Reattached

 Sometimes, when a piece is almost done, the changes I should make are unexpected. In this case, I unpicked, cut and reattached the parts a few times.

 

Slowness

I made some progress with my embroidery projects. I have been working on this series for almost a year. Doing other stuff for work makes my progress even slower. Slowness would probably become one of this blog’s most popular keywords, especially describing this series. Sometimes I feel like leaving it all behind, since it all seems useless, as there are no results to see.
During the last few days, documenting my progress cheered me up a bit, and so I have something I can share, and soon there will be even more.

Embroidery Mask

  

I wrote about this portrait a month ago, and now I added a mask on top of it. The mask is actually a similar embroidery without the eyes, and the eyes were taken for the piece I posted about yesterday.

 

Chinese Mask

 It has been so freezing over here during the last few days that I could hardly move. I am not used to this kind of cold, rainy, and windy weather, but it was the perfect opportunity for me to dig around my computer and find photos I haven't blogged about yet.  

I started this piece during my stay in China last summer, and finished it only a few weeks ago. It is made of several layers of fabric and paper, and it combines a few different works of mine. In addition, this piece incorporates a silk tourist handkerchief from the Hangzhou Silk Market, as well as felt that I received from a textile designer who attended the same residency program. 

 

Embroidery Portrait

It took me two weeks (or even longer) to embroider this portrait. The image is the same one I used for my previous embroidery works: it is a photo taken by a friend of mine last winter during a fringe cultural event at the underground floor of Tel Aviv's central bus station.

Usually, I don't like to be photographed, and it is difficult for me to look at photos of myself;  With this photo, I was tagged on Facebook. It was the kind of mirror I couldn't avoid, and I had to deal with it.

At the same time last year, I worked with kids and teens, and this photo was the inspiration for the project I did with them, in which I took photos of them, which they transformed into drawings, paintings, and embroidery.

The process was very complicated. Transforming the image into another medium forces the subject of the photo to observe and deal with many details that wouldn't ordinarily be noticed in casual observation. When embroidery was applied as well, the process forced them to concentrate much harder and become aware of even more details.

Confronting these two aspects - the photo and the negative emotions it may elicit; and the embroidery work, which requires much patience and observation - creates interesting results. I envied the kids' process, and went through the same with my own photos.

Raven and me

 The embroidery is coming along very slowly, but here I have a few more new stitches to share,

 

   as well as new raven which was sewn last week.

The stitches

One of the things I am always most curious about in textile work is how things develop from very small stitches or loops. The process is usually so slow, and it is always make me think about the many aspects of the work, until sometimes I feel that the steps are more important than the final results.