
http://store.dknits.com/pd-double-eye-needle.cfm

I have tried mine using two different yarns, a thick or novelty yarn along with a thinner tapestry wool; my result was not obviously two yarns, only on the bottom row could you tell and then the next row down that would be covered up.  However the overall result was quite nice, a variegated seascape was in my mind, and I used a piece of rug canvas from the Op Shop.

Seascape using two yarns at a time in a two-eyed needle

©Christine Linton

Hand embroidery - couching

After I couldn't find a picture of a two-eyed needle like my last post showed, I started to think - could I get good use from it with couching?  I found this page and could imagine using two threads - one thick and one thin in the two-eyed needle ...... I'm about to start and will post the result here soon.  I thought I would use this tree bark couching sample I made as inspiration.

Tree bark texture with hand couching yarns and threads

©Christine Linton

What is this?

I couldn't resist buying this needle with two eyes at the local op shop for 50 cents - but what it is for I don't know.  Does anyone out there know?  It's flat where the eyes are and round in between, about 2 - 3 inches long.  It has tiny points at each end but is not sharp and otherwise two wide and flat to go through normal woven fabric.  Tapestry possibly - but why two eyes?  It looks quite old as it is a bit bent and discoloured.

What is this two-eyed needle used for? 

©Christine Linton

Chooky Family Photo

©Christine Linton