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Lynne Nicoletti |
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| Designer's Name: Lynne Nicoletti | |
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Location: London, Ontario, Canada
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Thank you for taking part in our Friday Feature this week Lynne! Would you begin by telling us how hobby turned into a professional design business?
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Your “fortune teller” origami style designs have really been a crowd pleaser! Would you tell us how this idea came to mind and about any difficulties or interesting notes in creating them?
I feel, that decorative needlework is arguably one of the most ‘hedonistic’ of the needlearts. We’re not creating warm blankets or baby booties or even adding to our wardrobes… and few of us are stitching tablecloths or bedspreads, as do our fellow needle artists who knit, sew, crochet and quilt. Our needleart is purely for enjoyment and pleasure. In the throw-away times in which we find ourselves, my grandparents would doubtless be labelled ‘packrats’. Their narrow Victorian row-house might have seen better days and the tiny interior spaces were crammed with the accumulated remains of many lives. On Saturday mornings, Grandad and I would polish the brass ornaments and curios that spent the remainder of the week safely stowed in a tall cupboard in the parlour. This cupboard was a treasure trove of fascinating objects… as was the rest of their house. A rack of tobacco pipes sat by the fireplace in the kitchen and was a complete mystery to me since I’d never seen anyone smoke even one of them. In contrast to these pipes, there was a glass skull tucked safely away in a cupboard that did smoke… if you put a lit cigarette (I think in a hole in the back of his head) smoke came pouring out of his eyes. “A little macabre for small children!” you think? Perhaps, but the memory of it delights me to this day. More than anything, I like to design charts that offer a maximum of charm and pleasure. That hold the possibility of creating a sense of wonderment similar to the treasures found in my grandparents’ house… so, the Fortune Tellers were a natural. A couple of technical difficulties come quickly to mind when thinking about the Fortune Tellers. The first involved choosing an appropriate fabric. It took a few failures to get this right. The stitch count was important in order to make the finished Fortune-Teller a pleasing, and easily manipulated, size. The fabric also needed to be stiff enough to hold the proper shape. The second problem was a design issue. In order for the closed Fortune-Tellers to look their best, it’s essential that the images lie well across the top… and they look best when they sit diagonally in their corners (a rather tricky design challenge).
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What are a few things you enjoy most about being part of the cross-stitch industry? Being part of the cross-stitch industry has allowed me to grow in so many ways. Socially - I’ve met some amazing people who I’d never have come in contact with if it hadn’t been for my association with the cross-stitch industry. It’s allowed me to share ideas with other designers and with some very creative stitchers. Most of all, it’s introduced me to some wonderfully supportive people who I’m now privileged to call my friends. Artistically - Acceptance of my art as cross-stitch designs inspired me to try (and to enjoy) several other artistic media… wood-carving, handmade books, free-form knitting, painting with watercolours and acrylics. It’s also allowed me to develop a skill (and overcome a phobia) that I never believed was possible. As a cross-stitch designer, I was asked to make a presentation to 70 members of our local Guild. The fact that I accepted this invitation was a total shock to me and stands as testament to their Coordinator, Mannie Marshall’s, remarkable skills of persuasion. I’m thrilled to have, finally, overcome a phobia of public speaking and that the Guild members thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon discussion.
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A Popular Design From Lynne Nicoletti... Cats Fortune Teller Recapture a nostalgic piece of fun from childhood with this unique fortune teller design! Includes eight fortune telling charms and complete instructions on how to finish the piece. Suggested retail price is only $14.00. The stitch count is 128 x 128 and the approximate design size is 8 1/4" square. |
Of the many beautiful designs featured on your website at http://www.lynnenicoletti.com do you have any personal favorites? Like most artists, I feel an almost parental attachment to my work. It’s okay to have favourites among these ‘children’ though and I’m particularly attached to several pieces. “Baby’s Best Friend” is a cross-stitched version of one of the first watercolours that I ever painted. Thinking in terms of ‘negative space’ was something I struggled with and I was very happy to find that this negative space painting jumped from one media (watercolour) to the other without losing any delicate, teddy bear softness… of course, Wisper thread was an enormous help in that regard. As a confirmed book-lover, who still enjoys playing with the mental images produced by children’s’ tales, I have to include the three ‘Storybook Designs’ (Alice, Aladdin and the Velveteen Rabbit) among my favourites. Personal attachment to the stories made these projects satisfying and the huge number of beautiful illustrations that have already been inspired by these tales made originality an interesting challenge. If I can choose one more, it must be ‘Neptune/Poseidon’. It’s very rare that a piece turns out exactly as I’d originally seen it in my minds’ eye… every medium imposes its own design restrictions, and cross-stitch is no exception. I feel that this piece captured an organic opulence that I’ve always associated with mythical entities.
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Would you share a little about your family? We’re a family of 4… including our lovely dog, Ceilidh. The humans in our family share a keen interest in the visual world (my husband’s been a Commercial Artist a.k.a. Graphic Designer) his entire adult life and our son demonstrated a strong artistic talent at a very early age. Unfortunately, Ceilidh’s visual appreciation is quite limited… her senses of smell and of touch (she loves comfy sofas) are much more pronounced.
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Where are you originally from? My brother and I spent most of our childhood in Dunstable, a small town in England. Although we were very close to London (and the main road to the capital ran a few hundred yards from our back garden) our lives were completely ‘un-citified’. Dunstable is nestled in the Chiltern hills, a region that was declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965, and holds a very special place in my heart. Hideous school uniforms (our summer dresses were DMC 956!), extremely strict teachers and the usual trials and tribulations of children were considerably lightened by living in such an interesting area. Our childhoods were embellished with trips to Ashridge to collect gorgeous, but delicate, Bluebells in the Spring. To Whipsnade to fly kites on the Common or to visit the animals at the Zoo. We’d often take Sunday drives or visit country fairs and collect tadpoles in nearby villages with names like Leighton Buzzard, Eaton Bray, Toddington and Tring. In the Summer, six of us crammed into our tiny Morris Minor (my grandparents often joined us) and we’d travel further afield… seeing amazing places like the burial place of ancient Scottish kings and the exotic Princely palace in my mother’s hometown of Brighton.
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What are some of your favourite hobbies or pastimes outside the needearts? Books of all kinds have always held a magnetic attraction for me… whether reading or being read to. I read a fair bit non-fiction material but really enjoy mysteries and thrillers. Again with books, I’ve recently started making handmade books. It’s really satisfying to start with bits of paper and boards and wind up holding a journal that’s unlike any other. This medium knows no rules… I even get to mess about with flux and a soldering iron. Painting is a real love and using watercolours allows me to play with something that’s just a little bit ‘wild’. You can usually guess how they’re going to behave and you do learn to control them to some degree. But there’s always a hint of rebellion lying dormant in the paint… just dying to leap out and express itself, no matter what you want to do!
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What are a few benefits in shopping at independently owned needleart shops as opposed to large chain stores? I feel that there’s a place for all kinds of retailers though, not necessarily, in every category of goods. Few, if any, shops serving a special interest have been opened by people who saw their business in the cold, harsh, number-based reality that inspires the opening of a Big Box chain. The guy who opened the pokey little model train shop down the street… the young potter who sells her wares from a store-front in a run-down part of town… the grandmotherly woman who’s realizing a lifelong dream of owning a knitting shop… they all have one thing in common and that’s PASSION! Something that’s practically non-existent amongst the soldierly rows of merchandise, purchased chain-wide, by a very efficient and accomplished buyer (who often has no interest, beyond the transaction, in either the goods or their purchasers). A well-run independently owned shop, of any kind, serves as a respite from everyday life. The owners understand that, without the warmth and acceptance of its’ community, a shop is just 4 walls filled with ‘product’. For stitchers, a favourite needlework shop can be a proverbial home-away-from-home… a place where like-minds gather, encourage, educate and inspire one another.
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In closing, would you mind sharing a favourite recipe? This is what I’m having for lunch today. It may not be very nutritious, but it tastes delicious! Thai-Style Soup from the Pantry The Ingredients… Approx. 3 cups Chicken Broth 2 very thin slices peeled, fresh Ginger 1 peeled, whole clove Garlic 2 tbsp. Sweet Chili Sauce (Oriental) 2 tsp. Fish Sauce (Oriental) Grated rind of 1 small Lime Juice of 1 Lime 2 small handfuls chopped fresh Coriander/Cilantro 4 or 5 handfuls very thin Pad Thai (rice) noodles Pepper, Salt & Thai Hot Chili Oil to taste (if you like Hot Chili Oil) Sprinkling of chopped Green Onions and Roasted Peanuts The Play-by-Play… 1. Put the chicken broth, ginger slices, garlic, Sweet Chili Sauce, Fish Sauce, lime rind, lime juice and one of the handfuls of chopped coriander into a saucepan. Place over high heat. 2. When it’s almost boiling, stir in the rice noodles and go find a bowl and spoon. 3. Clear the newspapers, mail, baseball caps and Ipod off the table. Then, rummage in the fridge for “meaty bits” (small pieces of leftover chicken, fish or omelette aren’t essential to this dish, but they do add interest and increase nutrition). 4. Stir in and heat through those bits found while executing Step 3. 5. If you’re tidier than I am (and don’t have any ‘meaty bits’), omit Steps 3 and 4... go read the paper for about 5 minutes or until the noodles are cooked. 6. Taste and adjust seasonings and serve with chopped green onions, roasted peanuts and the second handful of chopped fresh coriander. P.S. Don’t eat the Garlic or Ginger Slices!
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