While I am still playing with coloured experiments I figured I would start designing my first proper blackwork image so that I have plenty of time to think about it. I already have a piece of fabric that is the same size as the one I am doing the current experiments on which is square and about 14 inches wide. Therefore I intend to design an image that is approximately 10 inches square. I want to stick predominantly with black thread at the moment but am considering using some gold as a contrast.
I am a belly dancer and it would be really nice to combine my two hobbies in this piece so I have looked through my photographs to find a simple shape that I can take as a model. These are what I came up with:
The shape of the dancers back provides a simple but easily recognisable image and the fabric of the hip scarf and skirt provide interest. The first of the two is the more dramatic so I decided to start with that. I transformed it into black and white, heightened the contrast slightly to emphasise the different tones, then drew lines over the edges and where the most obvious shading should go:
To make the image stronger I shortened the hip scarf and raised the bottom edge of the top to show more of the back of the waist. I then created a new, square, document and copied the outlines across so that I could decide what layout the final image should have. Finally I blocked in some shading:
Cropping the image in tighter to the waist hightens the impact by emphasising the body's curve and I really like this as an idea. Gold thread could be included by adding some coins to the hip scarf. In real life there would be two or three rows but I wouldn't want to overload that part of the design so I experimented with a single row allong the botom:
The coins do add something to the design but they will also add to the difficulties in transfering the design on to the fabric so am stoping here and will come back to it in a couple of days to see what I think. I am happy with this as a starting point though.
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