PAPER BARGELLO

In the 70s, I was really interested in needlepoint, and stitched up lots of it, including a gigantic sun that I designed, then needlepointed, and framed in a bright yellow frame my dad made.

One type of needlepoint that is especially interesting, and that I did a few times, is Bargello. Most of the time, Bargello designs are peaks and valleys, flame-type looks. 

This morning, I was browsing through a Stampin' Success (the wonderful magazine we Stampin' Up! demonstrators receive in the mail bimonthly) from 2010, and came across an article about recreating the Bargello look in paper. Wow! Cool!

Basically you use striped paper and cut it into strips. I was excited to run down to my Creation Station and give this a try. (OK. Maybe I didn't run. Stumbled??) Digging through my retired Designer Series Papers, I chose one I thought would work up well. 

I cut four pieces of 3 1/2" x 5" of cardstock to use as a base for my paper Bargello. The DSP was cut into 1/2" strips, and I went to work. 

Before gluing the strips in place, I covered the whole piece of cardstock with strips in my proposed design, just to make sure it all would work. That gave me lots of wiggle room. If I did not like how the design was proceeding, I just pushed the strips off, and started all over. THEN once you are satisfied, you make the commitment of gluing the strips down.

And these are the four backgrounds I came up with:

I found myself talking out loud the entire time I was doing this. For example, in the last instance, I kept saying, "Orange under the light blue". That way you are sure to have your design come out just right. That is, IF you listen to yourself. :>)

Well, I was interested to see how it would look with this as a background for a card. So I randomly picked one of my four designs, and set out to create a Bargello Background Card.

I think the next time I try this technique, I may cut my DSP into 1/4" strips. That way I can get a bit more detail, and maybe form more of the peaks and valleys as found in traditional Bargello.

What are your thoughts on all this?

Bargello

Smiles.