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More Mosaic Needlepoint Projects

By Peggy Bond

Geometric designs occur frequently in Pompeii as well was throughout ancient civilizations. Most often they are used as floors and many are black and white. In Pompeii are several polychrome mosaic floor treatments. One was found at the House of Publius Fannius Synistor where it was a threshold in the summer dining area. The mosaic stones were red, green, yellow, and gray on a white and black background. Discovered when the villa was excavated by Vincenzo de Prisco in 1894-5, the mosaic was removed to the excavator’s residence where is resided until acquired by the Archaeological Commission of Pompeii. The NeedlePaint recreation of this mosaic is a 22 x 40 inch 10 point canvas to be worked in Waverly wool and suitable for a rug or wall hanging.

Threshold from the House of Publius Fannius Synistor

Pompeii Mosaic Needlepoint Rug Kit

Another distinctive geometric polychrome mosaic treatment is found on the columns in the appropriately name House of the Mosaic Columns. The columns are on display in the National Archeological Museum of Naples. The Needlepaint mosaic design is the section of the base of a column and is a 16 x 16 inch 14-point canvas to be worked in DMC threads or 2 stands of Waverly wool, ideal for a colorful pillow.

Column section from the House of the Mosaic Columns

Mosaic Column Needlepoint Pillow

These canvases are designed to be stitched using the mosaic stitch and thus much quicker to stitch than using the traditional continental for tent stitches.

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Bringing Ancient Mosaics to Needlepaint

By Peggy Bond:

While I walked through ancient Rome and Pompeii, the mosaics on floors, walls, and columns were transformed in my mind to needlepoint pillows, wall hangings, rugs and a myriad of new projects..

Transferring a mosaic design to a canvas had several advantages over the same task for a photo. The number of colors is limited, the design or subject is not too complex, and the background is uniform, except for the grout lines.

Throwing caution to the wind, I attacked the Pompeii guard dog mosaics from the House of Orpheus – 4 colors and a simple image.

Guard dog from the House of Orpheus

The challenge was not creating canvas, but giving the stitched canvas the feel of the mosaic. An individual continental or tent stitch was too small to approximate a mosaic tile, but the mosaic stitch is just as its name suggest. A perfect stitch for the mosaic guard dog!

Mosaic Stitch

Additionally, the cashmere stitch (a rectangular mosaic) which can be stitched vertically or horizontally could be used to outline the dog as done by the ancient artisans with stone.

Horizontal and Vertical Cashmere Stitch

The canvas was designed on a 2 x 2 pixel grid (the size of 1 mosaic) instead of the usual 1 x 1 pixel. Then the number of colors on the image were reduced to 4 – black, off-white, dark brown, and red. There was editing to do to fill most of each grid square with only one color. In some cases, this was not possible and when stitching these areas were filled with the continental stitch.