Customer Reviews:
 Nice and informative November 11, 2008
I am in the process of in-house "training" and this book, among others, by this exceptional artist is helping me formulate new procedures and ideas before I start a project.
Beautiful study of birds February 18, 2004
31 out of 31 found this review helpful
This book has several beautiful study of birds. The photographs of her own work are truly amazing. The bald eagle, in particular, looks totally alive with a malevolent glint in it's eye. I really loved the egret with wispy white feathers that seemed to be blowing in the wind. The book includes a generous example of Helen's own embroidery that are not part of the classes. These, I think, are the best examples of what is possible. The main part of the book consists of 5 master classes that walks one through the step by step construction of the projects. However, her master classes looked way too complex for me. Instead I incorporate her method into my own design of a small bird and a flower. She explains her method, opus plunarium -- or layers of feathers used to create the illusion of depth, body, and movement, in the technique section at the back of the book. This method was especially convincing and life-like when used on the small bird, and very surprisingly, not too difficult to realize, even for me! I think Helen used mostly thick, flat, Japanese style silk threads (not silk floss, not twisted silk). Her work has a super-glossy look. These types of threads are not easy to find in the U.S. I purchases YLI silk twisted floss from Needlework.com. These produced matter, semi-glossy results, which I was quite happy with. The YLI silk floss came in 6 twisted stands, where each strand seemed to be about 1/2 the thickness of a stranded, twisted, cotton DMC floss. I would highly recommend Ms. Stevens' Embroidered Birds for your library. The pictures are lovely, and the technique will add wings to your embroidery.
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