Well, I have been away a lot again, but when I have been at home I have worked hard to finish this piece.
As ever the finishing bits take ages and are hard on the fingers. Embellishing the shields was hard - there are lots of layers of leather, padding and silk. The manes are just roughly finished at the moment. I have used turkey stitch - again through leather etc - and will eventually trim the threads so that the manes are actually fre flowing. The horsemans' spears are made out of Bonsai wire - always useful stuff to have around. Oh yes, the door handles are smooth purl.
I am going to put this away for a few days, at present all I can see is the faults. Then it needs mounting before I hand it in for assessment.
Yes. I have been away for a long time, but I did at least collect some detailed pictures for my next assessed piece. That's my excuse for my absence anyway.
Really the work that is left is hard to do, fiddly and through many layers of fabric, but doesn't look like much.
It is all about sorting out spears, finishing shields, highlighting hooves, applying cording. The list is much longer than that!
At present I am stitching the manes. It's a kind of version of turkey stitch. I will cut and trim each mane to give the finished effect. I have already done the tails in matching thread. I am using a gorgeous 30 wt silk thread (thank you Barbara!) for the manes and tails. It has a wonderful sheen - which doesn't show in the picture unfortunately.
I have a target finish date of mid-July. That's my next visit to Tracy in Durham. I would like to be able to take the piece off the frame and mount it in July. That would give me a straight start for the next piece in September.
There have been some tricky bits and tricky times over the last few days. For example, I used some sticky tape to remove some fluff from the background and promptly tore the white horse's leg off - time to cut a fresh horse and ponder why I had needed to take fluff off in the first place. If I had cut the padding more accurately first time round ....................
Anyway, the white horse is firmly attached and so is his rider. There is a lot of detailing to do yet but the end is definitely coming in to sight.
The blingy shields are gone and a much quieter coloured leather substituted. Overall I think that the colours work well together.
There was a point when I thought that I was quietly mad for choosing such a fiddly subject, but now I think that it was a good choice.
Well no!! To me it looks pretty much the same, but again - it's about detailing.
I have finished the couching round the doorway and added a row of stem stitch; the canopy thing is now in place and I have almost finished the archway under the canopy; and I have started on the ground. Now that is interesting. In the original the ground is shown as sort of cobbled, so I have used some felt padding to give the impression of cobbles. There is more to do on this, and it may not work - but, they are not wrinkles you see - they are the cobbles of the future! I am also prepping the two horses and riders who will be in the foreground.
There is still masses to do, but it's fun. I never expected to enjoy working this piece, but I really am enjoying it. It appeals to the fussy bit of me!
Another week and loads more detail. The detailing doesn't notice particularly, but it makes things look just a little sharper and more finished.
I have changed the small colonnade. Originally this was tiny strips of silk, but silk so fine just disintegrated as I stitched, so I have couched some beautiful silk thread down instead. I'm really pleased with how it turned out - it has a lovely sheen.
The top canopy is just roughly pinned in place at present. I have quilted the design and prepped the piece to go on, but I haven't decided yet if it needs more padding underneath. In the image that I am working from perspective is pretty well non-existent (which has forced me to make some arbitrary decisions about what is on top of what) but I want to make that silk canopy look at least a little like a dome.
Anyway, it is almost time to turn my attention to the two horses and riders.
For the applique component of the Diploma we have to cover a minimum of four different types of edging. So far I have used turned (the tunic of one of the defendants), corded (around the arches and along the edge of the tower), embroidered (stem stitch around the men and the small colonnade) and now I am putting on a couched edge around the doorway. I am not sure if I will use any additional edgings - I will just see what is needed as I go along.
I added detail to the two shields using a coloured smooth purl, but it has got damaged. That was vaguely inevitable I suppose. Anyway, I have taken it out and will put some fresh on right at the last moment.
This all takes longer than you would think. Slowly deciding on the order of layers, choosing the right fabric, stabilising and cutting out those tiny pieces, using fine silk thread to stitch the pieces in place ....................... It's all enjoyable, but you won't see an enormous amount of progress between posts. I suspect that, like canvas work, it is one of these techniques that comes together suddenly at the end.
I am pleased with the middle tower. I like the contrast in the little colonnade.
I was back in Durham with Tracy yesterday, and so I getting back in gear to motor on with this piece. It may not look very different but ..................
The imposts are in place. I had to look that term up - they are the white bits of stone at the top of the pillars. The bricking is almost finished - I have left a gap in the middle because there is going to be a horse and rider there. The balustrade on the tower is in place and the cording almost in place. The cording cost a bit of effort, we broke the huge needle that we used and a piece of the eye stuck in the fabric. no-one thinks that embroiderers need pliers and wire cutters in their kit, but they do!
I'm pleased with it at the moment, it is looking quite lively.
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, 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, 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!
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 |
