Thread Web No. 37
July recap - everything I made this month
Hello, and welcome, or welcome back, to Thread Webs, my online studio space for creative reflections and thread stories. Today I’ll be taking you on a brief studio tour of everything I’ve been working on this month. If you’d like to see more of my work or browse my shop, I’ve added a gallery of images over on my buymeacoffee page.
July Studio Updates
If June was a bright star that burned out too fast, then July was certainly made up of its ashes. The first half of the month felt a bit like walking through water—my desire to get somewhere was met with dense resistance. I couldn’t find a flow, couldn’t bring myself to achieve any creative outcomes. Eventually I stopped trying, temporarily taking a step back and shifting my focus elsewhere. As a result, most of what I’ll be sharing with you today was made over the last few days.
Summer Symbols Tote Bag
This is my summer symbols tote bag I’ve been working on to replace my old one and also to celebrate the season we’re in. If you zoom in you’ll see I still have a couple of spots to fill in. What I had planned this bag to be is nothing like what it’s coming out to be, but overall I still really like how it’s coming along. Initially, I wanted to use basic stitches to create simple outlines, keeping it a rather low-maintenance project that would be easy to pick up amidst the heatwaves and my ever changing emotional moods, but that idea pretty much flew out the window once I actually picked up the fabric and started stitching. It felt like everything was asking to be filled in with a chain stitch, so that’s what I’ve been doing.
Here’s what some of the symbols are speaking to me:
Strawberries - Savor lifes sweetness. Tree - Staying rooted will help you grow. Folk flowers - Don’t be afraid of being different. That’s what makes you beautiful. Angel heart - Let love be your guide.
Black Moon & Star Study Cross Stitch
These two pieces are the result of my experimenting with making cross stitch patterns and combining them with watercolor. I really like the way the stitches sit on the paper and the color contrast between the two. The star study was a practice in learning about what kind of stars I can make using cross stitch.
The more I look at Black Moon in particular, the more I feel that there’s something archetypal about it(or maybe it’s just because I also happened to be listening to Alyssa Polizzi’s podcast episode on archetypes while working on it), like it’s a snapshot of a scene just before a great turning point in some ancient story. It’s made me wonder about what horses symbolize, how they’ve accompanied humans for millenia, and how much of their history is interwoven with our own through agriculture, travel and battle, all of which are expressed historically through ancient myth and art.
What the horse as a symbol is speaking to me:
Tapping into a wild, instinctual nature, access to a sixth sense or an innate knowing, strength in community, angels in disguise(this last one comes from an association I’ve made personally through movies and shows I’ve seen where the horse becomes their rider’s saviour when they get into trouble. Somehow the horse always seems to be in the right place at the right time to save the rider’s life).
I’m also reminded of another common instance in western movies where a cowboy or wanted man is caught and his horse is taken from him, often leaving him abandoned in the desert to die. Maybe this reoccurring scene is a symbolic depiction of a separation in the psyche, possibly even a separation of those deep archetypal instincts and sense of “wildness” that we’ve become so disconnected from now..
Embroidered Stationary
This is the second batch of bookmarks I’ve made, this time cut 2”x 6”. I did make a few mistakes with them, mainly painting them too dark, but also using too much water in the process which weakened the paper. I’m still learning not to overwork things. I also found that the paint, despite having been left to dry for a few days, was rubbing off on the lighter colored threads as I stitched, making them look duller than they are.
What I am pleased with is the purple and orange color combination because it reminds me of fall and Halloween. I’ve found that the whimsical theme I’m working with for these bookmarks has been reconnecting me to fragments of myself I previously felt out of touch with, mainly a childlike wonder and curiosity about the mystical nature of life.
Small Greeting Cards
Although I don’t feel that I’ve hit the mark with these, I did enjoy making them and want to experiment with card making more. I thought about covering up the inner stiches with another piece of paper so they’re not visible, but one the other hand I kind of like it.. What do you think?
Laptop Sleeve
It took longer than expected to source the felt for this project so I haven’t made much visible progress besides sewing one side up and of course working out a design. The theme of this project is related to the intentions I set for the last new moon, which I’ll get into more next time.
Thank you for reading!
See you in August with more studio updates.
Zoya xx
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I love when you wrote that July was like walking through water with the feeling of resistance. That is such a vibe! The stitching on the red background is eye catching. Your studio notes are packed full of goodness!