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.
And the next thing is ................................. blackwork. As I said, I know nothing about this.
I have chosen as my image a Leonardo sketch of a grumpy old man, although I bet he was handsome when he was young!
So far all I have done is put the linen onto the frame and marked up key features by stitching through a tissue paper copy of the image in a very pale thread.
I have had a bit of a practice at the stitches. The actual stitches are simple, but they build up into quite complex patterns and need to be carefully counted.
I'm pretty vague about how the shading works! Wish me luck.
Well here he is, back from assessment and looking full of himself. It must be a he - it's so flashy!
I really enjoyed silk shading this time round. When I did my certificate piece I really wasn't too sure about it, but now I know - it's fun!
Anyway. On to the next project. It is blackwork. I have never done anything like this before and have no idea how it is going to work. I end up putting my trust in Tracy.
I will post a picture of the prepared linen when I have finished the preparation so far and before I go back to Durham on Tuesday.
Well, he is finished. All done and dusted and mounted, ready for assessment in August. I really like the finished piece (and I always love to see a piece mounted - it seems to add depth and I don't know what but something magical). I also really enjoyed the process of doing it. The rhythm of colours and trying to get smooth sweeps around curves. I think that silk shading is my favourite technique so far, which is strange because I really didn't enjoy it when I did the Certificate course.
Unfortunately I will not have a photograph of my kingfisher until I get the piece back in September. By then he might have got over his measles (I never realised that kingfishers were quite that spotty).
Well, it's been another long gap. I blame the glorious weather, we don't get so much that we can afford to stay in doors when the sun does eventually shine.
To Durham yesterday. It was good to see Pippa's Baldishol tapestry (Saves9) in the flesh. It looks even better than the photographs, much more vivid and textured. Nice to see you Pippa!
I made good progress with the feathers on the head and Tracy came up with a solution for all the spots on the head. So it's just a last big push this week and next to get this piece ready for assessment.
