On Vacation Mode!!!!

I am off on vacation with my husband till the end of August! I will be on beautiful Kos island in Greece! 

 

Greedings everyone!!!

KP

My Dream Canvas Blog Giveaway

There is a Giveaway of a pair of beautiful earrings at Anu's "My Dream Canvas" blog which I follow. This Giveaway is open to everyone! The winner will be  picked on Sunday Aug 15th.

The earrings are handmade by Joanna who runs a customized jewelry store on Etsy. You can visit it for some incredibly pretty jewelry.

To enter the Giveaway you should follow the instructions written in Anu's blog here. 

Good luck to everyone!

KP

Embroidery in Art - Patricia Dahlman

Some time ago I wrote a post about embroidery as a form of art through the artistic work of Olja Stipanovic. Patricia Dahlman is another artist I discovered in the Internet that uses embroidery to express her artistic temperament. She works on canvas, cutting out forms, then stuffing and sewing them together. These stuffed, sewn forms are either stitched using different colors of thread or painted with acrylic paint.
 

Her three-dimensional sewn forms are based on photographs from news magazines and off the Internet of people such as George Bush and events like the insurgency in Iraq.  The creation that follows, named "Freedom?", is a good example.

The subject matter of her work is taken from personal thoughts, life experiences and reactions to political events around the world.

My favorite creation is this one called "Family".

Short Bio:
Patricia  Dahlman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and studied art at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and Yale University Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, CT. Patricia has received a New Jersey Printmaking Fellowship at Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, two Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships to attend Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for Creative Arts, a Yaddo Residency and a Puffin Foundation Grant for the War and Peace Print Project. Patricia has shown her work all over the United States and exhibited recently at George Adams Gallery in NYC, 621 Gallery in Tallahassee, FL and Jersey City Museum in Jersey City, NJ. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo show at "Art in the Windows" at the New York Public Library, Mid-Manhattan Library in NYC. Patricia lives and works in Lyndhurst, NJ with her husband the artist, Michael Dal Cerro.
 

You can see more of her work here.

So have you used or seen other people use embroidery in a similar or other contemporary  artistic way?

KP

Greek Folklore - Lefkara laces or Lefkaritika

I found this interesting video talking about the "story" of lefkara laces. Lefkara lace inscribed in 2009 on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The tradition of lace-making in the village of Lefkara in southeastern Cyprus dates back to at least the fourteenth century. Influenced by indigenous craft, the embroidery of Venetian courtiers who ruled the country beginning in 1489, and ancient Greek and Byzantine geometric patterns, Lefkara lace is made by hand in designs combining four basic elements: the hemstitch, cut work, satin stitch fillings and needlepoint edgings. 

This combined art and social practice is still the primary occupation of women in the village who create distinctive tablecloths, napkins and show pieces while sitting together and talking in the narrow streets or on covered patios. 

Unique mastery of the craft is passed to young girls through years of informal exposure and then formal instruction by their mother or grandmother in applying cotton thread to linen. When she has learned her art thoroughly, the lace-maker uses her imagination to design work that embodies both tradition and her own personality. Testament to the ability to appreciate multiple influences and incorporate them into one’s own culture, lace-making is at the centre of daily life for women of Lefkara and a proud symbol of their identity.

KP

Sources:

Ministry of Culture of Croatia.

UNESCO - Intangible Heritage

Dancing with the lace

Here are my latest lace creations. These handmade accessories are inspired by Pablo Picasso’s artwork on "dancers" done with a single stroke. They are made of a silver lace tape, close-stitched together with corresponding silver thread. They can be used as embellishments and applique's and be blind-stitched on any garment, like a pair of jeans, a blouse, a jacket, a scarf, or a hat and a purse, to give it a fresh look. They can also be framed and hanged on a wall, even glued on a card or lampshade!

I hope you liked my lace dancers! Any more ideas on how else they can be used are welcome!
 
KP

Greek Folklore - An Introduction to Greek Embroidery

Before I start presenting Greek traditional embroideries from different regions of Greece, I think that an introduction to Greek embroidery in general is necessary. 

Greek embroidery flourished between the middle of the 17th and the end of the 19th centuries. Embroideries were used to decorate the home, adorn traditional costumes, ecclesiastical garments and cloths. They could be identified according to their place of origin - Asia Minor, Constantinople, Cyprus, Thrace, mainland Greece, the Aegean or Ionian islands. Each region developed quite different styles and repertoires of designs using linen, cotton, and silk. Varying populations -- urban foreigners and rural natives, Catholic towns and Orthodox villages, invading navies and armies -- all contributed to a fusion of styles and motifs that led to one of the greatest displays of decorative folk art to be found anywhere in the world.

The styles range from aristocratic and patrician designs from Rhodes, the monochrome geometric work of Naxos, to the exuberant narrative style of Skyros and the Ottoman-influenced work of Epirus. Although styles and designs were transmitted either through commerce or marriage, particularly in the islands, strong regional patterns and techniques were preserved.
 

Depending on the materials used, Greek embroideries could be classified as (a) colored, worked in dyed threads, (b) white, using white silk or cotton threads, (c) lace, worked in cotton with needles, crochet or bobbins, and (d) gold-embroidered, produced with the use of metal threads, gold and silver wire and gilded wire.
 

The decorative motifs were arranged horizontally, vertically, diagonally or in a circle with patterns repeating or alternating. For example, bouquets or vases of flowers might alternate with cypress trees throughout an entire piece. Certain motifs were more popular such as the "tree of life" - a motif in Christian art referring to the Cross, signifying resurrection and eternal life, and also, fruitfulness and nature's bounty. Other common motifs were crosses, birds, flowers, double-headed eagles, churches, rosettes, anthemia - honeysuckle or palm leaves in radiating clusters, and geometric patterns.
 

The following embroideries are from the Greek Institute's permanent collection of embroideries, textiles and folk costumes.
 

 Table cover from Mytilene/Chios - a patchwork of motifs joined by Venetian-style lace
Silk and gold thread on cotton and linen - Wide variety of stitches, bobbin lace

Towel from Thrace - stylized men and women dancing
Silk thread, gold and silver wire on cotton - Counted thread and satin stitches

Tsevres from Thrace - "vase of life" with poppies and cypress trees
Silk thread, gold wire on cotton - Counted thread stitch

Can't wait to show you my handmade thracian tsevredes!

KP

Source:
Parts of the text and the photos are from the Greek Institute

HOW-TO Videos: Cross stitch (part 2)

Today, I will post the second part of the video series on cross stitch. Last week, we show here the basic stitches in cross stitching: cross stitch, half cross stitch, and quarter cross stitch. The next two videos demonstrate two more of the basic stitches: back stitches and French knot stitches.

How to Cross Stitch: How to Do Back Stitches in Cross Stitching
Back stitches are used mainly to outline your pictures to make them more fancy looking and show up nicer.
How to Cross Stitch: How to Do French Knots in Cross Stitching
This video shows how to wind your thread around the needle in order to form a knot, the so called French knot.
Once you become akin of the basic cross stitches, it is time to start your own cross stitch project. The videos that follow will help you decide on what cross stitch pattern to use depending on your experience as a stitcher, they show you what ways to use in order to transfer a pattern into your grid paper, they even show you how to customize and personalize or design your own pattern. The series concludes with the last video that shows what to do once you have finished your cross stitch project.
How to Cross Stitch: Types of Cross Stitch Patterns
What patterns to use when you are a beginner or a professional stitcher.
How to Cross Stitch: How to Design a Cross Stitch Pattern
This is a video showing how to design your own pattern. Any picture and pattern that you like can be easily transferred to a grid paper. Use the grid paper to trace the pattern, draw it and then fill it with the cross-stitches and the colors that you like.
How to Cross Stitch : How to Use a Transparency for Cross Stitching
Another simple way to copy a pattern is to use transparency paper. Check this out.
How to Cross Stitch: How to Make a Cross Stitch Pattern from a Photo
This video actually shows how to customize a ready to use pattern in order to make it wider or longer or whatever suits you.
How to Cross Stitch: How to Personalize Your Cross Stitching Pattern
Some ideas on how to embellish and personalize your cross stitch by sewing on beads and little charms. Don't forget to put your initials so that the people you're going to give it remember who made it for them.
How to Cross Stitch: How to Frame a Cross Stitch Pattern
This video explains what to do once you finish your cross stitching project. How to wash it, iron it, and finally frame it, in order to enjoy it for years to come.

Please share your thoughts about cross stitch. Do you like this embroidery technique? If you do like this technique and want to share your work in this blog you can send me an email with images of your creations and a small description right here!

KP

Thank you Expert Village for the videos!