I started work on Reginald, the hummingbird pirate, quite a bit ago. It's actually a pretty decent size, especially compared to the small projects I've been doing with the stitch clubs. I was almost done when I showed him to my embroidery teacher and we had a great conversation about color. The floss I chose worked with the fabric, but maybe a little too well as it didn't stand out enough. Part of it I think was the challenge of embroidering on a printed fabric, and part was maybe being a bit color shy and not picking colors bold enough. I had the right hue, but maybe not the right saturation. She helped me pick out some colors to do essentially a shadow or highlight to help what I had done stand out.
I don't know how well my camera picked it up, but the top branch has some shading with a teal color and the bottom branch doesn't. I can't believe the different between the two. I really feel like I'm painting with thread and am excited to finish the piece. I think in some ways it's going to look even better because I went back with another color and added another layer. I love how the addition of the teal was just enough to make that branch pop out. My brain is dancing with ideas of how I can paint with thread. :-D
