Thursday, July 27, 2017

~ Background Check ~


 Hello Friends & Folk ~
it's Thursday! 
one more day til the weekend....
~ hoping to get a little kayaking in perhaps on Sunday,
if the cooler temps hold out for us :)

 So I am in the home stretch 
of finishing the humongous background of my 
'When Pigs Fly' punch needle design ~

and I am combining many different variegated colors of Valdani #8 pearl cotton
 with plain DMC black/310 cotton floss ~ 
this lends a great deal of movement to my background, 
as I wanted it to have an interesting background for my motifs to 'float' on...

the photo below shows the back, or 'working' side of my project ~

 after outlining my motifs a number of times with my variegated pearl cottons,
I intentionally leave 'spot's and places to go back in & fill with DMC black/310
and I ALWAYS use all 6 strands of floss when I work with my punch needle.


How you punch, meaning in which direction, 
really has the most to do with how static or not your background is...
I tend to keep my motifs simple, and love to play with my backgrounds....
and since they are usually where most of the punching is on my designs ~ 
that is where I want to add texture and fun!
 
Here are a few previous designs of mine
 that  have interesting backgrounds:
this one is all variegated pearl cotton from one ball ~ in beautiful blues...



this, too is all variegated pearl cottons...
but two different balls of two different colors:
 

now this one below, is ALL DMC floss... 
but I have chosen my thread colors to compliment one another and replicate stains & age:


see how fun mixing it up is?
don't let your background be boring!
 

for my Turkey & Tallowberries background, I wanted the look of an old hooked rug, that perhaps the maker ran out of the black wool and had to use what she had on-hand.
This is a favprite technique of mine to use with my punch needle and threads:
 

for my Farmhouse Chores Series, I used one color of variegated pearl cotton for all 4 designs ~
keeping them all cohesive ~ and can you see the movement in them? like the blue sky is being touched by a gentle breeze as my little Farmwife works away:


adding borders and edge-motifs helps to fill up a background a little quicker too, 
like the triangles on these two below:
 

For a lighter colored background, I used 2 different DMC colors...
same shade {white} but different values {bright & darker}:
 

and don't ever be afraid to add little surprises to your backgrounds! 
see the bottom-half of my design below?
see the little 'bubbles' of lighter thread colors set amongst the mostly-black background?
yep....fun and not boring ;)


There are so many ways to add interest to your punch needle ~ 
like mixing up threads, changing needle-depth for dimensional effect.
etc & so on...
 

This is where all of my punch needle models live:
in our humble little Needlework Shop here at the farm
 

~ my chalkboard says it all ~ 


oh!
almost forgot ~ 
my passion fruit/flower vine has fruit!


wishing you all a beautifully creative day my friends...
 
Blessings from the Farm 
~ Lori

6 comments:

Stitchy Mc Floss said...

Such lovely designs and projects. :)

I had to smile when I read the "stitcher by day, hooker by night" one. :)

Hope you have a lovely day.

marly said...

Thanks Lori. Very helpful.

Laurie said...

We have some fruit on our passionfruit vine here as well (NC). Hopefully, this year they'll ripen before the first frost. Your farmhouse chores series makes me want to learn punch needle. Very lovely!

Susie H said...

Bet we see that passion fruit/flower vine in a pattern soon! It's lovely

elaine allerton said...

Wonderful punches andbackgrounds, lori!! Awesome post!!
Love fun backgrounds,,, definitely not boring,, have that turkey pattern, better get it started!!
Thanks for sharing ur tips and tricks,,,

NMK said...

Love how you create the movement in your backgrounds.....that is what I learned from your wonderful punch needle club !!! Thank you So much Lori !!!!