Saturday 20 July 2013

Retake: 'Ornamental Pool' piece


Fans of hers will immediately recognise Helen M Stevens' wonderful 'Ornamental Pool' design from the book 'Embroidered Gardens'.  I worked this for my in-laws for their 20th wedding anniversary, but never got a really good photo of the finished item.  We took the original pictures in over-bright sunlight and the end result wasn't as distinct as it could have been.  So, I took the chance whilst over at their place earlier this month of getting it down off the wall and getting some better photos for my own enjoyment.

As you can see, it had never been properly stretched as MIL did it herself rather than having a pro do it (which was both a shame for the finished result and good in that it was easier for Sir to remove the glass for photography!!), so there are some 'waves' showing in the fabric, esp. the top half.  However, try to ignore that and see if you don't love this masterful design as much as I did.=)

Here are some detail photos of various parts:





Worked in 2008, in Anchor stranded cotton, Anchor pearl cotton #12, Anchor Marlitt and Kreinik cord.

To be honest, the light was still a little too bright, but, for the first time that I can remember, I reduced the brightness on Photoshop Elements and then increased the contrast slightly and sharpened some shots a little.  Have you ever had to do this?

I'm quite pleased with the results and will have to remember to try that again when something looks rather bleached out.

By the way, have you updated your RSS reader links to Sew in Love?  I noticed on the last day of Google Reader's 'life' that I had 591 subscribers on there.  Imagine how desperately gutted I was to see only 124 when I checked on Feedly today...=(  So, don't forget to update your feeds so you can keep up to date with what's happening in my textiles world.  I'm hoping to make it well worth your while over the months to come, and feel free to make reader requests too as I'd like to know what you like to read and see.

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

9 comments:

semplicemente giusi said...

oh Elizabeth.... una meraviglia ....
la fata del ricamo!!! grazie..
giusi_g

Queeniepatch said...

Beautiful design and beautiful stitches. I am glad you posted the close up photos. The gold fish is so elegant!
Aren't black and red the most difficult colours to catch on 'film'? Then it is good to have the chance to adjust the look on the computer.
As it is summer and many people are 'on holiday' blogging is down all over the place. I am sure you will find more followers returning in autumn.
Keep up the good work, Elizabeth.

Rachel said...

A fine piece of work, you must be very pleased with yourself!

JudyC said...

放大的近照更顯刺繡的高超技巧!讚! judy

Cynthia Gilbreth said...

It's lovely! I can't see the waves in the fabric.

I follow you through my Google blog reading list, the demise of Reader doesn't affect me, but I may have had you in my Reader, but am not sure.

Glenis said...

A beautiful piece - well done.

I thnk my favourite is the bird, but it's a close call.

Glad you managed to get a decent set of photos. There are a couple of my pieces "out there" that left before I understood the importance of photographing, and I've always regretted it. :-)

Wendy said...

don't worry about the number going down, that's just 124 in Feedly, other people are using different readers and so you don't see those figures.

zenuwpees said...

FELICITATION c'est magnifique bon aprs-midi Marie-Claire

Carol Ann Hopper said...

Love your work. Carol

 
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