elena obando, aka saturno rosa

I’ve been stitching on tulle for three years. It’s the only fabric I use now and I love it because, from a distance, it appears almost non-existent with only the stitches visible. That’s what first gave me the idea of working with portraits – I was almost creating a simulation of a mask floating in front of your face.

I’m a graphic designer, jeweller and self-taught embroiderer from San José, Costa Rica. I’ve been surrounded by embroidery and sewing all my life, mainly because of my aunts and grandmother. I learnt some basic cross-stitches when I was very young, but didn’t really focus on embroidery properly until 2016. I was at a moment in my life where I was tired of doing the same thing every day – the routine of working in an office made me want to create things and get out of my comfort zone. I started looking for different stitches and techniques on the internet and tried them by myself. It wasn’t an easy process, but with a lot of practice and patience it gave me the confidence to make mistakes and have fun while learning.

Embroidery is like painting but using threads. I love that the materials are accessible, not too expensive, and there are lots of possibilities to experiment. It’s also like meditation when you focus your attention on it – for me, it’s a moment when I can really relax. It can be time-consuming, though – sometimes it takes me a month to finish one design, but when I see it finished it’s worth all the effort. Tulle is very fragile, too, so I have to be very careful. If I make a mistake, sometimes it’s better to fix it with more threads than try to pull them out.

I spend most of my time working and creating things in my studio. I’ve been focused on some personal projects lately, especially embroidery portraits on a bigger scale (almost my size!). I would love to create a full embroidery mural someday, though I know it would be a huge piece of work and take a lot of time and effort. I like to create my own playlists to listen to while I’m working – it makes everything more fun.