Embroidery- Again!

As you can probably tell, I'm on a little bit of an embroidery roll at the moment. I just can't help myself! I seem to be getting a lot out of it and currently really enjoying exercising this side of my creativity. I’m finding it a very relaxing hobby, plus something which is low pressure (i.e. not my ‘primary’ medium, therefore I have a different approach to it). And I love the results it gives: it’s a great way of image making in a less traditional/ typical medium, unlike say painting or drawing (both of which are also fantastic media to work in- no hate)!

Though I must admit, a part of me feels a little guilty for not putting all this time spent sewing into rotoscoping/ animation, but at the same time, I feel like if I'm feeling really inspired in one aspect of my creativity, then I should run with that. I've done (and do) a LOT of rotoscoping, so don’t especially feel making something because I feel I ‘should’ will actually add anything to my portfolio. Also, in this blog, I have alluded to only doing test clips for when I have an idea of something I want to actually test, rather than just for the sake of it. Which at the moment feels like if I did decide to make a rotoscope clip, it would be coming from a place of guilt, rather than what feels true to me at this time.

I would also much prefer to be working on a larger rotoscope project such as a short film, as opposed to small pieces. So I am currently working on developing a few ideas (some small, some bigger- hello feature film) of a project to work on next. I’m not saying I can’t learn anything anymore by doing test clips or smaller pieces, because I full know I can and the minute I become complacent about something will be the worst thing for my development as both an artist and a person. But, I am saying that embarking on a bigger project would mean a lot more to me, plus I will learn a lot more from it, too. Test clips are good and fun, but if I call myself a filmmaker/ director, then there is not a really a substitute for making full films whether they be shorts or features.

Working full time does make starting a long project harder (and slower), but there are bits I can do towards my project in the mornings before work. I am one of those awful 6am risers, so it’s not like I don’t have the time for it.

Anyway, how did we get here? This was meant to be a casual post about a recent piece of embroidery I finished! Though I guess you’d think AI wrote this piece if I didn’t turn it into a big existential analysis of my practise/ life, right?!

Anyway, below are a few photos of the embroidery. I must admit I am really proud of how it turned out. I tried a few new techniques in this one, such as the blending of colours on the mountains. It’s really building my confidence and I think I might be ready to try something a little more complex (maybe)! As always, watch this space for that… The pattern was from DMC- though the original pattern was just meant to be blackwork/ outline only (and square), but I decided to do a full colour version (and make it circular).

Ps. It’s my birthday today! So obviously writing this blog would be the most appropriate way to celebrate!

Embroidery

I've mainly done cross stitch recently, but had the burning desire to embark on some embroidery again. I'd say I slightly prefer embroidery in the traditional sense over cross stitch, because I favour the more 'normal' outcomes of the images over the somewhat 'pixelated' look of cross stitch. Of course each technique has its place and I do enjoy them both (surely the sewing tab on this blog is testament to that).

Apparently the last time I finished a full embroidery piece (or at least according to this blog) was October 10th 2021. That's almost two whole years ago!! I had started one since, which is sadly still unfinished and lying firmly in its hoop. I've toyed with the idea of finishing it, but the pencil lines have faded and have not had the motivation to continue with it. The reason I've not let it leave the hoop though is because there's a glimmer of hope I'll get back to it- we'll see!

Anyway, scrolling through the free downloadable patterns on the DMC website, I came across this lovely autumnal design:

I must admit what really drew me to it was the the cute little squirrel, though when tracing the pattern, it didn't come out as well as I'd liked, so had to leave that for now. I do want to still do it though at some point, as come on- just look at!

Instead, I ended up choosing a few of the other motifs and transferring them to my 4" hoop (my 6" hoop is taken up with the unfinished piece- I should really get a reserve one, but not let myself because I didn't ever intend to have more than one project on the go at once)! Using the 4" hoop actually proved to be somewhat advantageous anyway: as it's smaller, I was able to make something more manageable which I could complete in a few days, rather than something larger which I'd be working on for a longer period. As it's an autumnal design, this piece might have been more appropriate to working on in October, but the weather sure feels like autumn at the moment- the temperature has dropped and there hasn't seemed to be a rain free day for weeks! 

I tried out various stitches on this one, along with outlining some of the shapes and not others. Some parts worked better than others, but I was pleased I decided to use more stitches than just satin stitch. I think it gave it a more textured look, plus got me out of my comfort zone. I'm always apprehensive when trying things I'm not sure of the end result and often feel like giving up half way through, but I should have much more self belief, as they usually turn out well anyway...

I've just started another small design, so check back in a week or so if you're interested in how that turns out. Then I'll get back to some rotoscoping- I find both embroidery and cross stitch super addictive and once I've started a piece, I struggle working on other projects until it's done!

Ps. The Women's World Cup starts today and I am super excited- I am going to be sooo distracted for the next month, especially with The Ashes going on as well!! It's coming home (again).

On TV!!

Remember back in October last year when I announced I had started a new job as an Assistant Editor on a children's animated TV show?! Yes?! Well all this week, the first six episodes are being shown on actual TV! CITV, to be precise. At 4:30pm each day, a new episode of 'The Rubbish World of Dave Spud' will be broadcast. Then the rest will air later in the year on ITVX once they're finished.

I'm so proud to say I work on this show, as it's genuinely hilarious, surreal and fantastic all the same. You should definitely give it a watch (however old you are)! I'm also working alongside a great group of people at a super lovely company, which of course makes the day to day aspects of the job really enjoyable.

Here's a cheeky photo of the credit slide my name is on (alongside all the awesome people I work with):

Cushion #2 and More Sewing

The next sewing project I set myself with my sewing machine was to make a second cushion. Nothing too complex about this task, but after not having used the machine for around about a month, it was safe to say I was anxious about using it again. All my original fears had come flooding back because of the long gap between uses, so I procrastinated starting this one.

Regardless, I bit the bullet as I knew it was something I had to do (so dramatic, I know)! So with the assistance of the instruction manual, I was able to thread a new bobbin (as I wanted to sew using a different colour) and thread the machine. It turned out I didn’t actually need the manual for the machine threading part as I still remembered how to do it and I suppose once you know, it becomes second nature. What I did trip up on though, was winding on the bobbin. I tried twice before getting it right on go three. I had done something not quite right, so it was loose and tangled each time I wound it on the bobbin. Luckily I found out what I was doing wrong before I wasted anymore time/ thread.

After that slightly rocky start, the sewing came quite easily this time. I feel that I had much more control of the machine and found sewing up the sides extremely hassle free, plus I was able to do it very neatly.

This has given me a lot of confidence and I now feel ready to take on a bigger project- hello garment of clothing!

I also ironed the fabric before sewing this time. Mainly because it had several creases in it from the way it was folded, but also because it makes it crisper and nicer to sew and the end result will look neater due to it being flatter. This was also where I got to use my new metre stick- doesn’t my life sound super exciting?! I struggled last time in measuring the squares, as I didn’t have a ruler long enough, so had to improvise. It was so much easier this time round with the proper tools. Would recommend!

Again, like the previous one, I didn’t feel confident enough to do the finished top stitch edge by machine, so I did it by hand. But I am definitely going to schedule in some top stitch practise time, to build up both my skill and confidence using the sewing machine. Like with anything, if I want to get good at it, then I need to put in the work.

I also made myself a new pin cushion. Well technically a ‘needle cushion’ for me, as it’s where I house all my cross stitch/ embroidery needles etc as not really sure where else to put them! Plus I find it more convenient having the needles I use often at easy access, rather than trying to find them each time.

It was to replace this old thing (image below), which I made when I was in hospital several years ago. I didn’t stuff it enough, so it has always been quite soft, plus the stuffing has started to fall out and I don’t really like the material it’s made out of. Additionally, it brings back memories of not the best time in my life, so there’s also that.

Before I made the big cushion, I did a few test pieces on some cut offs, to make sure I had the right thread tension etc and just to get back in the flow of using the machine. I didn’t want to just chuck these pieces away, so decided to make one into this pin cushion. I made sure to stuff it really full this time and I think I did a much better job of doing that. I also decided to finish it with a bit of detail, by using over stitch around the edges. I think this added a super nice look to it, plus doubles up as adding some extra strength to it- being as it’s quite full, I didn’t want to risk the stitching popping open! Not that that’s especially likely to happen, but you just never know…

I’m super pleased with how this turned out and think it makes a nice companion piece to the main cushion. Though because I positioned one of the horses on top, it feels a little barbaric sticking needles in it!

Lastly, a little bit of a fail here. I wanted to try out the ‘one step button hole’ setting on the machine- just as practise and to get more familiar with the capabilities of the machine overall. Though unfortunately, I just couldn’t get it to work. I’m going to go back to it at some point after watching a few tutorials on it- I hate leaving tasks unfinished, so this is something I WILL persevere with. This is what my attempts looked like:

Well I definitely think I packed a lot in this post, so I’ll leave it here (plus I have nothing else sewing related to write about). See you in the next one!

Badge Making!

My boyfriend recently bought a badge maker for 25mm button badges and I obviously couldn't wait to get in on it too! As a teenager I used to (and still do) love button badges and I have a small collection of them. I used to put them on my school bag as that was all the rage in the 00s, though why I have a Bon Jovi badge, well that's anyones guess!

I've been thinking of several designs, but now I have a week off work I finally had the time to put them into practise. I really should get out more! Most of my designs were based upon my interests, so women's football, film/ animation, bowling, typefaces and skateboarding.

Whilst I'm really pleased with how a lot of them came out, some need improving. For example, the bowling pin 'daisy' design- I would have preferred those to have been smaller in the circle. This was my main qualm with the ones I feel need improving. Besides that, to be honest I didn't feel there was much wrong with the others. The colours turned out nice and vibrant and the designs held all the detail (which I was a little worried about before getting them printed- probably why I did the bowling pin ones so big).

This is definitely something I want to do more of! It was a really fun process from designing them, right through to making them in the machine and the satisfaction of seeing my designs on a badge! It's a quite addictive process actually. I think they'll make for great gifts for people, plus nice items in general to have around. Watch this space for more...

Below are a few pictures of the process: cutting them, the badges after they were cut and lastly, a few of the finished designs.

NEW ROTOSCOPE PIECE!!

This has been a LONG time coming! And I hope it’s worth it! According to this very blog, the last time I published any rotoscope work was December 4th 2022. Wow. Am I sure? Yes, yes I am. I knew it was a while, but I didn’t know how much of an actual while it was.

Since then, it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest- we moved house, nicer weather happened so more time was spent outside skating, work got really busy/ stressful so didn’t fancy animating as much in my downtime, I got more of a social life (moving cities has changed me!), and just stuff happening in general… ‘Life’ I believe is what they call it. And just like that it was July. But, I think the break was good (and necessary).

Being as skateboarding is very prominent in my life at present, of course my next clip would be of just that! I’ve made several rotoscope skate clips before and I always enjoy the outcomes and they’re super fun to make. Plus I think skateboarding lends itself really well to rotoscope animation.

I love when I use analogue materials in my art combined with work created on the computer, so this was made under that notion. I drew the outlines in Callipeg on my iPad, printed them out and let myself loose with paints, felt tips, biros, pencils and Letraset transfers to see where it would take me.

My approach was very experimental with this and I tried not to be too rigid. I made sure I was trying techniques I wasn’t sure would work (some did, while others not so much). I also tried media I have always wanted to use, but never got around to before. The live action reference material used here was split into three separate shots. I did this to allow myself to try more ideas in one clip, which I thought might not only look quite aesthetically interesting, but also be a great way of seeing what techniques work/ have potential for future projects.

The first section was a more standard approach. I used a mixture of fineliners, gel pens, biros and felt tips to colour in the character, alternating his shirt colour throughout to liven things up a bit (so every four frames I switched colours). The background I used gold acrylic paint. I love the look of the background- I think the paint came out really nicely, but feel what I did to colour the character here a little pedestrian. It doesn’t scream ‘excitement’! Or at least not in my opinion.

Here are four of the frames, before I added the gold paint (which I did in post):

The second section was when things got more exciting. Here, I decided to use Letraset transfers which are one of my favourite things to use(!) to create the background and then in TVPaint, I coloured the character using one of the watercolour brushes. As I only printed the outlines out on regular A4 paper, I didn’t want to use ‘real’ watercolours on it. This was because it would have risked making holes in the paper from all the water, plus bleeding/ running due to the paper not being built for holding watercolours.

I love, love, love how the Letraset turned out. I have used this before in other test clips, but not to this scale- I guess I’ve always been more reserved in my approach. Not this time. I went BIG and bold, using all sorts of shapes and characters. And I honestly think the result is great. I really like the contrast of the stark black transfers against the white of the paper. I think my only drawback to this section is that I wish it was longer! I will definitely be using this technique again.

I do like the watercolour too and feel like it compliments it nicely, but I think it would be really cool to try real watercolours, so perhaps I could look into a way in trying out those in another clip. Maybe tracing the printed outlines onto watercolour paper. I think that would do the trick.

The last section was another fun one. I used felt tips for the background to make a multicoloured checkered pattern and used pencil shading to fill the character. I really like the contrast between the colourful background and the monochrome figure. I have used check before as a background, but not to this extent and not with so many colours! I have never used pencil before for rotoscope, but have always wanted to. I used a variety of different pencil grades for each section of the character and tried to make the shading even throughout. I like to think I did a pretty good job of this. Well I don’t notice it flicker much when watching the animation. I would definitely use pencil again.

Despite not all of the results being super exciting (section one, I’m looking at you), I feel this was a fantastic task to have completed. I think it definitely has progressed my work and my abilities, whilst simultaneously providing me with several techniques I can work into my future short films. Maybe music videos especially, as those are pieces which can be super experimental. I would love to make another music again- it’s been a while!

Here’s the clip:

Ps. I’m not using Twitter anymore, but have’t deleted my account- just because it’s probably linked in various places and don’t want a load of links floating about online which don’t actually link anywhere!

I also took a couple of months off Instagram- but gradually easing back into using it again now. So if you’ve not seen me ‘like’ anything on there for a while then that’s why! I deactivated my skate account though as want to reduce as much time spent on social media for all the usual reasons, but I am still skating! Perhaps I’ll bring it back to life at some point, but currently don’t feel the need to. Anyway, I am now down to only one social media account, plus YouTube (is it social media? Yeah, kind of). So life feels a bit calmer and nicer at present.

See you in the next one xoxo