For Dustmouth - AT LONG LAST - Remus / Sirius embroidery

[birdsofshore]

I finally finished this really bad copy homage to dustmouth's beautiful beautiful art. I am pleased with some parts and not so pleased with others.

Here it is:



with a close up:



Even the photos are not great, sorry, but you get the idea. I was really unsure about the shading (lighter colour). I tried 3 different shades of blue and it still didn't look quite right, but that will teach me to begin with navy thread instead of black (I felt inspired to get started and could not wait to procure black thread!).

I am still frustrated about not being able to get the eyes right, and some parts were unpicked so many times I am amazed the fabric is still there. :-/ Your pencil strokes are so light and precise in some places, dustmouth! I have even more awe and love for you than I did when I started.

My favourite parts are the outline, which I think worked really well, especially Remus' hair, and I do quite like the solid bit on Sirius' collar. I half wish I'd tried Sirius's hair all neat and solid like that, I think, but I was trying to get some of the sketchy, quirky quality into the stitches, rather than making it all straight and uniform. I don't know. I hope you like it, dustmouth! You have made all of us H/D shippers so happy, that it was lovely to make this little bit of R/S fanart for you. I think it is actually fanart of fanart, heh. I apologise that it took so long, and that it looks like it was done (as it indeed was), in dim light by a dyspraxic fangirl with a baby asleep on her lap :D But I am going to parcel it up and send if off to you as soon as I find some sort of frame thingy.

People on my flist, if you don't know dustmouth, (and I sort of suspect you may have seen some of her work somewhere lately *whistles*), she does the most delicious, original, emotional drawings and is basically a fandom treasure.  ♥ ♥ If you go to look at her art, I think you will adore it.

Comments

[facecat.livejournal.com]

Very nicely done.

[birdsofshore]

Thank you! I really enjoyed doing it.

[mab.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous! You have a real talent! I hope you'll consider picking up a prompt for the hd fanart fest and using embroidery as a medium. HOW cool would that be? Perhaps collaborating with another artist?

*enables and encourages*

[birdsofshore]

Thanks, mab! You are very kind, but I think talent would be if I could create something from scratch rather than copying. I did love having a little sewing project to do, and it would be excellent to do something for hd_fanart, but I am not sure how it would work?

[mab.livejournal.com]

You'd find an artist to collab with.. then they could sketch and you could embroider and for your submission you could be clever about it and do like either post pics of both versions, or have the artist tell one part of a story in a drawing and your embroidery would tell the second part.. Or... have the embroidery featured in the art and then the actual embroidery as a close up in another pic.. the possibilities are there. :P But yeah.. I hear you. It's hard to find and make those connections.

[birdsofshore]

Blimey you are imaginative! Well if any artist feels a pressing urge to collaborate with a bad embroiderer - I AM YOUR WOMAN :DD

[omi-ohmy.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's lovely! I've been looking forward to seeing the finished product, and I know that you were worried about the light blue, but I think it looks amazing. Remus's hair is particularly faboulous, but I like how you've taken Dustmouth's beautiful, distinctive style, and made it into this collection of light stitches. There's something so magical about sewing and embroidery, I think: the flow of the needle, in and out, the solidity of the finished art.

Bravo, you. And lucky Dustmouth, to get one of your ever-so thoughtful gifts. :)

Also, I whole-heartedly agree about being VERY excited to see Dustmouth enter the H/D world. :)

[birdsofshore]

Ah, thank you! I'm very glad you like it and that you think it works. I don't think you could attempt it for many artists, but dustmouth's style lends itself to embroidery, I think.

[gamma-x-orionis.livejournal.com]

That is FANTASTIC!

[birdsofshore]

Ah, thank you! It's dustmouth's lovely style, I can't take the credit!

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

[birdsofshore]

Glad you like it, thanks!

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

Hoooollllllllyyyyyy- it's amazing and I'm just so thankful to have met you, you lovely thing~
The stitches are beautiful, I don't know what you're talking about, I like that they aren't all so uniform. I've already said, but I love the way that the shading in Sirius'hair came out, and the blush on his cheeks AAAAGH! I wouldn't have thought that it would even be possible with stitching, but oh look, you've done it :O
So many tiny little details, and I am so excited to see it in person, because I know that these things look twice as cool in reality.
Just thankyou so much, it must have taken you so much effort, and that really means a lot, that you've taken so much time and care to make something like this for me.
I am quickly collapsing into an indecipherable, mumbling mess, so I'll just say thankyou in capital letters to sum myself up again. THANKYOU <3 <3
I am literally yours forever now ;)

[birdsofshore]

Awww... I am so happy you like it. Especially the hair and the cheek (the cheek took 3 attempts, I was standing up with the baby asleep in the sling and I kept cocking it up, LOL). The hair was not meant to be 3 different colours! This is typical of me starting a job because I feel really keen, and not waiting until I have the proper materials. I once put together a book shelf with a shoe and a breadknife, because I could not find a hammer and saw. Mind you, that was 20+ years ago and the bookshelf is still standing, hee.

"I am literally yours forever now ;)" YESSSS. This was my whoole plan, and now I have it in writing. :D Well, first of all I think we will drag you over to H/D, and then we'll tie you up and force you to draw enormous long romantic and funny comics that make us squee, and ah. Aha. Hmm. ;-)

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

It looks so good, I don't even know how you did it since it came out looking so delicate and light. How you embroidered while juggling babies, I don't even-
Well the bookshelf principle seems to have worked out again, this is by no means shoddy work.

Hah well yes, you've already made me do that. You'll only live to regret it you know ;)

[citrus-lime.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, that's AWESOME! *A*

[birdsofshore]

LOL, be careful, I am a big fan of your art also. Next thing you know I'll be attempting a papier mache version or something XD

[citrus-lime.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, I'd be honored! Really! XD

[epithalamium]

AAAAh, but the eyes look amazing! I wouldn't even know this was embroidery if we didn't see the wider shot. How do you even do it?! (Also, I love how you used a different coloured thread for some of the shadows. It lends more depth to it somehow.) <3

[birdsofshore]

Thank you so much! I promise if I can do it, anyone can. I like embroidery because you can be very deliberate about where you put each stitch, so even someone quite uncoordinated can attempt it. Not like painting or something, where it's like 'whoaaaa, that went a bit wrong, oh no!'

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. What a talent to be able to embroider dustmouth's art! I probably couldn't even trace it, let alone recreate it in another medium. I can't imagine the patience that you have to be able to make that.

[birdsofshore]

You are so kind. It really lends itself to embroidery because there are nice clear lines and it's all done with pencil strokes rather than blocks of colour, or more fluid lines or whatever. It was so enjoyable to do I feel tempted to start another one, LOL.

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

Do iiiiiiit!