Needle and Thread
Cross Stitch
I started cross-stitching in 2013, making Christmas cards with small kits from hobbycraft. They were terrible. I already knew how to use photoshop, so I started to use that to make patterns of my favourite rappers and musicians. More recently I've been stitching professional wrestling. Wrestling pretends to be all violent and masculine, but underneath it's just pantomime, and I think cross-stitch really gets that. I've been exhibited a few times, featured in some magazines, went viral once. Good times.
WCW/nWo Revenge
This was my first 3D project. It's an actual size 3D replica of WCW/nWo Revenge for the N64. It was stitched in three sections on 14-count plastic canvas, and then stitched together. It needed a lot of colours to get the detail in, and i wasn't sure until the very last minute that it would even be legible, but i'm pretty happy with it.
666 Disorder
This is the 666 Disorder Openweight Championship, a title from Japanese promotion Wrestling of Darkness 666. I think it’s a shade under 17,000 stitches, using just black, white, and three shades of grey. I’m not sure exactly how long it took, but at least eight seasons of background television. (The Last Ship and SWAT, if you were wondering).
Trump // Austin
A cross-stitch of Stone Cold Steve Austin hitting Donald Trump with a Stunner, attached to a jean jacket. This one didn't work as well as I was hoping. I can't really articulate why. I think I used too few colours for the in ring action and it all looks a bit muddy.
Tyson // Austin
A cross-stitch of Stone Cold Steve Austin flipping off Mike Tyson, attached to a jean jacket. This happened on the 19.01.1998 episode of Raw, setting up Tyson's role at WrestleMania XIV. It's just over 8,000 stitches and 22 colours of thread.
Montreal Screwjob
A cross-stitch of the Montreal Screwjob, one of professional wrestling’s most infamous moments. The 1997 Survivor Series event saw Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels secretly conspire (for real) to change the outcome of Bret Hart’s final match in the WWF. This cross-stitch took about a month, with more than 30 colors of thread and over 8,000 stitches.
Dr Wagner Jr.
A cross-stitch depecting the mask of Lucha Libre star, Dr Wagner Jr. It took about 10 days, which is one of my quickest big projects, but a foot injury gave me some time to sit on the couch stitching and watching procedural crime shows. Usually I have a life and this stuff takes longer. There are 8664 stitches, in 19 different colours.
Gift of Gods
A cross-stitch of the Gift of Gods Championship from Lucha Underground. The gold medallions are removable, held in place with magnets, revealing the Lucha Underground logo underneath. I took a break of around two years in between starting and finishing this, because it was a little overwhelming, also there was a pandemic and I was in lockdown away from my supplies. In total there are 36,312 stitches, in five colours, over the seven panels and seven medallions.
FTW
A cross-stitch of Taz's FTW Championship from ECW/AEW. ECW was the first wrestling promotion which felt like it was 100% for me. It was anarchic and unpredictable. I loved it.
Adedeji
During the pandemic, I created this portrait of Dr Edmond Adedeji, who was working as a locum at the Great Western Hospital in the UK and died from COVID19. The portrait is created from large cross stitches on metal mesh and requires the viewer to stand back to see the portrait, reinforcing the importance of social distancing. Unlike traditional cross stitch, you can see through the canvas, making it important to keep the back tidy. It's 24x72 stitches, and it stands at almost 6 feet tall. It was later featured in a covid exhibition at the Greve museum in Denmark. I never got to see it in place, due to travel restrictions.
Smackdown Women's
This is the WWE Women's Smackdown Championship. The bold colours made it a lot of fun to redraw and stitch. It really opened my eyes to new cross-stitch techniques.
Birds
My wife and I had a pretty chill DIY wedding. I made most of the decorations, including the bunting, napkins, general decor, and a collection of 50 cross-stitched birds. At the end of the wedding, all of our guests took one from the wall as a keepsake.
Elvis
This giant portrait of Elvis is cross-stitched with eight colours of wool onto chipboard. It measures 60x120cm, and each stitch is just over 2cm. It was exhibited at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at Kensington Olympia, as part of the Mr X Stitch display.
Big Gold
The first full-sized belt I made was the Big Gold. It taught me a lot, and it was exhibited a few times.
Laika
The third issue of xstitchmag contained the pattern for my cross-stitch of Laika, the first animal to orbit the Earth. This one was super fun to design and was the first time I stitched an animal.
Will
I cross-stitched Will Smith's face on the back of a denim jacket. It was my first time stitching something to clothing and it became kind of my thing. Also I had a super awkward photoshoot on the roof of my boat.
Jazz
A companion piece to my Will Smith jacket, this is Jazzy Jeff.
Geoffrey
Geoffrey on a waistcoat. Suitable for any formal occasion.
Phil
Uncle Phil.
Viv
Aunt Viv.
Hillary
Cousin Hillary.
Carlton
Carlton.
Nish
I cross-stitched a portrait of comedian Nish Kumar, then turned him into a little patch pocket. Then I went for a freezing cold photoshoot in the woods.
Frank
I cross-stitched Frank Sinatra's mugshot, then I added it as a panel in a cheap t-shirt.
Tube
I found these mini embroidery hoops in Flying Tiger, and I decided to make a series of brooches based on cut-outs from the London Tube Map. They came out pretty cute, and I was super happy with them.