Well, it's been a long time since my last post. Sorry about that but I have been busy stitching. With whitework "reverse stitching" is pretty easy - a welcome change from blackwork where it was pretty difficult. Anyway I am making progress now and trying to catch up because I am behind schedule with the Diploma course.
This is what the piece looks like now. I have removed the threads to make a wide border all round and have worked almost halfway up the background behind the horse in a variety of stitches. The stitches that I have used so far are: chained border, three sided, four sided, waffle, honeycomb and spaced satin. For the Diploma you need to use about five stitches, but I have taken a more the merrier approach so far.
This photograph gives a slightly closer view of the stitches. As you can see, I have just left the space within the horse outline completely untouched.
The border has been hemstitched; the drawn threads woven inand blanket stitched and the bars worked.
There is still a lot of work to do though.
Well, after a bit of a false start, my whitework is actually underway.
It is pretty hard to see the design on this photograph, but it is a horse trotting.
All that I have done so far is to start on the borders - a bit of drawn thread and hemstitching, and then started to fill in the background to the horse with some pulled thread stitches. So far I have used chained border and three sided stitch. There is a photograph below of the tiny bit that I have done.
The idea is to use a whole variety of stitches to make up the background. Should be fun!
Well, I have mounted my blackwork and handed it in, so it is straight on to whitework. I am running a bit behind schedule, so there is no time to draw breath between pieces. There is very little to show for an awful lot of work so far. Like so many things whitework is all in the preparation. So the linen is on my slate frame; the design is tacked on; the centre is found and I have counted and recounted threads into multiples of 12. There is really nothing to take a photograph of at present, maybe next time.
We had always planned to highlight the curls in his hair, but I got cold feet about it all and panicked horribly. Anyway, Tracy steadied me down when I was in Durham with her last week and here is the final result.
I am not at all sure that his mother would recognise him - but I rather like him (after all that grief).
I will be quite pleased to hand this piece in for assessment, he has hung around my house for far too long. Now it is just a case of finishing touches, mounting and handing in.
I forgot to say. My Kingfisher has been at the RSN for ages. He was part of their Glasgow exhibition earlier this year and now will be in their Hampton Court studio exhibition "Inspired by the garden" from September 2014 to March 2015. Check out their website (www.royal-needlework.org.uk) to see more. There should be loads of lovely stuff to see. Hampton Court itself is always worth a visit.
I have been putting off posting this image. All there is left to do is define his curls and finalise the background. But ................. I hate the hair! I know that Tracy will help me to sort it out, but, right now, I can't imagine how!
Well, at least I went to the RSN at Hampton Court this time! An excellent few days with Jenny Adin Christie. I can highly recommend it. Mind you, it was awfully hot, but I shouldn't complain about being warm.
I have been working on my man since I arrived home and, as you can see, the hair is slowly growing. Tracy and I made the decision about the background when I was in Durham a couple of weeks ago - I am going to stitch the background (the paper is foxed in the original), but only very lightly and sketchily.
OK. Sorry about the long absence, but we have been away again. This time it was up the East coast of Scotland and then a little way along the North coast. We must have done something right - the weather was dry!
Following that I had two days in Durham with Tracy trying to catch up and sort out in my head the way forward. On due consideration, the other eye (his right eye) needed a bit of a sort out.
I have put before and after shots below, see what you think.
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| Before |
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| After |
I took the eye out and replaced it. Was it worth it? I am not sure, but probably.
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Yes, I have been away again - and the embroidery has suffered I am afraid. I have been stitching. I am working on a cot size whole cloth quilt for a friend's daughter's baby, so am definitely working to a deadline.
Anyway, below is a picture of my man as he was yesterday. It's interesting, the photographs give a different perspective on the piece. I took one look at the picture and took the eye out again. I also need to calm down the highlights I think.
I have started the hair and am using small diamond stitch. I am aligning the "tails" of the stitch with the direction of the curls, as far as possible. Then I am using a very free stem stitch to highlight the curls. What do you think?
One of the benefits of having a 16 year old in the house revising for her GCSEs is that every time that I insist that she sits quietly in the kitchen working for an hour, I also can sit quietly working for an hour! So, progress is being made on both fronts. Mind you, I'm glad that it isn't me doing the GCSEs. I hated it all those years ago (about 50) and certainly wouldn't enjoy it now.
In contrast, I am enjoying my blackwork. Feeling my way around the creases of the eyes ...............
We have been away for a few weeks (Mexico - and yes, it was amazing!) so it has taken time to get back into the swing of blackwork. So, I spent two days with Tracy last week. It really doesn't look like a big result for two days of solid stitching. I am also falling hideously far behind schedule. This really is all about attention to detail though. It can't be rushed. Funnily enough it is quite soothing to concentrate hard on a small area.
Anyway - his nose is almost in place, then I think that I need to do his right ear. I am having qualms about the density of the area of his sideburns.
Anyway ........ slowly I am making progress. It may not seem like a lot, but it's not like doing straightforward blackwork infill of shapes. Trying to get the shading right takes time. This is about pleasure - lets take our pleasures slowly!
It is time to start the hair and to think about the background. In the sketch the background paper is lightly foxed.
Sweet they are not! I think that this is an image of an old soldier. He has his front top teeth missing - you can see the scar on his lip.
I also have a theory that Leonardo da Vinci was a time traveller called Leonard Vincent (The blackwork is of a Leonardo sketch by the way). At least this would account for all his futuristic designs.
Anyway, back to blackwork: the jawline was interesting to do, but it has worked out I think. I have used open zig zag stitch for the lips, reduced to half scale - otherwise it would have been too sketchy. The lips aren't quite finished yet. This week's task is to get the whole mouth area finished.
This photograph is a few days old, but I didn't want you to have too much excitement all at once! Now the eyes are starting to appear it is a bit more obvious what the image is.
I have to use a total of 5 different stitches. The face is definitely waffle stitch. The hair is small diamond stitch, swinging the "tail" to give the direction of the curls. I am not sure about that, but we'll see what it looks like.
This really is all about attention to detail.
I am sorry about the gap in blogging, put it down to holidays, family, Christmas ................ All my sewing reached a hiatus, but I am back at it now.
I am enjoying blackwork. It felt at first as if I was groping about in the dark, but things seem to be falling into place a little more now. Anyway, this is a bit of a retrospective picture. Things have moved on, but I will save that for another day.
I know that it still looks like nothing but ................
I am using waffle stitch for the face, which is really pretty. So I thought that I would include a close up of the stitch.
The shading is fun. I annoy Tracy by referring to it as "Paint by numbers" in due deference to my total lack of artistic ability.
