Finally The Hand

This is the world famous hand(or my blog famous hand). I previously only had one photo of the hand but here it is in it's completion and a close up of the detail. I have had several questions about how the hand was created so here goes.

I started with your standard wool glove. Then I stuffed the glove with fiberfill. I then wrapped it up like a mummy hand with muslin. It looked like that bandaged hand that comes out of the dirt in the horror movies. I then started in the palm with the flower. And then I added the tree on the other side. And then I filled in the rest of the hand with stitchery(the outline stitch which I love to use) and then I decided to mount it(this will come much earlier in the process the next time). It was the most fun I have had embroidering ever. The little nooks and crannies and the wonder of twisting all those different fingers and working in between them. That was the most fun and the most difficult. Mounting was also difficult as I did not add wire when stuffing so the hand had to be stitched very tightly to the base(which was a block of wood covered in muslin and some batting). I had to use a curved needle to do much of the connecting which was kind of difficult. But it was very rewarding to see the hand standing up proudly the way it was supposed to. My next hand(I have to make another one since the first one was so darn rewarding)will be put on a dowel either glued or drilled into place. Because it was also kind of anxiety provoking to try and make it stand proud without the support it needed.

I know it has been months and months since I created "The Hand" and you are probably bored stiffless hearing about it again. But I had a few inquiries about how it was made and how it was stitched. And I never actually showed it in all it's glory so here it is.

Now about the hand. I love hands. Maybe because I use them to give myself peace and to center myself. I'm a whirling dervish in both mind and body with a talkative spirit to boot. The only time I am quiet and peaceful is when I am embroidering. I guess because much of my work takes concentration and detail it makes it hard to do more then one thing when I am embroidering. And because I use my hands to embroider I love them. I also think you can tell a lot from a person's hands. They along with the eyes are the mirror of the soul. You can tell whether a person is a car mechanic or an artist or a writer by looking at their hands. A beautiful well manicured hand usually is attached to a beautiful impeccable woman. A gruff and rough hand is usually attached to a man who does hard labor with his hands. My own hands show a person who doesn't stop long enough to beautifully manicure them but I love them anyway for what they do for me. When I was young I was a nail biter(even that tells you a story) but during my twenties I finally stopped and then I had longer nails but to tell you the truth my nail polish would wear off because I was always using my hands for something else. So now I try to keep them short(when I stop long enough to trim them). I guess that is more information about my hand thing then you really need to know. I could keep going but I'll stop.

The last few months have been a regular whirlwind and a very positive time for my work. I was fortunate enough to sell many of my one of a kind ornaments, enough that I spent the whole christmas holiday making more. I've had quite a few pieces sold by Kathy at the Katbird(she is a marvel) and at the Albany Shaker Museum. I've had a few art pieces accepted at the Fulton Street Gallery and I have two lovely pieces at Valley Artisans Garden Show. I've spent much of the last few months working and working and working and it made the holiday season and the month of January move so quickly.

And then just as I was ready to start blogging, my adapter plug ran out on my laptop which just created chaos. I don't really enjoy using my hubby's computer and I had purchased a very expensive universal adapter in the spring so I really didn't want to buy another one. Now a word to the wise if your adapter goes kaput don't go to your local stationary store and spend $100 on one that isn't going to last more then 6 months. Go find your laptop on Amazon and find the one meant for your computer. Twelve dollars that was happily sent and I had to wait a little longer. So here I am with a good plug and a happy productive work life writing on my blog. Hopefully someone will continue to read it. Off I go. Enjoy your hands and blessings to all.