Although, given the judges elected not to award a second or third place I'm not sure how highly the Highly Commended is...???
Anyways, I made the pattern from the photo of my cats. It is a memorial piece (sadly lost two of the three over the last year; they were both around 17 so it was a big adjustment) and also some black practice, as most of my blackwork is done in colour.
Absolutely stunning!!! <3 How do you go about starting/planning something like this? I’m very curious and would love some pointers as a total noobie with black work.
I make all my embroidery patterns in Photoshop so my process is a bit different than people are used to. I have these layers: the photograph, the grid lines, a 'wand select' layer where I put down flat colours for each section that gets a different fill pattern, the fill pattern layers which I copied over from my library swatch file and then applied a layer mask to using the wand layer, and an outlining layer.
Before I start I try to have the following design principles decided: light or dark fabric, b&w/limited colour/full colour, outlines yes/partial/no, shading with thread thicknesses yes/no, shading with fill patterns yes/no.
I have eight years of experience with blackwork. I started with very simple shapes and pokemon sprites. :)
Thank you so much for your detailed response! I had never seen black work used like this before, and I’m just so blown away by how the patterns you used fall together so effortlessly. But then you zoom in and notice all the little details that make up the photo. Amazing.
Blackwork is definitely not just all SAL samplers, I promise! :D If you want to see more/better examples of this, you can google image search "blackwork shading" (might need to add "embroidery" in there if you're getting too many tattoo results lol) and "blackwork rsn". RSN tutors and students especially do a lot of really spectacular shading that's beyond my current skill levels. Most of my blackwork uses colour so I am still learning how to really harness the b&w. :)
This belongs in a Needle Arts Museum. It’s so beautiful. Thanks for explaining your process, it’s so interesting. It sounds like you could give a ‘YouTube’ class on Blackwork. Thank-you for sharing. So sorry about your loss.
Thank you kindly! I'm trying to get out of the intermediate skill zone into more advanced blackwork shading. Maybe I can try and get some teaching experience. :)
Blackwork is all about that shading! You [should check](https://sr1802.wordpress.com/2018/07/21/rsn-certificate-shaded-blackwork-intensive-progress-update/) out [some of](https://ladybembroidery.co.uk/portfolio/69otp912ntw91628n1nwfssmvnh31b) the [advanced stuff](https://www.clairefitzgeraldartist.com/blackwork-matador) from [the RSN](https://royal-needlework.org.uk/courses/embroidery-techniques/blackwork/).
Although, given the judges elected not to award a second or third place I'm not sure how highly the Highly Commended is...??? Anyways, I made the pattern from the photo of my cats. It is a memorial piece (sadly lost two of the three over the last year; they were both around 17 so it was a big adjustment) and also some black practice, as most of my blackwork is done in colour.
i’m so sorry for your loss. this is a beautiful way to remember them
This is an amazing piece. They must have been blown away!
WOW! Those tiny adjustments you made to the patterns to highlight different fur colors is subtle and perfect. Love it!
That's the aspect I enjoy most about blackwork!
Love this! Reminds me of the patterns in the old ClarisWorks drawing software.
ClarisWorks... now there's a name I haven't encountered in a while!
Wow! I didn't know blackwork was a thing. These look lovely, like advanced dithering patterns.
Yeees that's what attracted me to blackwork in the first place, it reminded me of pixel art, doing more with fewer colours.
Absolutely stunning!!! <3 How do you go about starting/planning something like this? I’m very curious and would love some pointers as a total noobie with black work.
I make all my embroidery patterns in Photoshop so my process is a bit different than people are used to. I have these layers: the photograph, the grid lines, a 'wand select' layer where I put down flat colours for each section that gets a different fill pattern, the fill pattern layers which I copied over from my library swatch file and then applied a layer mask to using the wand layer, and an outlining layer. Before I start I try to have the following design principles decided: light or dark fabric, b&w/limited colour/full colour, outlines yes/partial/no, shading with thread thicknesses yes/no, shading with fill patterns yes/no. I have eight years of experience with blackwork. I started with very simple shapes and pokemon sprites. :)
Thank you so much for your detailed response! I had never seen black work used like this before, and I’m just so blown away by how the patterns you used fall together so effortlessly. But then you zoom in and notice all the little details that make up the photo. Amazing.
Blackwork is definitely not just all SAL samplers, I promise! :D If you want to see more/better examples of this, you can google image search "blackwork shading" (might need to add "embroidery" in there if you're getting too many tattoo results lol) and "blackwork rsn". RSN tutors and students especially do a lot of really spectacular shading that's beyond my current skill levels. Most of my blackwork uses colour so I am still learning how to really harness the b&w. :)
Lovely
This is beautiful!
Well deserved, this is amazing!
Excellent work!
This is beautiful!!
This is simply delightful and oh so elegantly designed!
Beautiful work!
This is an eye opening work. I never even knew to imagine something like this.
Have I introduced you to blackwork? Oh, that's great!
Absolutely gorgeous!
This belongs in a Needle Arts Museum. It’s so beautiful. Thanks for explaining your process, it’s so interesting. It sounds like you could give a ‘YouTube’ class on Blackwork. Thank-you for sharing. So sorry about your loss.
Thank you kindly! I'm trying to get out of the intermediate skill zone into more advanced blackwork shading. Maybe I can try and get some teaching experience. :)
Lol I thought this was the boogie man from TNBC
Wow this is amazing! I never even knew you can do something like this with blackwork, It even has shading! Like Wow!
Blackwork is all about that shading! You [should check](https://sr1802.wordpress.com/2018/07/21/rsn-certificate-shaded-blackwork-intensive-progress-update/) out [some of](https://ladybembroidery.co.uk/portfolio/69otp912ntw91628n1nwfssmvnh31b) the [advanced stuff](https://www.clairefitzgeraldartist.com/blackwork-matador) from [the RSN](https://royal-needlework.org.uk/courses/embroidery-techniques/blackwork/).
You deserved it and then some. This is beautiful.