Trees - Conifer Needles

Forgetting all the exotics and the Nursery grown non native trees, ALL conifers fall into a few categories,
One needle attachments ie. One by One, and Two, Three or five needle bundles.
These include all spruce, pine, fir and larch varieties.

Cedars and Juniper are considered scales in structure. That's another page.

All of them are attached to the branch with a tiny "foot" or stalk. Some are micro and some like the larch have "bumps" several mm. in size.
Is it necessary to include all these details?
Of course not...unless you are trying to represent something specific or easily recognizable.

There are many possibilities represented on this page; the length of the stitching, whether the "needle" is straight or twisted, number in the bundle. Then throw colour into that one as well.

Except for the first two examples, I have done most of this sample with embroidery thread. Is it necessary?
No.
In fact I've moved away from that pricey item for most of my large works, primarily as it's fragile when worked over many times. As a piece becomes thicker with more applications, I fine most embroidery thread frays. My "go to" now is actually quilting cotton.
Why use it embroidery thread?
The colours are brighter and there are more of them!

The first example here presents any single "round" needle.  ( They're not all round. )

The second sample shows 2 needles. As we cross the page, these represent, primarily, all the pines. They vary in straightness, length and number in the bundle. That is an identifying feature.

 I separated the bundles here a bit, to show a little more detail.
The last sample is our flat needles friend the Taxus sp. the Yew. I included this as they often turn up in winter scenes because of their bright red berry. The lower half is stitched but the upper is done with ribbon. (Be prepared to need pliers to pull it through anything with a tight weave.)

Tomorrow? Cedars and Junipers.

Trees - Textured or 3 Dimensional Trunks

Adding dimension is only a matter of folding material...........and crooked stitching!

Tree trunks come in many colours and that is multipled by whether they are in sun or shade, wet or dry, summer or winter.

I chose 6 fabrics.

The width of the swatch is the original width sewn to the white backing. Folds and pleats are stitched with straight lines, zigzags and meandering lines.

The first brown fabric is wood grained, a natural.
The second is a stone wall.
Third is left overs from my favorite dress!

The last 3 are meant to be rock.

These were all stitched with the same grey thread. By changing the thread colour you can make the stitching disappear or add additional contrast.

These were all done with no batting or stabilizer. Batting slipped under the material can add even more dimension.
Using a piece of material cut on the bias can be distorted for even more interesting results.

OH.....The Sacrifice.

The sacrifices we make for the ones we love. Sigh!
Though I make and enjoy Fruit Cake in the season, I try to avoid cooking pies and cakes and other sweets unless I'm having company.
Why?
BECAUSE I INHALE THEM!

Smart Heart menu lists OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES  as  breakfast alternative (so I was told)
IT guy asked for oatmeal cookies....................
I made cookies today.
I ate cookies today.
I will probably eat cookies tomorrow.

I'll have to get used to cookies.........and walking another km. every day.

Ain't love grand!

I think I ate 3...before they were cool...only the broken ones...and the bits and pieces left in the bowl.....and licked the beaters........and then ate a good one, a cool one, just to test them.

sigh!

Trees - 2 Dimensional Branches and Trunks

Before we start foliage I thought we should look at how to construct branches and some of the materials that work very well.

The top row is material, cut straight from fabric.
I finished one side with a zigzag and the other side with a blind hem stitch. That's my favourite stitch finish.


This second is braided wool, anchored with a straight stitch and unraveled towards the end to make finer branches.
Next is skinny ribbon with a straight stitch.

Next, couched wool.
Then, bias cut cloth stitched close to the edge and then rolled and stitch to hold, close to the edge.

The last is a wider, folded piece of material. Both edges are stitched to the backing and the remainder rolled over, similar to an edge binding. This is anchored with a blind stitch. It allows more dimension than stitching it flat.

The next example was to cut from one piece of material the basic shapes of a lot of deciduous trees. Branching patterns vary with specie, of course, and a lot of it can be added with thread.

But I wanted to show how using the same colour thread on three different background materials change the look of the trunk/bark.

The first "tree" is black, the sceond grey and the third dirty white. These three cover most of the N.AM.  deciduous species.
The black and grey have black, lighter grey and brown stitched in a jaged motion up the trunk.
Most trees have this pattern of bark, some rougher and some smoother. A few like Cherry and other fruit trees have "patches" of bark. It's one of their identifying characteristics.
The third tree represent the coloration of beeches, birch and poplar. The birch and poplar have their bark markings primarily horizontal instead of vertical. Beech are more evenly mottled, with little variation throughout main branches.
This sample is stitched with grey, cream, white and pale green.
(The fine branches for all, are different again, usually done with greys, black or red.)

The stark grey and black on the left side, works well in winter scenes when you want minimal addition of other colour.

The simple addition of brown on the right, brings the bark to life.

The lighter grey base colour make the tone of this tree less hard. Bleeding the thread colour, either the brown or the black (shadow, or darker side) gives texture to the edges of the tree.

This dirty grey is stitched horizontally as these trees, poplar, birch and beech, have horizontal cracks or lenticles in the bark as part of their air exchange systems.
( Fruit trees have them as well but they are not very noticeable as the tree grows. In fact most deciduous trees have them for a few years. They are still there, but buried under the rough bark and no long noticeable.)

Grey on the dark side (left) and creams on white on the sunny side give shape to this type. In the case of poplar, green is more predominant than cream/white.

And the last style represents all those old orchard trees. Again greys, browns and black.

The placement of only 3 colours goes a long way towards making it real.
Don't rely on the material, no matter how clever the pattern. Use the colour but, add life with
thread definition.

Trees Workshop - Silhouettes

Today I did a little work on the silhouette of 6 common N. AM.conifers.

While I don't suppose it matters to many, I like to be sure I'm representing the correct flora when I do a regional piece. As most of my work reflects B.C. I like to get it right.
A lot of trees appear similar while young, from a distance. So in the long run it really doesn't matter.

But it's nice to have a variation in forms.
These samples are meant to be horizon images. Their foliage is a little thin to simplify the differences in shape and branch structures.

One side is finished with a second pass in a different shade of green. The other side shows the branch foundation with some darker stitches which are meant to be ALMOST concealed with a second green.
These trees were drawn onto the material and stitched over.

These also deal with some minor distortion. Most of it can be ironed or quilted out. They're done with minimal stabilizer and blocked with stretching and steam. You need to learn why the material distorts and how to minimize that as well.

So many things at once.

Looking at the six together, it's clear they all have different growth patterns.

From the left top: Lodge Pole Pine
                             Black spruce
                             White pine
Bottom left : Juniper sp.
                     White Spruce
                      Norway Spruce

The left side of these three are unfinished. You can see the pen markings and the first pass with a darker green. This is meant to be the under layer.

 No tree is one colour.

All these samples are very open. They should have several more passes and crossing branches to make them REAL.

And of course there are many more varieties.
Most people don't really look at trees, either in summer or winter.

The shape, the texture, the bark colour all help to define the tree.
When you know what it really looks like, then you can throw the rules out the window and be confident that your variation will be great.