Helen Stevens Embroidered Birds (The Masterclass Embroidery Series)

This third title in renowned textile artist Helen M Stevens' Masterclass Embroidery Series concentrates on birds of all kinds seen, as always, in their natural setting and brilliantly portrayed through the medium of Helen's own silk embroideries. Clear advice is provided to help you create your own bird portraits, with step-by-step colour photography capturing the development of each picture.

The latest edition in expert embroiderer Stevens's Masterclass series shows experienced embroiders ways of working in the opus plumariam ("work of feathers") style, which is characterized by stitches "in fluid, ever-changing sweeps of color" that "create an illusion of three-dimensional life and movement." Stevens's birds, here depicted in large color photographs and drawings, are brilliantly hued and very life-like, and her captions and text offer insight into the different species' habits and habitats. In the five masterclasses offered throughout, Stevens shows how to embroider birds such as barn owls and great crested grebes, listing the different stitching techniques she employed, the colors of silk she used and the order in which she progressed ("Infill the eyes with straight stitching in black...highlight in white seed stitches.... Work the beak in Champagne yellow in a wedge of radial opus plumarium"). Stevens's colorful volume will please and inspire the skilled textile artist.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.