I worked as an engineer for years before turning to embroidery as a hobby. This hobby blossomed over time into a career. Today I have created many unique pieces and embroidered portraits for many people - including a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip for the Queen's 90th birthday and works presented to Pope Francis.
2015. Pope Francis's visit to Ecuador.
"The world’s first Latin American Pope returned to his home continent on the 5th of July and was presented with a number of gifts at the first stop in Ecuador. In a meeting with the President, Rafael Correa, and archbishop of Quito, Fausto Trávez Trávez, the Pope was presented with three pieces of art- two embroidered portraits and a statue. The two portraits were created with Wilcom software, by digitizer Zhanna Plaksina, and naturally we are very proud of her and her accomplishments." — Wilcom blog (Australia), 2015.
2015. USA — the 37th annual Impressions Awards.
"The realistic depiction and seamless interpretation of a portrait of the third President of the United States earned “Portrait of Thomas Jefferson” multiple honors in the 37th annual Impressions Awards.
The entry, submitted by Zhanna Plaksina (Quito, Ecuador), not only earned first place in the Digitizing Artistry category and Grand Champion: Embroidery honors, but it also earned the title of overall Grand Champion. While “Portrait of Thomas Jefferson” garnered the latter distinction for scoring the highest combined number of points for toughness / job complexity, technical skill, visual impact, design placement and innovation, it was attention to detail and flawless execution that made the entry a standout, according to the Impressions Awards judges".
2014. Russia — competition "Best Machine Embroidery Designer of Russia and the CIS" (Yaroslavl).
My embroidered Icon "Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito" (Dolorosa del Colegio) earned First place in the category Interior Textiles and Liturgical Objects.
Read more about my embroidery journey if you want to find out about how I achieve some of my amazing visual effects
I worked as an engineer for years before turning to embroidery as a hobby. This hobby blossomed over time into a career. Today I have created many unique pieces and embroidered portraits for many people - including a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip for the Queen's 90th birthday and works presented to Pope Francis.
2015. Pope Francis's visit to Ecuador.
"The world’s first Latin American Pope returned to his home continent on the 5th of July and was presented with a number of gifts at the first stop in Ecuador. In a meeting with the President, Rafael Correa, and archbishop of Quito, Fausto Trávez Trávez, the Pope was presented with three pieces of art- two embroidered portraits and a statue. The two portraits were created with Wilcom software, by digitizer Zhanna Plaksina, and naturally we are very proud of her and her accomplishments." — Wilcom blog (Australia), 2015.
2015. USA — the 37th annual Impressions Awards.
"The realistic depiction and seamless interpretation of a portrait of the third President of the United States earned “Portrait of Thomas Jefferson” multiple honors in the 37th annual Impressions Awards.
The entry, submitted by Zhanna Plaksina (Quito, Ecuador), not only earned first place in the Digitizing Artistry category and Grand Champion: Embroidery honors, but it also earned the title of overall Grand Champion. While “Portrait of Thomas Jefferson” garnered the latter distinction for scoring the highest combined number of points for toughness / job complexity, technical skill, visual impact, design placement and innovation, it was attention to detail and flawless execution that made the entry a standout, according to the Impressions Awards judges".
2014. Russia — competition "Best Machine Embroidery Designer of Russia and the CIS" (Yaroslavl).
My embroidered Icon "Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito" (Dolorosa del Colegio) earned First place in the category Interior Textiles and Liturgical Objects.
Read more about my embroidery journey if you want to find out about how I achieve some of my amazing visual effects :
How did I get my start as an embroidery artist?
I began embroidering because it was something I could do while at home on maternity leave, It combined my interest in art with my profession as a jet-engine engineer. This way I got to mix my hobby with my technological background!
I am constantly looking for more ways to improve my skills, which means my style is always evolving. I believe that without this constant effort to improve and evolve, there is no creativity.
Where does my inspiration come from?
I love classical art, music and architecture — they are my main source of inspiration. I have heard the saying that “machine embroidery is not an art – it is a craft”. However, I aim to make machine embroidery a real art.
My secrets: process for creating the 3D, voluminous effects.
To create the 3-D effect in my artworks, I use different stitch directions and shades of colour to build texture. Together they give the design a painterly effect.
Sometimes, using these effects creates a voluminous look - which looks like magic in real life! For example, in the painting “Lord of the Jungle”, the jaguar appears to be separated from the background, placing it in the foreground thus making the image appear much less flat. To see 3D effect, the light needs to fall in a certain direction.
When creating the halo in embroidered icon "Our Lady of Sorrows of Quito" I used five layers of embroidery! Creating the background took a whole different approach and technique — it was definitely the most difficult part! It consisted of 5 layers which all used different tools and colors. I used complex fill, then used different densities and stitch directions. Again this was a bit of trial-and-error because it gave quite an unexpected, but still pleasant, effect in certain lighting. The effect resembles a hologram, where a flat image suddenly becomes three dimensional or has the effect of being multi-dimensional without the need for complex 3D embroidery. A lot of this work is visual rather than tangible.
Was the 3D tear-drop effect hard to achieve? While the effect itself is quite different, digitizing and embroidering the “volumetric drop of water” look was not a huge task at all! The hardest part was making the smallest drop only 3 mm in size.
How long did each portrait design (satin stitch technique) take to digitize? And how many stitches and colors were used in each design?
Each design depends on a number of factors including experience. I have taken up to a month to complete one portrait (satin stitch technique), but my portrait of Pope Francis took two weeks — working 16 hours a day. It involved 30 colors, 62 color changes and 451,631 stitches all together.
A large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip was completed in 4 months. It is my biggest, most time-consuming and complex portrait. It involved 97 colors, 179 color changes and more than 2,000,000 stitches all together. What I found most important during this project was to create a proper likeness to the subject, coupled with an adequate artistic sensibility.
Regarding the entire finished product, it is a collaborative project created by me and my husband. What is my husband’s role and do I have any help from anyone else?
We are the only two involved in the project. My husband makes the carved mahogany frames and the transport cases for the portraits. I make the portraits, hand-paint the frames and decorate the transport cases with embroidered velvet.
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