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Nimue Creation Step by Step

A few months ago I wanted to write about the creative process either in general or the particularities related to a specific topic in progress. And as these articles are acclaimed by many of you, I continue…

In this part of the site you will therefore find articles that tell how a creation is developed step by step, mixing technical, economic and poetic questions.
And above all, do not hesitate to leave your comments at the end of the article. Good reading !

Parade finishes, episode 3

The mystery is cleared up

This time several months have passed and a few tens of thousands of cross stitches later here comes the real time of the finishes.
A sudden stop took place after 4 months of embroidery. In question a crucial element that was found to be missing from a supplier .
I must say that this greatly destabilized me, greatly distracted.
Because that was supposed to be my high point.
However, when a supplier from the start is “fragile”, this does not bode well for the future. The commitment put into the creation of a subject must provide a form of security for the future.
When I create a model, I need it to be available for at least 10 years.
A- This supplier did not reassure me at all.
As I told you, it was the high point, the Waouh element!
At this stage I need to step back to make a decision:
  • am I continuing on this path?
  • Am I changing my first idea? but i’m stubborn..
  • And how ?
This item was ordered in March, it arrives in September!!!!
Normally it should have happened at the beginning of April, it happened at the end of September.
This tells me that this supplier is really unreliable.
It’s a bit complicated in my head at the time. Things have to mature.
You will tell me: “Go elsewhere! Find another supplier.” Except that the others are 10 times more expensive!!!!
This episode is really very rare.
If it had been a secondary element, I would have quickly moved on to something else, but as I told you: it was central! Precisely it was what replaced the baby in the initial image.
Meanwhile all the other parts have arrived:
  • the bells (divinely bronze)
  • the buttons (divinely bronze)
  • the special threads (divinely bronze) but not only…
  • + other surprises (divinely bronze)
That’s happiness… divinely bronze

Before having fun with all this we will have to do some back stitches.

B- In creation, to reach the momentum, that is to say this phase of sublime creation where each gesture confers grace (I’m hardly exaggerating but you get the idea): you have to start the machine, enter in the heart of the matter and become one with it.
To do this, you have to start with something secondary, a motif on which all the attention will not be focused in order to quietly enter the dance, in a form of rhythm of the gesture and sensitive perception of the whole as much as of the retail.
1-Let’s start with the left end.
The challenge of this point area is that there are a lot of vacant spaces.
There are flowers: a daisy, lily of the valley and a forget-me-not.
For the moment, we don’t see anything because they will be made of silk threads and pearls, which will come later.
However, I launch into the back stitches while imagining the rest as if it were done. Let’s go !

I start from the Ephemeral ending with the banner

I now progress from left to right, from one character to another, to the last musician, always keeping in mind the ultimate finish with accessories and special wires. Then I go back to the butterfly fairy, the little fairy and the banner. It’s done !
The faces became clearer, the expressions too. The hands have taken on agility and the fingers are agitated waiting for their musical instruments. Our characters are coming to life. There remains the customization of clothes with accessories.
C- If this work had not been carried out within the framework of a SAL (mystery grid), it would undoubtedly be finished. But the requirement of the deliverability of the modules complicates things excessively. It happened to me because of this to remain dumbfounded for weeks not knowing how to take things when on my own I knew where to go, how to do the embroidery. It was really frustrating.
The challenge that I had launched myself to create at the same time for me and for you, showed me its limits. I understood that if it is absolutely marvelous to share the evolutions live, it is also a constraint, even a trap , because it often delayed me not being able to advance on the parts which naturally called me. There are too many details to make parallel grids, one for you, one for me, with different progressions. It would be the door open to monumental errors…
I have been struggling for several months in this slice of complicated creation where the SAL with its obligations, and the freedom of creation and evolution, collide. The requirement of the pattern itself, extremely dense, with a lot of information, is not helping.
I advance all the same but interspersed with long pauses of indecision.

But when sterile indecision comes to the fore, you have to let go and go where it's obvious and joyful.

1-White Paris silk + pearls
Too bad, I embroider flowers and therefore Paris silk and pearls . Here I am freed at least from this part.
As I go along, I write the explanations for each pattern made.
Since the Covid, but it has only been an acceleration, pearl suppliers no longer stock. Also, it is not uncommon for half of the order to be missing. Sometimes you have to cross the Atlantic (virtually) to get a color, then another in Japan, and yet another in the Czech Republic. All this to bring together 3 unfortunate little bags of pearls…
2- Bronze Wire
Very early on I found a large coil of old gold metal wire, mixed with another material, probably synthetic, bronze in color. The mixtures of materials give strength to the thread. When I discovered it in a haberdashery near my home, I knew immediately that it was MY THREAD!
I was extremely looking forward to using it. I stampeded the whole length of the cross stitch to try it out.
I start by :
  • the wings of the ephemeral
  • the shoe buckles (I love it! this yarn is just perfect.)
  • belt buckles
  • the drum strings (just the right thickness, very very good)
  • a little light in the only embroidered bell between the last 2 characters
  • some light points on the pixie accessories and the pup harness
  • ditto for the wings of the little fairy

I exult with joy. What I see makes me happy.

You can see that the issue is not the same for all these elements. Once again there is the foreground which catches the eye and the sense of reading the image . They are first:
  • shoe buckles
  • the drum strings
and then :
  • the wings of the ephemeral
and again in 3rd reading:
  • points of light here and there
If this yarn hadn’t been perfect for shoe buckles, I would have chosen another one.
This is the first condition, ideally with a wire that suits everything else so as to limit the references and therefore the price of the kit.

Gaps had been left for later filling of loops.

Half stitches in 1 thread have been added to create shadows under the feet to give depth to the pattern.

Problem: it is not a thread created for embroidery but a novelty thread for knitting. Also, I will have to make a large stock to be sure to have some for a few years. It’s a safe bet that it will no longer exist with the supplier within three or five years. I confirm my choice all the same because I saw in a brand of serious metal wires, a very approaching reference which could take over in a few years if of course this first choice disappears.
XXXXXXX
It’s starting to smell good at the end!!!
The back stitches are done. The embroidery with the special threads has started.
The white silk thread of Paris, this incredible metallic thread with such a perfect old gold look, are so delightful that I forget for a moment my indecision from the center of the work.
For me they are perfect and when we find perfection: we adopt it!
When it happens like that it’s pure happiness.
And I’m happy to share it with you…

See you for the rest: Parade Finishes: Episode 4…

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Don’t hesitate to leave your comments below!

Annaïck Chauvel

Annaïck Chauvel

Welcome to the story of Nimue’s Creations. Here I share with you the How and Why of these creations.

Table of Materials

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