I am slightly anxious about applique. I have used applique as part of quilting and never particularly enjoyed doing it, so to do an entire project is a bit daunting.
As ever, choosing the right image is a large part of the challenge. I have chosen an image that I found in Spain after walking the Camino de Santiago. It is complex but rustic. (I may need the emphasis on "rustic" as I go on!)
I am using silk fabrics throughout and predominantly silk threads also. Thank heavens for The Silk Route - a wonderful shop, so many colours, weights and textures of silk. I end up like a kid in a sweet shop! Working in silk adds it's own difficulties however - the tiny pieces tend to fray. The silk pieces are stitched on to, and completely cover, a background of calico. Then the layers are built up using a variety of paddings to give depth and texture. There is a fair amount of stitching to give detail and depth also. the shields are leather with coloured purl applied. The spears will, eventually, be cocktail sticks I think.
There is masses to do yet, not least of all figuring out how to do two horses and riders!
My horse (whitework) returned to me last week, so here is the final, mounted image. I used pale green silk behind the piece.
The RSN may not like him, but I do!
And here he is at last! My finished, mounted blackwork. The RSN didn't think much of him, but I have become quite attached to his battle-weary face. The scar on his lip adds character I think (OK, so I'm weird!)
Where has the time gone? I hadn't realised just how long it has been since I posted here. We have been off on our travels again: Shetland in the spring, Devon and Suffolk later in the year, and then Tuscany for a bit of wine tasting. Finally I spent the last four weeks in Japan - a big adventure.
Anyway, the kingfisher has finally returned from his travels. He has been in an exhibition at Hampton Court Palace and also took a trip to Glasgow. I haven't posted a picture of him fully finished and mounted before, so here he is:-
I have several finished pieces to show you as well as the piece that I am working on currently. I will post them in the next couple of days.
I have been working on the trailing. I must say that I find it quite difficult to keep it smooth and shiny. Only practice will improve it I suspect. I have started on the eyelets which means that you can finally tell that this is an Appaloosa!
I have put in two photographs designed to show different things. The first is a shot using normal lighting.
The next one uses side lighting, which highlights the trailing.
Well, I have started the trailing which means that, finally, the horse is starting to appear.
It's fiddly to do and my curves aren't so very smooth, but at least I am making some progress. I am using a single strand of stranded cotton over a six strand core.
Well, it snowed last week, again. I was supposed to be going to see Tracy oin Durham on Thursday, but it wasn't possible to get out of the village - and it certainly wouldn't have been possible to get back. The horse remains untouched. On the other hand, both the wide and narrow borders are now complete.
Snow willing, I will go to Durham on Friday and get the horse started.
Well, the background is finished, the wide borders are done, the corners just need finishing off and the narrow borders are begun. One day I will get to the main event - the horse.
Here is a bit more detail for the corner and borders. For the narrow borders I used hemstitch with offset clusters for the side and hemstitch and herringbone at the bottom. These two borders will be repeated on the other two sides. Click on the image to see it larger.
The stitches for whitework are pretty straightforward, it's all about consistent tugs in the right direction. The effect is pretty though.
I have used coton a broder for the corners and the wide border - just because I preferred the look of it. The narrow borders are worked in stranded cotton like the rest of the piece.
I am looking forward to moving on to the horse.
I have been very lazy about posting here, blame it on post-christmas blues or something. But the stitching is coming on slowly. The background is almost three quarters complete, as you can see I have just randomly repeated rows of the same stitches to give a lacy, open effect. I have mainly used 3 sided stitch, 4 sided stitch, honeycomb stitch in 2 different variations, stem stitch, spaced satin stitch and chained border.
I have drawn the border threads and used double crossing clusters for two borders and knotted coral clusters for the other two. The bars are corded and then the first corner woven. Preparing the corners took some time but I quite like the finished corner - only 3 more to do!
Oh yes, I used coton a broder for the borders and corners, it seemed to give more substance to them and looked less mean.
I have a bit of a love-hate thing going with this piece, but I seem to with most pieces at this stage so - Get Over It!
