My Creative Process

part 1: material prep

I do not use AI for any of my work or writing. I am an independent, disabled artist making all of my work by hook or by crook. Please subscribe for updates on art availability.

a little window into my prep work

A few days ago I posted a note including a picture of a work-in-progress embroidery from a custom trio for my sister, and several people responded with surprise that I draw my own artwork on the embroideries I sell. This is an innocent and completely understandable misconception, especially considering the fact that many embroidery artists do sell templates of their own work. But I want to be clear from the start: I make, design, draw, and sew all of my embroideries myself by hand. I do not use any other artists’ illustrations, templates, outlines, or AI to generate any of the imagery I sell here. That would be plagiarism and theft, and I would never do that. Not that my illustrations are paragons of creative originality themselves (I’m not taking credit for say, botanical illustration), but, the point definitely needs to be clarified. All of my work is 100% made by me.

I’ll write more about my inspirations and source materials in future essays as the season unfolds, but for now I want to introduce you to my prep and production process. (And, side note, I’m still learning more about where the materials I use come from. It feels like trying to measure shifting sands, and a lot of it is thrifted and gifted, so I don’t have anything clear to say about it yet but it’s germinating. A lot of my creative ethos is anarchistic and rooted in diy culture and folk art. I also want to see if other current embroiderers have written much about this aspect of the craft.)

the embroidery from the note in question- and I did redraw the slice to be accurate with the position of the leaves!

Sometimes the prep and production process is just as fulfilling to me as the creative process of coming up with the imagery and actually creating the artwork. My autistic mind loves planning, sorting, cutting, staining, and assembling all the pieces. My hands love the feeling of physically pulling it all together. I even love the day after ache in my fingers and wrists because it means I made art possible.

the sore hand in question

Here’s the basic process:

how the sausage is made

First of all, I don’t especially like the light color of the embroidery hoops (usually made from bamboo) as they arrive, so I stain the outer hoop with alcohol-based markers in shades of brown. I used to try to color match and keep the same dark shade consistently, but that has been difficult to maintain so I have recently begun leaning into the diversity of available materials. Next I wrap the inner hoop with felt (preferably) or soft fabric scraps. I like the way it secures the fabric in the hoop and gives a fuller look to the overall frame.

Once the hoops are ready I set them with their fabric, draw the imagery, and stitch it up. (That sentence will magically explode and turn into a-whole-nother essay in a few weeks about how I decide what to draw, how I source and use reference materials, what feeds my creativity, etc.)

hoops set with fabric and an in-progress embroidery

I don’t always sew my embroideries directly into the hoop they will remain framed in, but I often do. I have a set of variously sized hoops that I can hold or attach to frames for sewing, which is what I do when I want an embroidery to reach the absolute furthest edge of the hoop, like this dogwood flower I’ve posted before:

I can write more about how I do this if people are interested

yesterday’s haul (that has sat in the closet collecting dust for weeks before I got to it, and which will take me another day or two to finish)

I usually finish my hoops with felt backing and cotton loop hangers, but my sister’s idea for the custom trio I made for her kitchen recently resulted in an open-back, raw fabric finish that gave a softer look, which we liked. Plus, you get to see the “guts” of the embroidery. You can see the difference here:

the different backing options- usually I prefer the felt backing for keeping the frame secure over time, but I love the look of the back-side of the thread

Once the embroideries are finished and sold, I ship them off in custom made drawstring bags. I’m telling y’all, I really just love touching and making and having this stuff. This requires it’s own production process, some of which is pictured here from my most recent batch:

an array of drawstring bags stamped with talismanic symbols that I ship my embroideries in

voilà!

Thank you so much for being interested in my art and creative process. I love drawing, sewing, beading, research, production, writing, sharing, and more. I really want to make “this” work, and by “this” I mean selling my art as a means of living well. There is more that I hope for this to grow into and become, but for now, I just hope to make art that helps people connect with the weird and wonderful parts of themselves, because that’s the part of myself that really nurtures my art and honestly therefore my will to live, not to be dramatic.

And, if you’ve read this far, please enjoy 22% off all embroideries in my shop until the end of the month with code SPRINGCLEAN ✺

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You can peruse my website and find my embroideries here.