Hedwig

Hedwig by Alena Savchenko — a Harry Potter scene built around Hedwig the snowy owl perched at the left end of the seven HP spellbooks lined up like a shelf, with Harry’s round glasses and lightning-bolt scar floating above them and a wand-tip starburst marking the spell about to be cast. Stitchy “smoke” clouds spill out behind the books and around the glasses to give the whole thing motion.

Stitched on 28ct Royal Peacock Opalescent Cashel linen — a hand-dyed Zweigart Cashel that washes from teal through emerald, gold, lavender, and deep blue, with shimmer flecks woven through it. The chart’s whole magical-aurora background is the unstitched fabric showing through, so the linen choice does most of the atmospheric work.

The chart calls for 32 DMC shades including two metallics, and the design uses a mix of full stitches, half stitches, backstitch, and French knots — the books are full-coverage and saturated, while the glasses, scar, and smoke effects are mostly backstitch and sparse half-stitch sketching, which is what gives the piece its illustrated-not-painted feel.

Finished into a flat-mount on stretcher canvas wrapped with a black HP-charm cotton (tiny gold glasses and lightning bolts on black) so the framing reads as themed without competing with the piece itself.

Finished August 5, 2023.