Topsell the 17th c Cat
I’ve very pleased with my interpretation of the original woodprint :
I didn’t get his eyes right….I’m beginning to think that, never mind all the various techniques in embroidery, it’s faces that are the hardest thing to do!
I had made his thigh a little large (that area of light stitching). I was really reluctant to frog it, since it’s 1 over tent stitch on 38 count. Lesley U, my mentor, suggested that I use Jo Sonya craft paint, lightly, to cover over the area. It worked rather well. I used plain water (Jo Sonya paint is soluble in water) to blur the lines of paint over the several colours of stitching in that area.
The linen distorted pretty badly. I didn’t think blocking would help – Topsell is one solid piece of stitching! I’ve cut the edges straight – and the right edge is coming in really close to the shadow at the bottom there. I’ve decided that I’m going to cut him out and do him as a slip on a background, re-stitching his whiskers and the shadows under him. Now to decide what I want to use as a background…….