A Needlepoint Collaboration, No. 2

Mark D. Ruffner © 2012

Last year I featured a design of mine that was lovingly needlepointed by my mother (you can see it here). My mother loved to work on needlepoints, but she didn't like kits, and because there were artists in the family, she had a steady supply of original designs. After she completed the rabbit tapestry, I asked for another needlepoint, this one a simpler statement, but no less complicated in design.

I was inspired by this 19th century engraving of a fleur-de-lis, which I found in one of my Dover books. It looks as though it was designed to be cast in metal, and I envision it in gold or brass.

 

While I'm not a huge fan of purple for interior designs, I have become fond of the combination of purple, green and gold, which has a very rich effect.

Mark D. Ruffner © 2012

Here's the design that I made for my mother to work from (the framing came later, of course). I painted this in acrylics, and then had the design photostatted directly onto canvas. Because the two greens of the background design were difficult to read on the canvas, my mother required a second copy of the background in a light color and black, a valuable lesson for me in needlepoint designing!

Mark D. Ruffner © 2012

And here's a photo of my mother's finished product. I treasure this, not only because it is the handiwork of my mother, but also because it is the last needlepoint that she worked on.
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A Needlepoint Collaboration

I've always had a thing for the corner of Aubusson tapestries! Maybe it's because they remind me of old map cartouches. Anyway, when my mother suggested making a needlepoint pillow in my choice of design, I jumped at the offer, and I instantly had an idea.

I thought it would be fun to design a pillow that looked as though it were made from a tapestry remnant! Aubusson style was one inspiration; the work of William Morris was another. Below is a corner of Morris' Angeli Laudantes tapestry, woven in 1894.

William Morris Textiles  |  Linda Parry  |  Viking, 1983

At the time of the project, I had a delightful Rex rabbit, and he was a most satisfying pet. I decided to incorporate him into the needlepoint. Though they're barely discernible in the photo below, he had three spots on his right side. Wouldn't it be fun to represent your pet romping through medieval underbrush?

I painted a design on illustration board, which served as a color guide for my mother. I then had the painting transferred to needlepoint canvas at a copier center. Some copier centers don't want to take that responsibility, in part because the design has to register squarely with the lines of the canvas. The center I went to did a perfect job, and the resulting canvas looked like it came from a commercial kit.

And here's my mother's work of art. You can imagine what a wonderful surprise this was on Christmas Day! As you can see, I incorporated the date and my mother's initials into the design.

One final note of interest. My mother was in her 80s when she made this, and the retina had detached in one of her eyes. This was all stitched with the use of one good eye.

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