Chuppah on the Brain

My sister headed back to PA a week ago now...I can't believe it's been that long already and seem to have lost track of time a bit. I was the lame big sister tearing up (and laughing at the same time) in Boston's South Station as she caught an early morning train home and then balling on the drive home. After picking myself up and having a good laugh at myself, I got to work straight away and have been immersed in The Chuppah Project ever since. Finally...I am in the embroidery stage!! To get to this point though, I've been tracing, moving furniture, hanging, and painting while my husband carted home a mac friendly projection unit he was able to borrow from work...totally saved the day  as I wasn't having any luck locating one.

Here are snippets of the process from the past week as I tried to document along the way...

My totally glamorous self, tracing the design onto the chuppah.

 

 Mixing colors was my favorite part of several college painting courses. I loved the challenge of creating an exact shade with unusual combos. This was done using Versatex silk screening paints for permanence.

We had wanted to try some fabric applique but went with all fabric painting in the end due to the herculean effort that would have required on a piece of this size with the time constraints given. I decided an opaque paint on the leaves and berries could help them to still stand out in a similar way and did the trunk in a watercolor—very tricky to apply on fabric but a nice effect.

One days work...almost there!

Painting trees on chuppahs in the living room...that's how we roll around here.

 Not the best shot, but I've been finding it quite tricky to shoot the entire thing at once. The embroidery will outline text in the bottom panel and each berry and leaf in different stitches and colors to accent each element and add a lot more depth and character to the trunk which looks a bit drab here without it. I am really happy with the stitching I've done on it so far and how much definition it is adding though. Once I get a chunk of it done, I'll come up for air and share again!


P.S. Alas, I have decided it's time for watermarks. I strive for all original content on my blog and after a slew of incidents that made me think a bit more about protecting my photos/work and hearing from customers again and again that they were seeing my work but were having a hard time knowing where to find me, it seemed the best route to take. I've tried to make it as unassuming and unobtrusive as possible and hope you don't mind as I take this step to bolster my content.