Behind the Scenes: Developing the Eye Spy

One of our favorite pre-holiday activities is developing Eye-Spy puzzles for the blog. It’s so much fun – even if it is a bit of a time hog.

Still, it’s fun, and I know some of you out there enjoy the puzzles. Once in a while, we’ve had to take a hiatus from them, because they are so time-consuming, but now we try to plan in advance so that we can work the set-up, photography session, and take-down in.

I thought I’d explain a bit about what we do and how we do it, since some of you have commented on them and wondered about their preparation and so forth.

So this isn’t really embroidery-related, but we do try to incorporate plenty of embroidery-related stuff into the puzzle-scape of the eye-spy layout.

The first thing we do when we’re putting together an eye-spy puzzle scape is create a space. In the past, our spaces have always been top-down, on tabletops.

This year, we incorporated this type-setting tray as our structure, and we went vertical with the photo.

We all liked it better – Anna, me, and Jim (my brother, who is the guy who takes the photo. He has the skill and all the right equipment to take a really good photo, including a million-gazillion megapixillion camera and portable studio lighting). It is easier to take a photo head on rather than top down, it seems!

We had to have a backdrop for the photo, and instead of drab white walls that are a bit battle scarred from years of building occupation, I decided taping up some linen to cover both the wall and the table would work. I chose the blue linen that we used for Autumn Fire. Very spring-sky-ish!

Once we have our space mapped out and isolated for the venture – and this might even happen a day before we start filling the space – we gather The Stuff.

Anna is generally the gatherer. She tends to find stuff everywhere. I offer suggestions, or pull out some of my favorite “we must use these” items, but she pulls all the minutiae – from needlework tools to strange and wonderful things.

She also keeps her eye out throughout the year, when she’s in different places – shopping, thrift stores, what-have-you – for interesting small things that we can add to our little drawer labeled “Interesting Small Things.”

This year, we added some glass marbles to the drawer, as well as tiny ceramic stick-on bunnies, and a few other odds and ends.

Sometimes, the eye-spy puzzle is a whole-family effort. You see, we have a family chat group. It reaches my family and extended family across many states, but many of whom are also local. We tend to keep in touch daily.

When we began to set up the puzzle, I posted some pictures of our progress to the family chat, saying “This is what we’re doing today.”

This generated offers of even More Interesting Things to add to the puzzle.

My sister was out thrift store shopping, for example, when my text came through. She said she found something for the puzzle. I said “Great.” Enter: the Very Hairy Chick.

Another niece chimed in with, “I’ve got some things you can use!”

And lo! A red crab with lots of legs…

…and a minuscule, red-eyed, one-legged frog joined the crew!

We also spontaneously acquired a grassy green bunny…

…and an adorable wee lambs.

Never underestimate the value of family chat groups!

I also included a lot of tins. I love tins, for all kinds of reasons. (I’ll tell you about these – and others – and what I use them for, next week!)

It takes us a good full day of work to set up the eye-spy, gathering, organizing, distributing, laying out, figuring out, cleaning up pieces, adjusting, pinning, glueing. And then … counting!

I leave the counting to Anna. Heh heh.

This year, she counted a lot of little categories of things. When I asked how many eggs are in the puzzle, though, she declined comment. C’mon, Anna! Who doesn’t like a challenge!

And then I coordinate a mutually agreeable time with my brother, to come take the photo. The puzzle is often set up for days, until the picture can be taken.

Jim arrives at the studio with a boatload of equipment, sets up camera, lighting, computer, and whatnot, takes several photos, testing lighting, angle, and all the necessary considerations, and we eventually agree on a photo that works. Occasionally, I have to adjust the layout of the puzzle, because in the photos, we discover that some things are not visible – things that I’ve already included in the little rhyming ditty.

Once the photo is taken, you’d think that was that!

But no… there’s the take down. All of those little things have to go into a place. Everything needs to be put away, borrowed bits need to be returned, fabric cleaned and rolled up, floor swept, table wiped down, furniture moved back.

And then – that’s that!

It’s a process. But it’s fun!

I would love to convert one (or some) of these photos into a real jigsaw puzzle. And maybe someday, we will! I love puzzles, and particularly puzzles that have lots of little curious features in the image, that make them extra fun to put together!

So that’s the background work behind the eye-spy puzzles! We had Monday off this week, and yesterday was spent getting the studio back into order, for the rest of the work week. Today, we’re prepping new towel sets, working on some stitching, and photographing some lovely little things we’re adding to the shop!

Coming up, I’ll show you the finish on some stitching and some new projects.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!