"O" Yay! It's Finished!

Yesterday I finished my little stumpwork "O" for my Embroiderers' Guild project.

I knew I had a good start because I already had most of the dragonfly completed.  The two wings are made from two fabrics fused together at right angles, teal organza and pearlized organdie.

The wires used for the dragonfly wings are a stainless steel fine wire available in most fly fishing departments.

The wires used for the flower petals are paper covered wire.  I buy mine at Global Sugar Arts here.  Technically, they are a floral wire and come in both green and white.  If you buy the white, you can use a marker to color the wire to match your thread.

I prefer the Sunrise brand carried by Global Sugar Arts because it's a Japanese brand and I find that the paper is tighter and doesn't unwind very easily.  You'll note that the wire comes in different sizes or gauges.  The higher the number, the smaller the wire.  The wires used for this flower are 30 gauge.  The wires I used in the lace flowers on my Breakfast at Tiffany's piece were 33 gauge.  I prefer the smaller wires because I like less of an "edge" to my petals.

The square hoop I showed on yesterday's post is a German-made birch wood hoop made by Hardwicke Manor.  These hoops are great for stumpwork because they have a brass screw that you can use a screwdriver to tighten.  The base fabric for stumpwork needs to be drum tight and tightening with a screwdriver will keep it that way until you're finished working on it.

The square hoop is great for use when you are clamping the hoop to a table like I did yesterday.  That being said, it is not as easy to use as a round hoop when you have to shift your fabric around many times in a project.  A round hoop is much easier to manipulate...the square hoop requires you to find the sweet spot to get the fit just right.   

For stumpwork, I position the base fabric once, tighten it and leave it alone...So for that, the square hoop is great.  For other work, I prefer a round hoop.  That being said, many have proclaimed the advantages of the Hardwicke Manor hoops and I can't say enough good things about them. 

I think that's it for the questions I got yesterday.  

Tomorrow I'll show you where this little "O" is going.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.