Modern Embroidery

embroidered ASL i love you

Since another World Embroidery Day is just around the corner, I updated this 2018 post and added more information about the embroidery artists and what they’ve been up to lately. Also, since it is World Embroidery Day, I listed what countries they are from and/or living in. 
—S


In honor of the upcoming World Embroidery Day (July 30), here are 18 modern embroidery art pieces and patterns!

travel embroidery by Le Kadre
Via My Modern Met.

1. Travel memories.

Charles Henry and Elin Petronella (a.k.a. “Le Kadre”) embroider scenes from places they travel.

Artists: Charles Henry and Elin Petronella

Countries: France and Sweden

Currently…

  • Still together, but no longer going by Le Kadre, the artistic couple’s new website is simply charlesandelin.com.
  • They’ve also created the Charles and Elin Academy, where they offer online courses in modern hand embroidery.

 

Little leaf embroidery
By Brannon Addison via Brown Paper Bag.

2. Intricate blooms.

Brannon Addison of Happy Cactus Designs does spontaneous freehand embroidery of tiny flowers, leaves, and ferns. Doesn’t this piece just look so joyful?!  (h/t Brown Paper Bag)
Continue reading “Modern Embroidery”

Color Story: Gems + Jewel Tones (part 1)

watercolor paper gems

Beyond just decoration, color is elemental.

Think of mineral pigments. The way a body of water takes on shades of what it carries – a cloudy blue glacial stream, a teal bay concealing a forest of kelp, a river that turns mud-brown with sediment. The hue of flames shifting from fuel and temperature changes. Or the impact of heat and chemical makeup on the color of lava, of aurora, of stars.

telescope image of nebula and stars - Webb Telescope image of Pillars of Creation composite image produced by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

The rich, saturated colors of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts, and other gemstones are actually from trace elements within them. It’s those so-called imperfections that create the gorgeous palette we call jewel tones.

With Tucson’s gem show season beginning today, it seemed like the perfect time to explore jewel-toned things to make, places to visit, handmade items to shop, and nature to marvel at.

Continue reading “Color Story: Gems + Jewel Tones (part 1)”

Color Story: Deep Teal

Updated March 2023.

Originally published January 2020.


While Pantone’s 2020 Color of the Year is Classic Blue, I feel like I’ve already explored that in my 2018 Blues color story. Instead, what’s been on my mind – colorwise, at least – is teal.

It’s a tricky one to define exactly.

Teal resides at the divide between blue and green, undulating from one to the other, like waves over the border between sea and ocean. The side it falls on depends on who is seeing it and how.

Detail of an element of ‘Craters,’ a mosaic work by Sonia King.

You might find dark, dramatic shades of teal in a flowing river, in paint and pottery, in flora and fauna. Maybe it’s made its way into your home.

Teal can feel tranquil. Like a deep breath. Like that time after the holidays but before you’ve completely resumed your regular routine. Like the peace we need more of in 2020.

For now, maybe we can start by simply taking a moment to breathe deeply and take in some gorgeous teal tranquility.

Stucco paint by Kromoxi in a shower.

Diving kingfisher photo by Alan McFadyen.

VisionShift mosaic by Sonia King.
Mudstone font demo
Eucalyptus leaves

1. A dramatic shade of natural stucco paint made with minerals sourced in Europe. / via Kromoxi (H/T A Girl Inspired)

2.  Diving kingfisher near Kirkcudbright, Scotland. / One of over 720,000 photographs Alan McFadyen shot during his 6-year quest to perfectly capture the birds’ dive into the water. / via Daily Mail 

3. Detail of VisionShift, Sonia King’s mosaic installation for the HALL Arts complex in Dallas.

4. Mudstone font sample. / I’m not sure whether this festival actually exists, but I kinda hope it does. / via You Work For Them

5.  Tips for making a eucalyptus leaf bundle to hang in your shower. (Or purchase a ready-made one.) / Photo via Healthline

Prickly pear earrings by Australian artist Amelia Marks.

Tiled steps at The Dreamcatcher Guesthouse in Ocean Park, Puerto Rico.

DIY tropical wreath

ceramic tiles in shades of teal
camper tea towel

Monterey, California

6.  Prickly pear cactus earrings created by Australian artist Amelia Marks. / via e.g. etal

7. Tiled steps at The Dreamcatcher Guesthouse in Ocean Park, Puerto Rico. / via BLDG 25 + Dreamcatcher on Facebook

8. DIY tropical wreath with paper foliage by Lia Griffith.

9. Ceramicist Gwendolyn Yoppolo shows the lovely variation from different glazes and firing techniques.

10. Hand-printed vintage camper tea towel by Cara Hibbs. (Her Etsy shop, ohlittlerabbit, is taking a break. More fun, hand-screened tea towels here.)

11. Sea lions and pelicans enjoying a sunny day at Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, California. / I took this photo when we were there in 2012. We stayed in a cute little vintage camper that looked a bit like the lower right one on the tea towel above.

 lacinato kale

Vintage pendant lamp by Doria Leuchten | Germany | 1960s Brushed metal via VNTG

Embroidery by breezebotpunch

Watercolor and photo by Heather Day via VSCO.

Vintage Turkish Over Dye Rug via The Home / Photography: Lisa Zhou
Herringbone square planter by Elizabeth Benotti.

12. Lacinato kale + recipe for kale and sausage skillet via The Rainforest Garden.

13. 1960s brushed metal pendant lamp by Doria Leuchten via VNTG.

14. “You Belong Among the Wildflowers” embroidered Tom Petty lyrics wall hanging by BreezebotPunch on Etsy. (Currently out of stock but you can get on the waitlist or request a custom order.)

15. Abstract sketchbook painting of the Smith River in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (Northern California) by Heather Day. / Her work is more about sensory experience than the literal represensation of a scene. She camped + painted in a spot overlooking this river in 2017. / via VSCO

16. The Vintage Turkish Over Dye Rug by Cadrys is one of the accessories “Interiors Addict” Jen Bishop selected to help your home feel cozy over the winter. (H/T The Home)

17. This adorable little square planter is handmade in Maine by Elizabeth Benotti.

Teal + blush in Venice, Italy.

Teal we meet again!


Photo sources: the Monterey and Venice photos are mine. Others are as cited.

This post contains Etsy affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission on purchases – at no extra cost to you. So shop away!

Pysanky: The Easter Eggs That Came Before Easter

Easter eggs

Despite what you may have heard, Easter eggs were not invented in a New Jersey pharmacy.

In fact, thousands of years before there was Paas, there were pysanky – eggs decorated in the ancient Ukrainian tradition.

Pysanka- Ukrainian Easter eggs
By Colby Stopa via Flickr. CCL.

“Ukrainians have been decorating eggs, creating these miniature jewels, for countless generations. There is a ritualistic element involved, magical thinking, a calling out to the gods and goddesses for health, fertility, love, and wealth. There is a yearning for eternity, for the sun and stars, for whatever gods that may be.”
Luba Petrusha of pysanky.info

For agrarian societies dependent on seasonal crops, the end of winter brings the beginning of the growing season and the food to survive. So the return of spring represents life in a very real way.

Pysanky
By Bo&Ko. CCL.

With this in mind, it makes sense that many cultures of the distant past worshiped the sun, including ancient Slavic peoples. To them, eggs were associated with springtime, the sun god, and the life-giving cycle of the seasons.

Kistka
A variety of styluses for creating pysanky, from traditional to modern. By Luba Petrusha. CCL.

Writing Pysanky

Pysanky are created using a wax resist process (similar to batik). Traditionally, you would have prepared dyes yourself, using natural materials like onion skins or red cabbage for color.

Then you would make the first part of your design on the egg’s shell by using a specialized stylus (a kistka) to apply melted beeswax, like putting a pen to paper. In fact, pysanka comes from the Ukrainian word for “write.”

Making a Ukrainian Easter egg.
Pysanka Brunch by Olga Strachna via Flickr (@olga_strachna). CCL.

After laying out the first part of your pattern in wax, you’d submerge the egg into your lightest shade of dye (let’s say yellow). While most of the egg then comes out yellow, your wax lines preserve the original color below (presumably, eggshell white).

Next, you’d put wax over the parts of your design that should remain yellow and sink the egg into the next darker shade of dye (maybe green).

You repeat the process of applying the wax and then submerging the egg in the next dye color, from lightest to darkest, for as many colors as you want in your design (or have dyes for).

Finally, you soften the wax and wipe it from the egg to reveal the full design.

Pysanka diagram
Diagram showing the step-by-step process of creating a single “pysanka”. Originally in V. Shukhevych’s 1902 “Hutsul’shchyna”, via UMA Cleveland.

Since it may be a bit hard to visualize, I highly recommend the 1975 short film Pysanka: The Ukrainian Easter Egg. You can see the process demonstrated from start to finish, while the narrator explains the traditions and beliefs that go along with the ancient art form.

 

Pysanky Easter eggs
By Luba Petrusha. CCL.

Easter

So where does Easter come in?

Pysanky existed centuries before the life of Christ. However, as the Christian Church spread, it had a tendency to adopt/appropriate parts of the local culture wherever it went. Pagan symbols were reinterpreted with Christian meanings. Even the word “Easter” itself likely comes from the name of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility and springtime.

Ukrainian Easter Basket
The tradition of blessing Easter baskets full of food continues to this day in Ukrainian Orthodox churches. Photo by Suburban Grandma.

Decorating eggs became less about the return of the sun god and more about the resurrection of Christ. Over time, the tradition lost many of its ritual components, becoming increasingly associated with the Christian faith and the Easter holiday specifically.

Simplified versions of the practice became Easter traditions in other parts of the world, as well.

 

New Jersey factory building
PAAS Easter egg dye company headquarters in Newark, circa 1931. Via NJ.com

Artificial Colors

By the 1800s, chemists had figured out how to make synthetic dyes. Among the products manufactured in the early days of this revolutionary technology were Easter egg coloring kits. So instead of using your own vegetable scraps or whatever, you could go purchase dyes at your local drugstore.

One of these drugstores was owned by William M. Townley in Newark, New Jersey. He stocked Easter egg dye kits imported from Germany (the top supplier of all things synthetic dye until WWI), but he wasn’t really happy with them.

So he came up with his own. While he didn’t invent Easter eggs, he did start selling dye powders in convenient pre-wrapped packets.

The product was such a hit that the Townley family transitioned from pharmacists to factory owners. The Paas Dye Company was created in 1881 and would soon be operating year round just to meet the Easter season demand.

 

Ukrainian Easter egg
By Orest Ukrainsky (@orest_u) via Flickr. CCL.

Hidden Easter Eggs

While springtime egg decorating became more common around the world, the tradition was officially prohibited in its country of origin when the Soviets took over in the 1930s. Perhaps the ban was because pysanky were associated with Christianity or perhaps because the art form is distinctly Ukrainian.

Still, the tradition survived, like countless other folk customs that empires have attempted to suppress. Some people made pysanky in secret. Others left Ukraine. These expats may have felt an even heavier responsibility to pass their culture on to the next generation.

 

Giant Pysanka - Vegreville
Giant Pysanka in Vegreville, Alberta by eileenmak via Flickr. CCL.

When Ukraine regained its independence in 1991, the art form experienced a resurgence. Today, you can see pysanky in museums or take a class on making your own. As fragile as pysanky may look, they are surprisingly durable.

 

– More Pysanka Info –

  • “Pysanka” is the singular form of the word, “pysanky” is plural. I’ve attempted to use Ukrainian terms correctly, but I do not speak the language, so don’t take my word for it!
  • I’ll mention again the film Pysanka: The Ukrainian Easter Egg. It’s only about 15 minutes long. If you’re at all interested in pysanky, watch it! And don’t let the slightly 1970s trippy intro dissuade you.
  • Pysanky.info – history, patterns, photos, all things pysanky
  • Symbols Used on Pysanky from University of Alberta
  • Ukrainian Easter Egg (Pysanka): Tradition And Design – firsthand perspective on Ukrainian Easter traditions from Suburban Grandma
  • “Eggs Hatch Rebirth of Ukraine Culture” – L.A. Times article published shortly after Ukrainian independence (March 1992) about Ukrainian-Americans being “keepers of the flame” of traditions like pysanka.
Easter egg
By Svitlana Frankiv. CCL.

Fundraisers for Ukraine:

Easter Egg (Pysanky) Workshop

  • April 30, 10am at St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church, Tucson.
  • $50 donation for registration benefits Ukrainian refugees and orphans.
  • Advance registration required.

May the 4th be with Ukraine

    • May 4, 6pm in the Hotel Congress Plaza, Tucson.
    • Live performances by Miss Olivia, Greg Morton, Salvador Duran, and Mark Insley.
    • All proceeds go to World Central Kitchen and the refugee resettlement efforts of Lutheran Social Services Southwest.
    • Donations online, at the door, and (if you’re unable to attend) checks payable to Hotel Congress LLC (memo: “May The Fourth Be with Ukraine”) and mailed to 311 E Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701.

St. Mary’s Protectress Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Phoenix is raising funds for Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine.

  • Ongoing
  • So far they’ve donated $32,000 to support emergency relief efforts, like shipping medical supplies!
  • You can give via Paypal or credit card, check payable to St. Mary’s Protectress (memo: “Help Ukraine”), in person at the Ukrainian Cultural Center (730 W. Elm St, Phoenix, AZ 85013), or wire transfer (routing #021000021, account #767167682).