G[r]eek alphabet : F is in progress!

So what colour is a Feegle? What colour is his kilt? And what kind of beak does a Flamingo have? These are some of the many questions I ask myself when making things.

I had some pale felt, lotsa turquoisy fabric like the back of letter A, and navy and various patterned fabric in various shades and some dark royal blue. I really wasn't sure so I consulted a friend who loves Pratchett and may have dressed as a kelda. She was bound to have a final view on the colour of woad that the feegles have tattooed every inch of skin with. She voted royal blue. Which was cool as I also liked it, but difficult cos it frays really easily, specially on a small piece of fabric. I didn't have an orange for the hair I liked so that was going to be embroidery.

I dithered about the kilt as I didn't have any real tartan but then I found THIS picture

and thought YES! Reddish would work, specially as I'm going to have a red letter F.

Here's a picture of the first layer sewn down.

Sorry it's dark but my phone is amping the yellow. The flamingo is pinker than that.

So then I have to place the F before I can finish the flamingo (so I don't embroider bits you won't see). I also need to do the hair and legs on the feegle.

The most observant might realise - I've accidentally cut out the feegle the wrong way round - the original drawing had the other arm waving.

But I'm not too fussed about it.

So then I have a slight hitch when I test pin the F ribbon. The small bar of the middle of the F is hiding a lot of flamingo. And this is starting to look crowded even without the feegle's hair and legs.

In theory all my letter designs use equal-ish sized bars for all parts of each letter, but I'm not bound to it, each letter square is its own thing as far as I'm concerned. I just like some consistency-ish-ness (yes that's a word, I made it up right now so I know!).

Here's a temp look at what that might mean. Yup I think it's going to have to be halved.

And what about G for Ghostbusters?

I did some colour sketches as I couldn't work out how to make the letter G clear and keep the Ghostbusters logo combo. Since I was at work I got two opinions and found a solution!


This top half shows the problem if I keep the whole of the Ghostbusters logo and the G and keep them both red. It's hard to read the G.

The bottom half saw me try making the G green. Not a bad solution but not quite there.

So then I tried it in blue, also a bust (see top of the next sketch page. So I thought about using the contrast colour on the bit between the start  and end of the G's semi circle.

Then my friend says - why not leave that bit of the logo out. And, to make the G separate from the cross bar, have a thick black line round part of the G.

And voila! Problem solved. Should be a quickie too as I'm going all felty on that one I think.

All this makes me realise the art debt to my family. My embroidery thread collection is I suppose you could say an inheritance from my grandmother. Embroidery was something I did for her too to make a gift - antimacassars. Sewing is something my mum still does, although no applique, mostly skirts and jackets.

And my Dad? My Dad does full size sketches of his paintings, then transfers them onto the white boards he paints on.

He also does colour sketches to work out colour combinations and balances. Sometimes as a kid he'd let me suggest colours and show me how they could look.

I guess I learn a lot and they weren't even teaching me.

Dear family, I love you a lot, even the deceased members.