dreamwidth exclusive

[hatpinvigilante]

The saddest thing about embroidery is that, no matter how hard I try, I probably won't ever be able to take a photo that fully captures the shine and dimensionality of the pieces I make. A few months ago, my friend was in town for our college reunion, and she came over to my apartment to meet Oliver and watch Great Men Academy. Before we could watch any TV, I made her hold each of my embroidery projects. She actually has one of my pieces (Xiao Xingchen), but it made me really happy to share my more recent work in person, and she said A-Xiang is really pretty (I agree).

It's so silly, but I always feel like I have to share my work The Right Way online or I'll miss my chance. Even though I've gotten better at staging photos, nothing ever takes off nearly as much as I hope it will, which can be a little discouraging. But if I don't share, I know I'll just feel sad. There's nothing quite so lonely as working hard and no one seeing the end result.

Today, I finished Yu Ziyuan, and I've shared with a few friends here and there, but I still haven't gotten the itch out of me yet. So, since this won't ruin the reveal on Twitter, I thought I'd give it a go on Dreamwidth. No one really follows me here, but I am hoping it can keep me sated until I've gotten a new phone and figure out how I want to take the good, outdoor pictures.

Mildly interesting notes on process:

• I've been associating Yu Ziyuan with irises ever since I saw a pair of the flowers in the Children's Garden at work that reminded me of Yu Ziyuan hugging Jiang Cheng as Lotus Pier was burning.

• The irises were supposed to represent her two children, but I think they ended up looking more like a reference to Jinzhu and Yinzhu, ahaha.

• When I realized I would need to add some texture to the background, I went for a spot of rain because of a quote from a Rurouni Kenshin movie... something like, "The iris blooms in the rain, even in a rain of blood."

• She is really, really sparkly, and I can't wait to take a better set of pictures!

Whenever I feel discouraged, I remind myself that I'm not a real fan artist who has worked hard to cultivate a following and generates good, consistent content. I'm just some guy with a little hobby, and I'm grateful for the cool new friends this journey has brought me! As I come to what I think is the end of my inspiration/energy for this fandom work, I'm really proud of how much I've improved and the new skills I've developed.

So, anyway, thank you to anyone who happens to see this before I have the time/sunshine to stage the actual final photo for Twitter!