I have been stitching a felt leaf every morning for our Big Ski Chair Affair project. It’s a little nerve racking because if the needle hits the wire base, the needle breaks. I have broken four needles so far. It always happens when I try to speed up a bit or don’t pay enough attention.
Here’s the leaves I finished. I haven’t added any veins. I am going to check with the other ladies before I do. Maybe the small ones don’t need any?
I’m still working on my colored pencil drawing. It takes a lot of time. You can see in the upper left corner that I am blending the background. I am using odorless mineral spirits and applying a tiny bit with a brush. And it works! The colored pencil layers blend and cover the white of the paper.
Here it is after the first layer is blended including the leaves. I haven’t started on the water lily itself yet. Trying to learn how this works before I make a mess of the flower.
And here is the water with a couple more darker colored pencils added. It definitely gives richer colors than just using colored pencils alone. You don’t push down hard with the pencils, just do a light circular stroke to cover the page. That way you don’t damage the tooth of the paper. Next, I will add more layers and details to the leaves. Once I finish the leaves, I will try the flower.
Hope you have a nice weekend!
Ruth Lane Art 
Your leaves look great. Perhaps just a line in the smaller leaves with maybe one vein. I hate changing needles, it’s frustrating. Good luck with the lily!
Thanks Marilyn, I actually have lots of layers yet left on the leaves. Lots more detail to make them more life like. Hopefully the lily will turn out OK.
I look forward to seeing the progress.
The leaves look good and I’m not sure about veining – as you say, talk to the others about it. You could perhaps print off a colour picture of your leaves and use a pen to draw lines to see what it looks like?
Thanks Lyn, the first leaf I did (not shown here) had veins. So we can compare and see. I think the larger leaves will need something. But I’ll go with the group opinion.
You must have a lot of patience and skill to do those leaves! I like the colour build up on the lilly pictures, I didn’t know you could get odourless white spirits, I hate the smell 😦 I’ve not had great results with my pencils, though slightly better than the crayons, I love the blocks though, so vibrant for watercolours 🙂
Thanks Zed, it does take patience to stitch the leaves for sure. I am used to stitching much faster. That’s why I am only doing 1-2 at a time.
There are two brands that I know of that are odorless. Gamsol and Speedball Mona Lisa. I have never had good luck with colored pencils either. That’s why I am trying this method. Check out Lachri Fine Art on YouTube. That’s where I got the instructions.