Helen M Stevens

Recently I have been ordering books again and found Helen M Stevens books from the 1980s.  The first of her books I purchased was "The Timeless Art of Embroidery".  Her first set of books were more like coffee table books.  She explains art theory and shows how to use it to make more realistic embroideries.  When I ordered one of her first books I thought she used mostly needle painting.  However she gets really lovely results using simple shadows, perspective and a stitch called opus plumarium.  You can see a preview of her book "World of embroidery" with stitch guide by clicking on this link www.books.google.com/books?isbn=0715326651
On Amazon they have a preview of the book and offering a good price for the book used.  http://www.amazon.com/World-Embroidery-Helen-M-Stevens/dp/0715309773/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386356398&sr=8-1&keywords=world+of+embroidery

She does use other stitches but opus plumarium and directional opus plumarium seem to dominate her embroideries.  Directional opus plumarium is a simplified form of needle painting in this case using fewer colors then other needle paintings.  Another factor that makes her work so unique is the use of colored background fabric especially black.  Helen M Stevens' use of art and stitches make her work very unique.

Then in the 90's her work was released again only this time it contained projects with more detail instructions.  These books were renamed "Master Class Series".  Then finally the "Master Class Series" was remade again in the 2000s to be even more streamlined.  This newer "Master Class" is even more concise in teaching specific techniques and has very specific projects.  I bought the third series "Embroidered Landscapes" which includes 5 lovely projects.

Personally of all of her book series I prefer the first.  Even though the first set of books are a bit rambling they bring out more of the authors ideas and character.  The first series is richly illustrated with the authors embroidery.  Each page has at least one embroidered piece or sketch from her journal.  The first series may not give many detailed instructions, but for someone who already embroiders they can use the pictures alone to make any of the illustrations.

Yesterday I started getting ready to embroider one of her birds.  I simply copied the embroidery onto card stock.  Then cutting out the bird I traced it's outline onto black fabric using a white fabric pencil.  Next I went over the traced lines and sketched in some of the details.  This will be the first time that I've tried embroidering on black fabric and look forward to the challenge.

I hope this little review has inspired someone to look at Helen M. Stevens' books and maybe even buy one.

Aftermath

Now that my time is my own again I have begun cleaning up and organizing the crafting supplies again.  This is going to take a great effort to clean up.  Since getting the flu twice I have not recovered the little energy I usually have.  Working on tree ornaments has meant dragging all types of supplies out and now I cannot find anything.  Right before decorating the Asian style tree I decided to add a necklace to the gifts.  I had been planning the necklace for a while but couldn't find the stones I wanted.

 

Amazonite necklace.

 

In the end I decided on these amazonite 4 mm stones in pale and medium blue green shades.  Then I added A quality rice shaped pearls and 3 and 4mm clear crystals.  The patterns of the strands were based on odd number and I made three different strands. 

 

 

Close up of amazonite necklace crystal drop.

 

Finally I added a large odd shaped crystal drop.  The crystal had two holes so that it could be added directly into a necklace.  To hide the second whole I added wire wrapping to the crystal.

The necklace is really beautiful and was a bit of a wrench to give it away.  In the end it was placed on the red dress, I hope whoever gets the necklace will like it.

After hurting my left wrist last year I had stopped making jewelry to give it time to heal.  So it was fun making jewelry again.  Here is a picture of the necklace I made for the Marie tree.

 

Necklace gift for Marie Antoinette tree.

 

The cameo was from Michael's craft store.  The whole piece is quite large.  I hung the cameo from a thick chain and then wired some black crystals to drape on either side of the necklace.  The person who got this tree said they really liked it.

 

By a strange chance the Monday after Elks tree festival the woman who got the Marie tree stopped at Beverly's to get some pink decorating supplies.  Even stranger Linda was the person checking her out.  Linda asked her what she was making and the woman explained how she had gotten a beautiful tree at the Elks.  She also said that the tree was made by the people at Betty's Fabric.  Linda said that it wasn't made by Betty's and the woman asked how she knew this.  Then Linda explained about our merry little ban of crafters that made the tree decorations.  The woman was impressed by all the work and thanked Linda for the tree.  The really great thing about meeting her we got to find out what she was going to do with the tree.  The tree was a present for her daughter who is a Christmas baby.  She is going to have a Christmas tea birthday party and is going to serve out of the silver coffee server.  Sounds like it will be a very beautiful party.  The woman is going to keep the 17th century party lithograph for her work room.  She makes period costumes!  I can't think of anyone who could have enjoyed the tree and gifts more.

 

So back to the cleaning and sorting.  The beads are everywhere right now and I was sorting through them when I saw some of the lovely green opals and Italian marble.  So next thing I know, instead of sorting I'm making more jewelry!

 

 

Italian marble beads and golden pearls.

 

 

Golden leaf clasp.

 

The Italian marble necklace is made 8 mm marble beads in fall colors, specifically the colors found in grapes and opaque white marble.  The beads are wired together with a rosy colored brass.  The colors look great with the large leaf clasp.

 

Next I made a more complex necklace.  Using 20 gauge copper wire the necklace was wired together using poppy jasper, burgundy crystal pearls copper beads and bloodstone.  In the middle of the necklace I made a drop of burgundy crystal pearls and bloodstone and attached a tassel made from copper chain and a bead cap.

 

 

Burgundy crystal pearls, poppy jasper, blood stone and copper wire and beads.

 

 

Copper tassel.

 

I actually made two more necklaces but couldn't make up my mind on how to finish them.  It seems once I tried again I got past the fear of breaking my wrist.  My last osteoporosis test scores were -3.6 and -3.8 with the worst score possible being -4.0.  So fear of breaking bones is unfortunately real.  This was the reason that I started embroidering again, far less stress on the bones.  But when I see beads they seem to make a project in my head so easily.  Anyway I look forward to embroidering some ornaments for Christmas and making chocolates.  I have a great truffle recipe on this blog here is the link to the instructions and pictures http://ravingsofamadcrafter.blogspot.com/search/label/chocolate

 

Hope you all enjoy the season

 

Lois

Christmas Trees Finished for the Year!

The trees are done for the year and I'm really happy!  As much as I enjoyed the challenge it is great to be done.  Anyway here are some pictures taken after decorating Sunday.  If you are in Santa Maria the tree is at the mall.

View of whole tree and gifts.

 

 

Another view of the whole project.

 

 

Chair, picture, red dress and doll.

 

 

Close up of doll.

 

 

Close up of red dress.

 

 

Close up of chair and picture.

 

 

Shelf with gifts.

 

 

Container with silk plant.

 

 

Bowl with ornament.

 

 

1940's book on Japanese prints.

 

 

Happy Cat!

 

 

 

Decorated shelf top.

 

 

Gifts including china.

 

 

Close up of china.

 

 

Lantern on tree top.

 

 

Tree top showing peacock.

 

 

Close up of peacock.

 

 

Tree top.

 

 

Tree top.

 

 

Umbrella.

 

 

Tree top.

 

 

Tree top.

 

 

Another umbrella.

 

 

Strands of cascading beads.

 

 

Tree ribbons.

 

 

Large fabric lantern.

 

 

Poinsettias.

 

 

Ornaments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tree came out so lovely I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures.