Webs and wheels

I started this little piece in our members session about web and wheel stitches yesterday, and I'm pleased with how it's going so far. I plan to shade it through brown into green, filling the hoop with big chunky wheels, scattering delicate ones in between them, and then snaking chain and wheatear stitches through the gaps.

From Print To Stitch

I'm now a fully paid up member of Birmingham Embroiderers' Guild, and had a marvellous evening at the members workshop, where we were printing with collograph printing blocks of leaves.

We applied the leaves to stiff board with double sided tape, and then inked them with rollers, applying the print firstly to paper:



My paper print was a bit light, so I inked it a bit more, then printed onto a batik fabric:





If anything, this was probably a bit dark - I think I pressed a bit hard with the brayer.

Here is the collograph print block, apparently they keep rather well & can be reused:



I'm certainly going to experiment more with this technique. It was an easy way to get some lovely prints. For now, I'm going to stitch into my print, to add definition and texture.

If you like the look of the Guild, then pop along to their blog (which I also run!) to find out more about how to join.