Chart Paper Embroidery

This design was inspired by an advertisement I saw on TV, and then I found a similar wall hanging during our shopping at Spar. I began by drawing the rough sketch on paper and colored it with pencil colors.
My plan was then to recreate the same design on a larger scale on black chart paper and do sand painting on it. But unfortunately I couldn’t find enough sand anywhere near our apartment and was forced to drop that idea. Later on I remembered the chart paper embroidery I’d done back in school days. I’d done it with the same “Framed Peacock” design then. Things moved faster then. Once the design was drawn on the black chart paper, the next step was to create small, neat and approximately equally spaced holes throughout the edges of every section. This was tiresome and my fingers started aching with all the pressure I had to apply using a small needle. Placing stacks of old clothes underneath makes it easier to pierce the needle through. Anyways, once the task of making holes was complete, the only thing remaining was to do embroidery on them. Embroidery wouldn’t be the right term for this kind of stitching, since I’ve used only straight stitches (like the ones used in Anchor Quick Stitch Kits) for the entire design. My materials basket had these colors of Anchor crochet thread remaining and I’d been waiting to somehow make use of them. I had actually bought these to make crochet mats, but found it easier to work with wool than these thin plastic-like threads. The stitching part also took a looooooong time. It took me almost a month to complete this from beginning to end, devoting at least 4-5 hrs everyday on this. I wanted the frame to look really simple and used cardboard cut into the frame shape, wrapped it in newspaper, stuck it to the edges and painted it a woody brown. To hang it up, I’ve first given it a back support with cardboard and then used balls of Fevicol GlueTack to stick it on the wall. Phew, this was one big project!

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