Stripes

I'm starting a new series of relief prints based on candid portraits taken of strangers in public. I'm not sure if I really want to hand carve all these tiny lines so if anyone has a connection with a cheap laser engraving service, I'd like to hear about it. I'm thinking about making a bunch of blocks and saving them up until I have access to a decent press on which to print them.

Littlest Print Exchange 2012

In addition to making my own prints for the Littlest Print Exchange, I've also been preparing packaging to house the portfolios and getting the website setup to add another gallery. Once this year's portfolio is completely finished, I'm going to announce another LPE side project like the Fixed Focus Exchange from earlier this year. The Teensy Tiniest Exchange will be a trade of ridiculously small, one inch prints open to anyone that wants to join in. The details are being worked out, so be on the lookout for an announcement in a few months. And keep your eyes peeled for updates on the 2012 LPE as we get closer to the May 1st deadline. There will be some great little artwork to see.

Half of One Percent

Now that I'm finished with my cross stitch, I'm spending some time putting together a submission for the Littlest Print Exchange. The due date is a little early this year, to make sure we can get the whole thing completed before we hit the road again. This one's a little hand-stitched packet similar to the one I made a couple of months ago for a different exchange.

Statistics

So I finished stitching the other day. I beat my most recently estimated end date by about a month and my original estimate by more than a year. I tacked the tapestry up on the wall to shoot this picture. I'm working on a method to stretch it like a canvas, removing all the wrinkles and making it appropriate for hanging. After that I'll hopefully be able to get some more professional photographs. Until then, here are a few statistics:

500 "pixels" x 500 "pixels" = 250,000 "pixels"
Each pixel is made of two crossed stitches so that makes half a million individual stitches or one million passes of the needle through the canvas.

- Begun: 7/15/2011
- Finished: 04/08/2012
- 268 days or about 9 months
- 1600 estimated man hours based on how many pixels I could complete in 1 hour.
- Estimated average of 5 hours, 58 minutes of work per day

- Approximately 8,333 feet of embroidery floss, which translates to 1.58 miles.
- Even though Jessica insists it is a worthless statistic, that is 0.0009875 miles of floss per hour.

97.6%

Only one more embroidery hoop's worth of stitching left to go. I thought I'd give you a small look at the back before the entire piece is revealed.