The Peacock: Phase II

Working on the peacock again - you may have to click on pictures on the previous post about him to understand what is going on here. I'm trying, as a fellow designer, to read Gail's mind (This is Gail Hendrix's peacock, which she has graciously allowed me to stitch after I hinted, whined, and finally begged.) The beads now placed on the stomach were put onto the very very lightly painted dots - almost white, and hard to see. For this reason, I felt it didn't need polka dots, but a rather subtle bit of texture and sparkle, so I used my favorite of the Sundance beads - the color #250, which are crystal clear. I used the plain ones, and not the "hex" as I didn't want glitter for this one. They were applied with a very light blue floss, which of course shows through the clear beads - just the right amount of light color and sparkle when the light strikes. The blue dots are also beads, but I had to re-arrange them, which involved painting them out with white acrylic, as Gail put them onto the warp - "bump" stitches. This is a logical thing, except when the plan is to use beads - she didn't know I would be stitching this one, so didn't do the weft thing. I made little black dots with my Pilot pen on the weft stitches in just the same count and distance apart. I'm very pleased with the look so far, but am surprised at the amount of YLI ribbon floss I have used. I have a lot in my stash, as I like it very much - it has a lot of body, and a really pretty shine, which is better in some cases than the softer sheen of silk. The colors I had in my stash, coincidentally, were the perfect colors for this bird and his gorgeous feathers. Also - the contrast in texture is great against the matte of the Petite Very Velvet of the birds' body - and also the green framework around the purple area. The white beneath the blue dots is also ribbon floss, as are the green bump stitches. The breast of the bird is stitched with 3ply of Splendor plus 2 ply of Accentuate, as Gail had painted it with a little bit of sparkle - which I think it needs. The sparkle and glitter of beads are kept just to the central figure of the bird - notice his black top knot also has beads in it - because this is the main focus. The colors and pattern are so beautiful and so busy, I didn't feel that more would be appropriate or attractive. This design is intended to be a "Rollie" - a cylindrical ornament. I couldn't wait to see what it might look like when finished, so wrapped it around my pottery rolling pin for a preview. I did add a row at each top and bottom of long armed cross stitch (in Kreinik 002V metallic braid), as this makes a nice finish for the edges. The beak is worked with Kreinik Vintage silver, and the little purple area above it is the same Splendor as the purple background, but with a bit of Accentuate used as blending filament. There are gold beads for additional sparkle in the lattice work looking design at each side of the bird. The little dots were so very light that I didn't notice them at first - but accomodated the counting so as to place beads there. Since the beads are gold on a metallic gold ground, they aren't obvious, but the glitter is there whenever the ornament moves and turns. Gail's canvases are delightful to stitch, as they are not only stitch painted - but in this case, symmetric, as it should be. I can just duplicate with ease on the left side what I have already done on the right without struggle or counting myself.