I’ve had an idea of what I want to do with all the little motifs and patterns I’ve been playing with, but it hasn’t become a full design yet.
Here is the doodle canvas that I’ve been working on. You’ve seen little bits of it over the last few weeks. I do have one more motif that I’ve been playing and haven’t shown you. If I decide to use a version of it in the final design, I’ll explain it at that time.
I decided last week that this was going to be the layout for the Henna Design. It’s a six inch square. The corners are 18 stitch squares. Borders will be 12 stitches wide. Now I need to determine what motifs and patterns will be used, and where they will be placed.
The 8 Point Star is such a common motif in Moroccan rugs, textiles, and embroideries that I want to feature it in the center of the canvas. This will be a version of the first 8 Point Star I did on the doodle canvas. The corners will be a version of the smaller 8 point star that is made by overlaying two small squares. You can also see from this photo that the overall design has a square inside a square. Repetition of a motif is one way to create designs. You may or may not see more as the design develops.
I’ve made a few other decisions on patterns, but I’m not going to give you any more previews. As I begin stitching this week, you’ll see more photos.
Not only is the 8 point star a common element in Moroccan Art, it’s formed in many ways. The first Henna post showed one version. Today is another version, made by putting two squares on top of each other.
In this photo on the left, it is easy to see how the 8 point star is formed. Now I can start to play with the design and see how many ways I can make it. On the right is my first try. Just three stitches to form a triangle, half on straight lines, and half on diagonal lines.
My next try was filing in the entire shape. I used scotch stitch for the image of one square which is underneath and then straight stitches for the top square. This might work with a few adjustments. Scotch done over 4 threads instead of 3 would make it look more solid. The straight stitches could be done in floss or ribbon laid so they fill in better. I’ll have to try that.
One more try, a little bigger. I made the 8 point star in the center using chevrons like the first 8 point star. Then I added a second layer of little squares around the chevrons, some on the diagonal and some straight. Again it might look better with floss or ribbon that can be laid.
Now if I could just get an idea of a design using some of these little motifs I’ve been playing with. I’ll let the little motifs dance in my head for a day or two and see what happens.
After thinking about it overnight, I came up with one more version. I moved the four little squares closer together and then did long stitches across through the middle of each side to imitate the second square. One straight stitch and then two that crossed in the middle. That’s enough playing with this one for a while.
Last time I played with henna designs, I only worked on the eight-pointed star. So this week I’ve been playing with the smaller designs that can be used as borders. These little elements are all from the henna hands shown in a previous post – Adapting More Moroccan Art
I liked this simple little element. I started with the little squares done in Scotch and then added the connecting lines. The square on the left needs to be moved to the left one more thread. Note to self – do the lines first. It looks okay, but the squares are supposed to be on point. Okay. On to the next try – making them on point. Didn’t like this one at all, so decided to work on a different pattern for a while.
Later in the evening I came up with the solution. Put the connecting stitches on the diagonal and then do the squares. Now they are on point – perfect. I’m thinking this element would look good on the four corners of a design.
This pattern was fairly easy, but I had to try it two different ways to see which would be better. I think I like the smaller version, without the spaces between the lines.
This is another easy pattern, done two ways of course. I like both versions. When I get a final design finished, I’ll need to decide which one would work the best.
I’m not sure about this one. It looks good on the hands I showed in an earlier post, but I’m not sure it would looks as good in a stitched design. The spaces on the top and bottom of the zigzag were filled with large dots in the original. I didn’t want to do French Knots. I just put a small X in those places. I thought a Smyrna Cross would be too much, though with just a couple strands of floss it might work. More playing time is needed.
The eight pointed star is major theme in all forms of Moroccan Art, from rugs, to textiles, to tiles. Henna tattoos are no different. So the first motif I worked with is the eight pointed star. I decided to do the practice stitches using perle cotton #5 in two shades of reddish brown (like the henna color) on ecru 18 ct mono canvas. Outlining the star was easy – all stitches go over 8 threads using the darker color.
Then I filled in some of the spaces with the lighter color. I know that doing straight stitches for the outside triangles won’t cover well, but this is practice and I want to find out what works and what doesn’t work. I like the star outlined in the darker color, but the lighter color doesn’t seem to offer enough contrast. The next version I’ll use a lighter shade.
I don’t like the center. I did a square on point – over 4 threads with the dark color. It’s filled in with the lighter shade done in basketweave. Originally, I wanted to do another decorative stitch on top of the center, but that won’t work with this version. So it’s time for some more playing.
The straight stitches don’t look good with perle #5 straight stitches. I tried doing them with slanted stitches, using two small triangles for each of the larger triangles. This looks much better, but now there’s no room for the dark stitch outline. Then I tried a second version of this with the dark thread outline and then filling in with the lighter color (on the bottom of this photo). This looks better, but may not be the final version.
Then I needed to play with the center to find a better solution. I tried a Rhodes stitch in the lighter color. This looks better but I think it add too much texture, height, to the motif. I think this stitch would dominate the star and it’s the star that should be the focus point.
Next I tried a large Smyrna Cross. I think this looks better, but I’m not sure how it will look inside the whole motif. Time to go play some more.
