Who would have thought Gatchaman and Plastic Canvas could go hand in hand? I've been doing plastic canvas since I moved to to West Texas four years ago. It wasn't until San Diego's Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets guru Jason Hofius mentioned making cookies for the 2001 comic con that I combined the two elements (Gatch and plastic canvas, not gatch and cookies). I did a run of the G belt buckle coasters in 2001. In 2002 it was a birdhead (very simple). Last year I didn't go to con but I have some Galactor symbols made. The patterns were all hand drawn by me and slowly I've been converting them over into a plastic canvas pattern maker on my computer. Some of the coasters are a bit more labor intensive than others, but I won't elaborate unless someone is interested. There are pictures of two of them over at Wendy Dinsmore's Gatchaman site in her costumes/crafts/miscellany area. I'm also into cross stitch. And again I've combined cross stitch and Gatchaman in a unique way. Hobby Ware makes a crosstitch pattern maker program that lets one take a picture, upload it, pick the # of colors they want to use (up to three hundred), then instantly generates a pattern in both color and symbol which you can print and stitch.. I've done one: the bird scramble symbol on Wendy Dinsmore's links page (with her permission of course -- always always ALWAYS ask permission before borrowing pictures off someone's site). That too is on the same page as my coasters. Currently I'm working on another picture of Condor Joe (borrowed from Wendy's condor joe shrine with permission), and have a 24 inch by 24 inch piece from the cover of the Gatchaman symphonic suite (from my own jpeg collection) which I want to start very soon. So there you have it. My own personal labor of love. If you have questions, PM me or leave a message here.

That bird head signal is lovely - it must be very useful to have the software to produce a pattern because I imagine it'd hurt to do it by trial and error I'd never heard of plastic canvas before though. Is the design done with plastic as well?

Could we have links, please? I love to do cross-stitch, and would really like to see, and maybe buy, some of your patterns. Cricket

Those sound pretty cool, though I'd be more likely to buy the end result than the pattern. ^_^ Not too good at the handcraft thing, though my mom tried to teach me. I'd love to see some pictures.

Yes would be grand to see piccies!

Pictures are towards the end of Wendy Dinsmore's gallery page here http://www.chronicsite.com/gatchaman/cosplay.html

Ooooh! Those are cool! I especially like the bird signal cross-stitch. Something beats them, though. Baby Swan Jun! She's adorable! I'd kidnap her, but I know that kids use their incredible powers of cuteness to trick adults into allowing them to live, so...^_^ However, the crafts are really nifty. The coasters, I imagine, are a great conversation piece.

My mother, grandmother and great grandmother all did embriodery, the last was the best, using single threads of silk. I can do a little but am too busy on other projects.

I made three posts here not too long ago, and they seem to have been eaten... ah well.

Thats way cool! I haven't tried doing anything with plastic canvas for ages! I certainly don't have your talent for it though. If anyone is interested, you can probably still get the numbered t-shirts from gatchagear.com. I have #1 and#2, and my daughter has #3. The downside is they cost 40$ cdn.

Yes sorry about that WtXC the forums lost two days of posts last week because I upgraded the server. However the backups taken were corrupted so I could only use an earlier version from the 3rd of May. Sorry!

hi what is plastic canvas?

It's a plastic mesh that you can do needlepoint on. It's much stiffer than regular needlepoint material, and doesn't fray. Good for beginners.

I never did get round to trying to do some Gatch cross stitch. I really have to try to, though at the moment I am trying to be good and finish off all the kits I currently have.

Finish kits? Is that what you're supposed to do with them? I thought they were supposed to take up room in your closet while you moved on to something else. Lots of room. Wonder how many gifts I could give if I actually finished them?

It was a colleague at work who advised me you were supposed to finish them. My son has only been waiting 9 years now for his completed picture. ah well a few more years wont hurt

I started a hook rug in boarding school. It's still not finished. Sigh. At least I always finish stories... eventually... otherwise I think I'd be facing a lynch mob by now...

It must be the additional motivation that makes us finish fics.

/me Cricket signs up for the lynch mob.

Way, way cool! I'm an embroiderer myself - have been for nearly 30 years now (oh ye gots, that means I;'m OLD!) I love your pieces. My own embroidery is mostly freestyle (yes - that's the one you use silk threads for) - I love threadpainting (which is where you use the threads stitched to shade, etc. not cross stitch). I also research and do historical embroidery. And in my spare time - I;m the embroidery editor at Bellaonline.com (you can find my articles at: embroidery.bellaonline.com ). Hmmm. Now I think that I may have to just do a pic of the team using threadpainting or even as in the Bayeaux Tapestry (hmmm - now THAT's an idea!). Firstly, though, I need to finish off two carpet squares for our Baronial Kneeling Carpet and get some more articles written (I have 6 books to review, and 3 articles to finish. Not to mention the fic). Megs

This is a pretty old thread (no pun intended), but I also dabble in the yarn/plastic canvas thing from time to time. Here are Gatchaman faction symbols that I designed and made awhile back... I usually hot glue a magnet strip to the back so people can put them on their fridge. I made sets for several members of the Gatchaman archives. Each badge measures about 4" top to bottom.

Originally posted by Tengu My mother, grandmother and great grandmother all did embriodery, the last was the best, using single threads of silk. I can do a little but am too busy on other projects.

I use silk thread a lot in hand work embroidery, it looks beautiful when it is done...I have seen the cross stitch programs.I know how to design my own by hand, but a program would be a lot less work in figuring out your colours! and graphing out a design! I wonder if Maddy has used many embroidery programs since she is a member of the guild....

These are so awesome! I to your creativity, Tony!

They are truly great, Tony! But our favourite is definitely the God Phoenix one you made. We have it on the fridge and use the Firebird Mode to warm up out leftover pizza!

Those are really nice Tony. Thank you for sharing your work

Originally posted by Transmute Jun They are truly great, Tony! But our favourite is definitely the God Phoenix one you made. We have it on the fridge and use the Firebird Mode to warm up out leftover pizza!

Oh yeah, I forgot all about that one! Here it is... And thanks for the compliments, guys! They are most appreciated!

God Phoenix... super cool.....

Cool, Tony!!! Ebony - I use PCStitch. I've used a few, but this one is definately the one I prefer to use. The problem I find with them all, is that the charts don't print out so well, especially if it's a larger chart. To use them to their best, though, you really should have a tablet (you know - one of those things like a mouse pad with stylus thingie that you use like a pen) as then you have much better control than with a mouse. I can't do back stitching at all using a mouse on a pattern program! And yes - a tablet is on my "want" list. I use silk myself for hand stitching (though I also love the DMC linen threads) and prefer Eterna silk (www.eternasilk.com) as it is the easiest to use with much the nicest "lustre" and touch factor. You can buy it online from the website - and as it comes in over 800 colours, is by far the best colour range! I keep meaning to fiddle with some Gatch patterns - and have one planned based on an Alex Ross painting, but just haven't had the oomph to do it!