About the service
I work in string art — the picture is made of thread pulled over pierced card or over small nails in plywood, not stitched with a needle through fabric, and that difference decides how every piece is planned. A design starts on paper as arithmetic. For a filled corner I set the number of points on each arm and the step between them; for a circle I work out the chord — how many points the thread skips on its way across the ring. The chord and the angle are the whole secret: they decide whether a ring of dots becomes a rose, a sharp star or a soft lens of light. Points are stepped off with a compass from the back, then pierced with an awl over a cork mat so the front stays clean. A hole in card cannot be patched or hidden; it shows against the light. If I miscount, the sheet is finished, so the arithmetic is done twice before the awl touches anything.
From two moves — the corner and the circle — almost any subject can be built. A flower is a fan of corners around one centre. A sailing boat is two filled triangles and a straight line of water. A night sky is a scatter of small rayed stars with one large chord rosette standing in for the moon. For a big panel I change method: plywood with small nails instead of holes. The thread wraps the head rather than passing through, colour can be swapped, and a bad patch can be re-strung. That panel gets heavy faster than people expect — plywood, nails and several hundred metres of thread — so it wants a real wall fixing with a plug, not a picture pin.
About materials I am blunt. Cotton floss gives a living sheen and soft gradients, pearl cotton gives a clean dense line, metallic reads frost and water beautifully but springs back and needs patience. Background card and frame are chosen together with the thread, never afterwards. And dyed thread fades: a panel facing a sunny window loses brightness in two or three years, reds and violets first, so for a lit wall I suggest restrained, more stable colours or a spot out of direct sun.
What I take on:
— panels on card or on nailed plywood, worked from your subject or photo;
— a keepsake piece with a date or a name — wedding, birth, anniversary;
— small runs of greeting cards for a holiday: one pattern, hand-pierced;
— a finished point plan and stitch order if you would rather string it yourself;
— a beginner's session and an honest tool list: awl, cork mat, compass, needle, floss.
Timing: a run of cards takes about five days; a framed panel nine to fourteen, depending on size, density of fill and framing.
From two moves — the corner and the circle — almost any subject can be built. A flower is a fan of corners around one centre. A sailing boat is two filled triangles and a straight line of water. A night sky is a scatter of small rayed stars with one large chord rosette standing in for the moon. For a big panel I change method: plywood with small nails instead of holes. The thread wraps the head rather than passing through, colour can be swapped, and a bad patch can be re-strung. That panel gets heavy faster than people expect — plywood, nails and several hundred metres of thread — so it wants a real wall fixing with a plug, not a picture pin.
About materials I am blunt. Cotton floss gives a living sheen and soft gradients, pearl cotton gives a clean dense line, metallic reads frost and water beautifully but springs back and needs patience. Background card and frame are chosen together with the thread, never afterwards. And dyed thread fades: a panel facing a sunny window loses brightness in two or three years, reds and violets first, so for a lit wall I suggest restrained, more stable colours or a spot out of direct sun.
What I take on:
— panels on card or on nailed plywood, worked from your subject or photo;
— a keepsake piece with a date or a name — wedding, birth, anniversary;
— small runs of greeting cards for a holiday: one pattern, hand-pierced;
— a finished point plan and stitch order if you would rather string it yourself;
— a beginner's session and an honest tool list: awl, cork mat, compass, needle, floss.
Timing: a run of cards takes about five days; a framed panel nine to fourteen, depending on size, density of fill and framing.
