Embroidery Art: Melting Away

by Keith Richmond

I created this piece of art using embroidery. This piece of art shows how the life a person lives and all the pressures around them starts to melt them slowly away and leaves nothing behind. I really personally like the idea of this piece. The reason I like it so much is that I like the message that this piece portrays. I used embroidery to make this art piece and no other forms of media. When I first started the creation process I started with the inside of the head. To create this type of texture and kind of abstract look I used a stitch called a backstitch. After creating the head shape that represents the top of the candle I then moved on to the candle flame. I used the same technique I used for the top of the head. After I finished that I did the drips of the wax. This part of the process was more challenging than I originally thought because I had to show movement with the wax. I used a split stitch to create this type of feel instead of the backstitch like the other parts of this piece. Finally, I did the outline of the face. This used a backstitch as well. The reason I used a backstitch for the outline is that I was able to get a lot more control over where the string was placed. For most of this piece I used almost entirely a backhand stitch and I also learned how to simultaneously do two rows at once so it looks cleaner in the end. The movement of the piece also really pushed me to explore how to properly stitch in such a way and I learned a lot throughout creating this piece.