Book: The Intentional Thread

The Intentional Thread: A Guide to Drawing, Gesture, and Color in Stitch by Susan Brandeis came to my attention by a fellow textile artist giving a short, enthusiastic review.  It's available only in hardcover so I put a hold on the copy at the local library and forgot about it.

Then it came home from the library and I was stunned.  I read the first few pages, flipped to the back to read the bio of the author, checked the appendices and ordered my very own copy from Amazon.  This is basically a university level course in mark making with thread done extremely well with dense detail that it will take me weeks to work through. 

I am still struggling with my fatigue. back pain and vision problems and one path I was considering was doing some hand work in the evenings.  I tried some knitting after a couple of decades not doing it and while I could easily do the work, it didn't satisfy me as being an art medium that worked for me.  So I've been mulling over what to do.  Now, I have a plan involving stitching. 

I have not previously enjoyed slow stitching.  I did one bargello pillow top in my 20's and after that went for speedier results.  I think the universe is planning to teach me patience with these health issues so I dove into this book with that thought in mind.  And found this lovely image of a spiral done entirely with hand stitching.

So i made a small fused collage and plan to try some stitching this week in the evenings.  I have my variegated perle floss, some new varied sizes of needles and my 12" square collage.  I'm thinking of doing something similar to a dna helix with the colored circles in the middle of the two intertwining lines.  And we'll see how it goes.

For anyone interested in hand stitching, this is a fabulous reference book.  I'm particularly looking forward to the differences in line possible with different stitches and threads.   I only wish it was available as an ebook so I could read it when my eyes don't want to deal with printed pages.