After a much more productive Thursday, DaVinci is done!  I spent much of the morning finishing up his fur and then pinned him to the design wall to figure out what to do with those ghostly eyes.

When I went back tonight, Theresa Rhodus and I talked about the eyes.  We both agreed they needed to be darker, but not necessarily black. I also wanted to make sure the eyes didn’t recede, which happens very easily with heavy stitching, since the fabric is physically more flat.

I decided to color the eyes in… I didn’t have my Derwent Inks at the studio, which I love using on fabric.  They’re very colorfast and great for layering both shadows and highlights.  So, I opted to use Tee Juice in gray to help pop the eyes.  Tee Juice is also colorfast, but less forgiving, or so I thought.

After coloring the eyes, I went back to the sewing machine and added a few more touches, including my signature.  By the time I was finished, the Tee Juice was dry, and the eyes seemed to have faded.  I popped the piece in the frame, and asked Theresa about the eyes.  She agreed.  So I added another layer of gray.

I still need to finish the back of the frame and take a good photo so I can have a print made for DaVinci’s mama, Jodi.

Ta-Da…Vinci: