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Saturday, August 11, 2012

“Friso” is done!

“Friso” (2012) by Susan Brubaker Knapp

“Friso,” a portrait  of my friend Lya’s cat, is done! This is a 10-3/4" x 13-1/4" wholecloth painted piece that is heavily thread sketched. You can read about the painting process in this blog post and this one. The thread really gives him texture and you can almost feel the fur looking at it.

“Friso” detail (2012) by Susan Brubaker Knapp
When I was thread sketching him last night, the piece started to go a bit wonky on me, because I was doing so much heavy thread work on the fur. When I teach, I often get questions about how much wonkyness to expect. With my technique, I don't put my work in a hoop. I rely on a fairly stiff but lightweight interfacing underneath the painted surface to keep it from drawing up and puckering. Even then, I still get some wave in the piece. Usually when I distribute the threadwork evenly over the surface, it helps reduce this. I thought I’d show you how much this piece was waving early on in the process:


Of course, my cat Wicked had to  take a closer look. With her black and white markings, she looks a lot like Friso, but has half a mustache and half a goatee.


Next week, “Friso” will be on its way to Lya in the Netherlands.

12 comments:

  1. It turned out beautifully. A friend told me to steam the piece as I work on it to help flatten out the "wonky" areas as I stitch. It works pretty well. Your friend is going to love her cat!

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  2. WOW Susan, what a very beautiful quilted portret of Friso! You've made such an excellent piece of work. Thank you very, very much!

    All members of the Geven-family

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  3. So cute and so very kind of you to make these cats for Lya. I'm glad Lya did it all because that way I had a wonderful day with you in Bunschoten and lots of my quilting friends, too!

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  4. Wunderschön, aber auch die echte Katze ist so herzig

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  5. Oh, she is wonderfull!! How did you make that black "pickles"?
    I think white yarn and black on your bobbin?

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  6. It came out beautifully and I am sure she will love it.

    Debbie

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  7. It's so wonderful and looks a lot like my old cat Elliott that crossed over the rainbow bridge.

    Your friend will be so please.

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  8. This is wonderful. You got the eyes just right.

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  9. What an amazing piece! He does look like you could reach out and pat him.

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  10. I think, this is a really great blog!
    Welcome to mine:
    http://iga-kowalska.blogspot.com/

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  11. How did you make the eyes realistic? Are they hand painted or printed off the computer? They are very realistic and bring your friend's kitty portrait to life.

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