Test-driving some ideas

Hello, everyone.

Continuing on from the last post, about the mockup of a book cover, there has been some test stitching done on the hooped bit of linen-with-muslin.

Various experiments with thread

The little white fish was interesting, but I think it's a little too fussy to do anything big with: a lot of tiny cross stitches using the weave of the linen for the grid. Though if I'd had a chart or made some marks it would have been okay.
The yellow fish was a failure.
The white fleur de lis seems to me to lead the way: two strands, and make a line of simple stitches at the edge of the area before beginning to fill anything in.
The yellow round blob is a collection of french knots. Like the white fish, too dainty. The two star/daisy things are okay but they would need to be part of something larger. And I'm not convinced that a grid with "stuff" in the holes is the way to go. Though if decision makers are thrilled with the thought when I show stitch and fabric samples, then it can be made to come out okay. Possibly by means of laying down a thicker thread and using couching stitches to hold it straight and firm up the intersections of the threads.

A test of a design: will something like this work? Is it doable in
a reasonable amount of time?

This Chi-Rho is from Mary Corbett's delightful book of church embroidery designs, which is available as an ebook from her blog, Needle n Thread. (See the sidebar if interested.) The palm leaves were just sketched in as ideas, while the Greek letters were traced. I used Sulky Solvy to trace the letters from a sheet of paper and then basted the Sulky Solvy to the linen. This is the same method that was used a couple of years back to mark the bead embroidery for DD1's wedding dress bodice pieces. (Yes, that is water soluble Flair pen on the transparent stuff.)