My Embroidery Work

After a series of small strokes in 2017, I was left suddenly unable to do the fine linework drawing, delicate watercolor painting, and miniature detailing work I’d spent years developing my skills at. To cope, I turned to a new medium: thread. My aphasia left me unable to follow tutorials, so all my embroidery “skills” are pretty much just self-taught via trial and error. To read my article on finding my way into self-expression through fiber arts after my disability, check out SageWoman Magazine’s The Wonder of Earth.

Wedding Vest

The embroidery project that started it all: my husband’s wedding vest! This was my first big embroidery project, and I was still so brain-scrambled from my strokes that I couldn’t read/watch tutorials, so I was 100% making it up as I went along.

Snake’s Shift

A custom visual spell commission to help process change and the passing of a family member. Featuring rosy crystals, yellow chrysanthemums, and a glittering viridian snake shedding its skin.

Cosmic Dance

A custom visual spell for a heliophysicist, designed to support balance, harmony, affection, perseverance, and compassion in a relationship. Featuring a purple emperor penguin and an orange sea otter swimming through the starry cosmos, circling a central glowing sun that bears a golden sigil.

Silk Moth

A giant silk moth visual spell with a sigil for self love, improved cognition/clarity, and creativity.

Luna Moths

By far my most popular design, luna moths became the center of many visual spells, as well as the basis for my first T-shirt design a collab with Ollie Wolff Pierce at Feral Print Co in my hometown of Dahlonega, GA!

Bats

A customer requested a pair of bats inspired by lucky (fu) bats; these little darlings are what I came up with. The teal bat is more traditionally arrayed, while the purple is a wilder beast, out hunting for spell-bugs under a golden moon.

The First Charms

When I decided to start experimenting with embroidery outside the excuse of my wedding, I made several small embroidered charms to post first, to get people’s attention and let them know they could request similar things custom. They sold within a few days, and custom requests began to pour in from people who had followed my embroidery work for the wedding. The blue moon-and-waves piece shown here was the very first custom order, a spell to calm anxiety, create peace and wholeness, and help the bearer to persevere and overcome difficulty.

Beloved Bugs

Some visual spell commissions featuring our exoskeletal little friends!

Birds

Some of my favorite bird-centric commissions–a barn owl, a crow, and a red-tailed hawk.

Chipmunks

While I have something of a complex personal history with chipmunks, I got two commissions for chipmunk-based charms, one right after the other, and spent enough hours playing with the designs on these lil guys that I’ve come to smile at them despite myself!