Needlepoint Eye Candy – Japanese Edition

CRESUS artisanat is not likely to be a name you’ve heard before. But this delightful Etsy shop is owned by Haruhi, a Japanese stitcher who makes delightfully original needlepoint.

Her paisley needlepoint coasters are pictured here.

She also has a lovely blog with pictures of many of her projects. Although it’s in Japanese, you’ll love the close-up pictures of her work.

I also like that there is so much here that we can apply to our own work.

• Single & Simple – Notice that each piece only uses one stitch and often it is a simple one. As we progress in stitching we often forget just how powerful the most basic of stitches can be.
• Stick to one type of color – The coasters pictured here use a mostly neutral palette with lots of whites. Other pieces of hers use brights with white. She uses a polychrome (many-colored) scheme but keeps it from looking too busy by keeping her colors similar in intensity.

  We can apply this idea to our own needlepoint, letting us break out of our tried and true color schemes. The formula is to pick colors of similar intensity but in a variety of values and add white. It might take a bit of trial and error on your part to get combinations you like, but it’s a great way to explore color.

• Let the pattern shine – I love how in all these pieces the pattern is the most important thing. It makes me think about how many books of patterns are available with CDs. Enlarge a pattern, pick some great colors and make your own coasters. I’m thinking of trying this in more subdued hues as a background.

Inspiration is easy to find — just go out and look for it!

Thanks to Mr. X-stitch for pointing this out.