Designing an Ornament

When I first conceived the idea of participating in the Bride's Tree SAL by stitching a Quaker style ornament for each month's theme, I realized I would have to design a few of the ornaments myself. No problem, I thought, how hard can it be? After all, I have designed pieces before. Lot's of pieces.

BUT all the pieces I previously have designed have been rather free, open-ended affairs ... not formulaic Quakers. The best metaphor I can come up with for describing the difference is this: imagine someone trained and skilled in modern dance trying to choregraph a classical ballet. I have a very clear mental image of the finished project but translating it into a graph within a framework no larger than 70 stitches by 70 stitches is not quite the easy process I had imagined it would be. The tool I am using most frequently is my eraser. I know I could be doing this on my computer but I am much more comfortable using my pad of graph paper, my #2 pencils and a store of patience I didn't realize I had. I am rather enjoying the process ... it's like solving a complex puzzle and creating art at the same time ... bringing both right and left brain functions into play. I have photographed some of my sketches to give you an idea of my progress, such as it is, to date. It may not seem like I have accomplished a great deal but I have been enjoying the design process as much as I anticipate enjoying the actual stitching and the final product of a finished ornament.

The Fruit Basket for the June ornament is relatively easy. I have simply appropriated and rearranged some Quaker elements from Workbasket's Quaker Flower [a complimentary chart found on their website] to make the basket. I have toyed with the idea of changing the shape of the handle of the basket ... making it flare out, then up and over: to make more room for some apple shapes. Now that's where the hard part comes in ... I have been dithering over the arrangement of apples. I think I'll probably end up going with a stylized pyramid of round Quaker motifs. But if I do that I will probably eliminate the handle entirely and widen the basket itself a bit since I am well within my stitch limits as currently charted.

My July ornament, a Quaker Fish, is an entirely different story. This one is being designed from scratch. It is based, very loosely, on the Christian icthus symbol. Working Quaker elements into such a slender, barely there curve was next to impossible ... at least for me. So I had to change the basic shape a wee bit, to maintain the symmetry I was aiming for. It's not quite the image I had in mind originally but it is the closest I can come to translating said image onto a graph. I need to play with this a while longer. I may have to skip over the Fish and stitch the other ornaments in this series. I find that letting a design ferment in my sub-conscious for a while often has splendid results. Once I've caught up to stitching the rest of the monthly ornaments, I can come back and pick up the Fish.

I enjoy the relatively rare forays I make into designing ... but I am definitely an amateur. I can not imagine how the professionals find the discipline to stick with the process and produce four or five designs [or more] every season of the year. That may change when I retire but then again, maybe not. There are so many things I want to do in retirement: get back to bread-making, yogurt making and some serious gourmet cooking; spend more time writing, particularly my poetry; travel more extensively, especially to the West Coast where I have relatives; do some serious re-decorating of my home to accomodate a retired lifestyle, converting spare bedrooms to office space and a sewing/craft room, uncluttering the living spaces ... and the list goes on and on.