Hi Everyone,
So, this week is going to be a shorter post. Sid, who is working on the Camping Summer Triptych, hasn't been able to complete his yet. Life has gotten in the way, something I am sure we all can understand! I do have progress shots and notes on his project that I will share this week and hopefully by the end of the Summer Triptych Punch Along I'll be able to share his completed piece. Because of this, if any of you who are working on the Camping Triptych have any special questions or would like advice on completing it, please don't hesitate to ask. We will be more than happy to help you out with it and this is true with all the triptych projects!
Sid decided that he wanted to do a camping scene because summer for him means spending time with his family. They all get together and go on a big camping trip. Sid helps his dad get things set up and they camp for a couple of weeks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Its a great chance to unplug and unwind.
Working with Cotey, Sid came up with the imagery that means the most to him: the tent, the crackling fire, and the striking Lodgepole Pine trees.
With help from Christy and Cotey, Sid began his color planning by wanting a simple and elegant color palette that reflected where his family camps.
Christy found him some stunning "one of a kinds" of Violet Jane skein to use for the flickering flames. To me, it brought to mind the colorful rainbow carrots that you can find on farm stands or in the grocery store: maroons, carrot orange, a mustard yellow. Because the skein was so variegated, he was able to produce many of the colors found in the light playing in the flames with only one skein of yarn.
He also knew he wanted the tree to feature dark and bright greens, silhouetted against a blue sky.
Sid began his rug by first working on the border and tent. Using a #10 regular Oxford Punch Needle, Sid punched up a rich brown border, outlined on the inside of each panel with a single row of Black Hollow, creating a beautiful frame around his three panels. For his tent he used a lovely marigold color and brick red punched with the #13 fine Oxford Punch Needle. Next he punched on to his background a grey-blue color using the #14 fine punch needle, just like Heidi did, to create a background of shorter loops.
Sid started on the flames of his fire next. You will notice the color gives it great depth. It's really a shame it was a "One of a kind." He also decided to mix in some solid colors like
Flame,
Florida Juice, and
Tangelo.
Now, you will notice two things with his fire. 1. The background color has changed. Sid is planning on using this lighter blue color for the background of all three panels, pulling out the darker one that he initially used in his tent panel. 2. The way that Sid is punching his flames. He punched the outline, not following the traced lines exactly. He didn't like how the fire looked when he punched the little triangles, thinking that it looked more like a blob then the delicately dancing flames. The flame was the big struggle for him, and maybe it has been for you too.
One thing to remember when working on these pieces is not to get hung up on how the finished side looks until it is ALL punched. Flipping over and taking a peek at a half punched work is fine, but you can't expect to see what it will actually look like completely yet. Once the background has been punched, pushing the loops together and into place, as well as manually pushing loops around until you have them just right, you will be able to have a better idea of the finished look. Until then, it can look like a big ole hot mess. You can't be alarmed by this. It's just the nature of punching. Cleaning up, moving loops around, it all helps clear up the image and make it look how you pictured it in your mind. I know that I ran into this when punching my mountains on my Day Lapse piece. I could not stand them and pulled and re-punched them for a whole morning. Heidi gave me a big speech about just finishing it and going back at the end to fix anything that didn't look right. If I hadn't listened to her, I would probably still be punching it. Once the whole thing was finished, I saw that the mountains did look how I wanted and they didn't seem as off as they did before the grass was added. I know that Sid punched, pulled, and re-punched his flames a number of times. Heidi had to have the same speech with him.
Now, this is as far as Sid has currently gotten. I can tell you that Sid is planning on filling in the tree silhouette with a dark and bright greens, like
Escape and
Club Moss Dark, and maybe even some
Leprechaun from our Violet Jane line. Once he has finished that he will fill in the background with the lighter blue that he has started to using for the background of the fire panel.
When I have more pictures of Sid's progress and when he is all finished with this triptych, I will post an update on it, as I know that this pattern has been popular. If you have worked on the Campfire Triptych and want to show pictures or offer any tips that you have found while punching, please let us know! We love the email updates and comments. If you're posting to social media, make sure you are using #OxCoPALs! Can't wait to see what you all are doing!
Hope you all had a great week!
~Hannah
