Making Waves

I have made some progress on the mermaid.

You may remember, I was at a point where I needed to somehow cover the lettering marked in permanent ink above and below the mermaid. The letters were marked on the linen in permanent ink, so I was not even going to attempt to remove it. 

One thought was to think up something relevant to embroider as a partial border above an below, but I quickly decided that, that wasn't the way I wanted to go. I wanted to find a solution that would not crate a heavy, solid border. 

I started by continuing the existing rows of waves across the lettering. 

I then added more waves, midway between each of the first, this time using a slightly finer thread. Two strands of silk and twisted chain stitch to get a more textured line. At first I only stitched these waves in a band, the same width as the letters, so the whole design would have a circular outline. But a after few rows of waves, I decided to continue these waves as straight line from the edge of the circle the outer edge.

It was beginning to slightly mask the marked letters but not enough and I had to think up something else to add. My first thought was seeding with gold thread but after only stitching a little bit, it was clear it just made the work look 'dirty and messy'. You can see the seeding between the waves at the top of the picture below.

Then I found a skein of silk in my stash - exactly the same colour as the background fabric. 

With a single strand, I stitched rows of random running stitches (or random pattern darning - the same as filling the mermaid) back and forth across the area where the letters are. In the picture above, the pattern darning is between the waves towards the bottom of the picture above.

It doesn't completely cover the ink marks but I think it is enough to disguise the letters. The silk stitches blend into the background fabric, creating a bit of texture and a border but because the fabric is not completely covered, I don't think it look too heavy and solid. 

This is where it it as...

What do you think?

I really, really, really want to finish this now and move on to something different that is piled up on my worktable, waiting to get started. I had hoped to finish it before Monday, but we'll see.

I hope you are all having a good week. For those of you still in lock-down, I hope you are managing this strange situation the best you can.

Stay well, and keep stitching.

Anna X