May 12, 2012
Judy ~Doin' the Shisha and Half-Chevron Stitch
Tuesday while walking down one of the halls at the UW Medical Center, I glanced up and noticed that one of the "way-finding" art pieces was a very large piece of Indian tapestry with, you guessed it, a bajillion little shishas sparkling up at me! Sadly I didn't have my camera, but then I remembered that our daughter brought me a tiny purse back from one of her trips in 2007 to India when she worked for Unitus. Can't for the life of me remember where I put it, but we did take a photo.
This all happened the day after I did the shisha.... Before I read Debra's suggestion to use a button, I ventured off on a "shisha hunt" to Jo-Ann's where the clerk told me she'd worked there for years and never heard of such a thing. Improvision, here we come..... After finding something that I thought might work, I headed home to give it a try. By then this week's stitch had been posted and the Half Chevron became my first practice...no problem there. But the perfect-shisha-mirror-substitute turned out to be a big curvy clear crystal thing instead of the expected flat silver piece that was really the backside. Anyone need some? (Note to self: Turn the package over next time!) Anyhow after several unsuccessful tries at decoding my embroidery book, I read through Debra's links and found the one from Sharon's friend to be the most helpful. Said Shisha is now attached to my sampler and will serve as a weight to keep it from blowing away! It kind of looks like a headlight! No way will Sue be getting one of these for her wardrobe, even if she throws a tantrum.
My suggestions: Practice with something flat and don't use any thread finer than the full 6 strands of floss. The suggestion to remove the hoop after getting started was very helpful as my thumbs were killing me by then.
As for Sue, she's still resting. The Half Chevron stitch worked nicely around the curves on her dress. A few more flowers and lots of french knots later, she was put away till next week. Hope your stitching week was a good one!
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15 comments:
Your half chevron looks excellent! -just like some trim along the bottom. I am so impressed with how well you have used the weekly TAST stitches for this embroidery. It will be much more superior than its intended results.
Sheesh on the shisha. It's quite a bit of work. You must have the sample embroidery book I have. I think my problem was flipping back and forth between various sources. I'm going to pick one and stick with it. I really want some shisha flowers on my TX Mockingbird panel.
I love this stitch as a scalloped border on Sue's dress and with the french knots on the ends it is perfect. How about a teensy, tiny little shisha for the center of the flower just below the bird. Ha ha.
How about I send you the block? Tee Hee!
Your shisha looks fabulous! Even if it is not a flat shiny thing. I'm thinking of trying it with a big flat sequin spangle. They are round, flat, shiny and very thin.
Sue is looking pretty spiffy, maybe she's resting so she doesn't get her pretty dress dirty.
Before I started doing this shisha research, I didn't know the shisha mirror has a little hole on the side to hold it in place on the cloth. So, I could see a spangle working just fine.
In one of the links, I think it talks about using those sequins, only they called them something else. (It also said to file the edges of the mirrors so you don't cut yourself. Dangerous project?) The "thing" I used had holes on either side, and that was the only thing that kept me from going totally nuts. The curved surface made it very slippery. FLAT will be good, believe me!
Your half chevron band is perfect for Sue's dress and French knots repeated on the sleeves brings the design together. You should be proud of your shisha, I know I would be!
Really!? That would be great, but would you mind finishing it first (giggle)
Sue is looking very cute in her orange and blue. The half-chevron looks so good there. Kudos on the shisha! Way to go!
Sue looks wonderfully rested. I like that trim and the orange and blue are great colors together. The shisha looks great! I'm thinking in some block, Sue needs to discover one lying on the ground - a fortune, to be sure! =)
Lovely stitching Judy, a great week's reveal.
The half chevron scallops on Sue's dress is a great use of this lovely stitch. I like your creative thinking there.
Well done on the shisha too, I'm glad you persevered with it and worked through the problem areas. I bet you are pleased with it too.
I've got lots left in my little bag if anyone needs one! And they are all sizes which went unnoticed even when I took out the one I used. Sigh........
Of course, a disc of pure gold could be a nice shisha.. hah. As if I have an abundance of those hanging around!!
But seriously-- a great substitute for shisha mirrors, especially for practicing, is to use coins. Pennies are plentiful and affordable! You could also cut discs from old AOL CDs. (I've heard that you can cut them with scissors if you heat them (carefully) with an embossing hot air blower first, or if you warm them in a low oven. I don't know for sure, I haven't tried yet.)
I wonder if you can heat the CDs and bend them to make "ashtrays" like we used to do with old records/45s. Anyone else here remember doing that?
I have used old cd's for many recycled projects and found that cutting them with strong scissors after they have been sitting in a bowl of hot water for 5 mins the best way to cut them, but it is still not easy. They never cut in a straight line, and you get sharp shards of 'bits' that can do damage to hands (and bare feet). PLEASE WEAR SAFETY GLASSES and CUT IN A BOX to catch flying debris if you are going to try this.
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