Saturday, May 31, 2008

Inspired by Valerie J.'s CDC at the Ink Circles Gallery I decided to take the idea of coloring in the chart a step further and overlay a waving American flag over the design. I found a photo on the web and drew it out in a grid, coloring in the original pattern with markers.

I then ordered fabric (SMF) and silk floss (Eterna) to start on the piece. I had originally wanted to do a total of 6 colors, both dark and light shades of the colors red, white and blue. Unfortunately the 2nd color of white I picked for the fill-in just didn't stand out at all so I had to rip stitches in a star in the upper-left corner. Since the stitches were too tightly packed I ended up ripping a portion of the fabric. Still not sure how I'm going to fix it.... :(

I continued on and have only recently completed page 2. I'm liking how it's looking so far and think the white not having a contrasting match isn't that bad after all. In a happy mistake, I may have ordered different threads and the white skeins are almost twice as thick as the other colors. As the most updated photo shows, this is causing it to have a small 3D-ish effect that gives it enough contrast to have the original pattern stand out.

I'm praying the piece continues to come out well and perhaps be nice enough to earn a place among the gallery at Ink Circles when it's finished. Wish me luck! I'm also toying with the idea of doing the sister piece, Cirque des Triangles, with a Texas flag for a matching set, but also have another idea up my sleeve... perhaps I'll save that secret for the next Cirque rumored to be on its way. Let's just say if it's a Cirque des Diamonds it'll be PERFECT for what I have in mind.

Anyway, here are the photos!





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