Creating Mixed Media ''Magic Lake'' Picture

I want to share with you the designer embroidery in mixed media.

In this technique, I performed the picture presented in the photo — it's called "Magic Lake". The size of embroidery is 20 cm by 30 cm, decorated with a mat, frame size is 30 cm by 40 cm.

Once I really liked a picture that I saw on the Internet and it caught me with bright colors that I certainly wanted to embody on the fabric in some unusual way. So I came up with the idea to use dyed fabric scraps as a base.

So, I take the base for an embroidery — a thin cotton fabric, And then I apply dyed patches on ot, trying to match the picture size and color scheme.

Then I compare the result of the patches layout with the sample by color, i.e. the picture-basis, and only after that I fix them with pins, and then with threads of the matching colors.

This is how I dye patches. As a basis, I preferably take chiffon, because it is very thin and pleasant to use. Cut it roughly into pieces, so that the size would match the color section. Chiffon can be of any color and even not necessarily originally white before dyeing. For example, for this picture the main color was sky blue. It all depends on the tone of the proposed item. Paint with simple watercolor paints, make color spots. Dry with a hairdryer and then fix the staining with a hot iron. Just be careful not to burn through the chiffon. Do not wash the patches, because it is not necessary if you are going to put the finished work under glass. Of course, if you intend to leave it in the open for one reason or another, then you will need to paint the patches with paint for silk. This dyeing process is also very exciting, but the end result is a little bit different, because it does not form such unusual stains of paint. When working with dyes for silk fabric, I dye, dry with hair dryer, iron with a hot iron, wash, dry and iron again with a hot iron. But after the paint for silk, chiffon retains its tenderness. In general, it all depends on your ideas, why you paint the fabric.

Oh, and one more detail. Why should the base be relatively thin? The fact is that we attach chiffon on fabric, and the chiffon is painted, and watercolor paints give thickness and some roughness to it. Moreover, in some places the chiffon will be layered on top of each other. And imagine, we sew ribbons on such basis. And the ribbons could also be painted. In my work, the willow in the foreground is embroidered with watercolor-dyed ribbons and the leaves are embroidered very tightly to each other.

Recommendation: accuracy of our embroidered copy and, I think, labor consumation are depended on how accurately you place patches according to the colors presented and on how accurately the patches are dyed in the first place. If suddenly you do not like the color tone in some places of the picture, do not hesitate to unfasten the patch and repaint. Do not be lazy and correct the result before fixing the patches with threads. You will never regret it and the picture will be more accurate.

So, I print out a photo of the picture in the size of 10x15 cm, it is enough. I print the same picture on a black-and-white printer in the size of my future item. Black and white printout in the size of the proposed picture helps to determine the location of the parts on it more accurately.

After you sewed on the patches, it is necessary to accurately determine the perpendiculars-horizontasl and vertical lines of the picture. This will help you to apply stitches with thread directly and to not mow. Next: the definition of three-dimensional details in the picture. What exactly do you want to highlight in the volume? In my painting it was the leaves of water lilies. Take the felt and cut the leaves of water lilies. Here you will need a black and white printout to more accurately determine the size of the leaves and their location. Attach the felt leaves with a thread.

Next we define basic details of the picture with threads (plan and stitch). Now proceed with embroidery.

So, this picture is embroidered in the following techniques:

1) ribbon embroidery (leaves of trees and bushes, flowers of water lilies and some of their leaves, leaves of the reeds). Silk and satin ribbons were used for embroidery. Satin ribbons, including painted with watercolors, embroidered willow leaves in the foreground of the picture.

2) satin stitch. It should be noted, of course, that the embroidery used in the painting does not quite correspond to its classical representation, but it is embroidery with satin stitch that is taken as a basis. In this case, the stitches in the picture do not tightly put to each other, and we leave gaps between them, because it is for this that we made the basis of colored chiffon patches so difficultly and painstakingly. And it is the gaps left between the stitches that give the picture a special originality.

3) French knots. A classic knot is performed. It all depends on the place in the picture. The knots are larger in the foreground and smaller in the background. Accordingly, in the foreground you can make 3 turns (throw the thread on the needle away from you) of the thread on the needle, the rear part needs just two turns. In the picture, for example, in the background in the upper left corner, I performed knots using two layers of thread put through the needle for more detail. For greater liveliness of color I embroidered some knots with two threads of different colors at once.

That's basically all the main techniques that are used for embroidery of this painting. To fill large areas I used a combination of long stitches interspersed with knots and left the distance between them so the colored chiffon was seen.

In general, everything is in your hands! Fantasize, try, invent new techniques and use new materials.

Now we have a huge number of floss and ribbons of all colors and shades – do not be lazy and use halftones, embroidery looks especially lively and extremely interesting this way.

Good luck everyone!