Lloyd and Lola are Done

No, not as a couple.  (smile)  I named my wolves, so why not the lovebirds!  I've kept up with the lessons in my cyberclass, so now my blackwork lovebirds are finished.

Tanja Berlin's Just the Two of Us

I really, really like them.

This was billed as a beginning blackwork class,

but there were a lot of challenges along the way:

the stem stitch around the toes was tricky,

the heads are a dense layering of

DMC 310, YLI black silk and a

Belle Soie in dark periwinkle

(hard to see in this photo).

And let's not forget the very fine pearl purl

which had to be couched down

around the bodies and the beaks.

But challenging yourself does

give a feeling of accomplishment.

Here are the heads in various stages of progress.

I was really happy to be able to get

rid of the last of the red tacking stitches!

 And here is a close-up of the head.

You can see the periwinkle peeping through the black.

The reason the red in the beak

doesn't extend all the way to the

black stem-stitched inner border is that

this type of lovebird has a

white band across the top of its beak.

I actually looked up lovebirds on the Internet

because it was bugging me.

The eyes are spangles (sequins) held down

with a kind of eyelet stitch.

I would definitely urge you to try a cyberclass,

if you see one that interests you.

We posted WIP photos all along the way,

and got lots of good (and prompt!) feedback from Tanja.

I felt that I had plenty of time

to complete each class, too.

That's it from here.

I'm taking them to the framer's today.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting!