Desert Island Stitch: Twin Peaks
“God I love this music… isn’t it too dreamy?” Audrey Horne says to Donna. She then slides away from the counter and begins to dreamily sway in the middle of the Double R while Donna looks on, smiling, though feeling a little confused.
A little bit of a curve ball here with Desert Island Stitch number ten! Who would have guessed a soundtrack to a television series? The music of Twin Peaks is a portal that transports you to a strange little town filled with both darkness and light. It’s getting lost in the pines… it’s a lazy Sunday afternoon… and most importantly, it’s too dreamy. The series is iconic for a million reasons, but near the top of that list is Angelo Badalamenti’s moving score. Welcome to Twin Peaks, population 51,201.
There are a ton of various re-issues and special editions of the soundtrack out there [the ones issued by Mondo are simply gorgeous], but I went with the tried and true original cover. The shot of an empty road leading into the damp woods, a mist hanging over the distant mountain peaks.
When I stated this piece, I had no idea how it was going to turn out. About a quarter of the way through I wasn’t happy with how the colors were looking, so I scratched the whole thing and started over with a complete redesign. Of course there was no way that I was going to be able to mimic the cover exactly, especially given the size and color limitation. Even then, I used a total of 34 different colors, giving this piece the most color detail out of all the Desert Island Stitch pieces. Though it still retains that lovely 8-bit look and feel, but with thread.
When I started this project over three years ago, I wasn’t quite sure where it would take me. I had a rough outline of where I wanted to go but I wasn’t sure how it would materialize. “Would I be able to really translate 10 iconic album covers into thread in such a way that they’re still recognizable?” Turns out, the answer is “Yes.”
Thanks for taking this journey with me! Let me know what you think in the comments… or share what your ten Desert Island Discs would be…