A Closer Look at Modern Goldwork – Three

We used a wide range of different materials and techniques, so the course provided exactly what I wanted – an guided overview of both.

Tracy pointed out that you don’t need to use beads to sew sequins down. These two panels therefore show some of the variants she suggested.

The first panel shows sequins caught with beads and with short lengths of purl used as beads, with both sequins and beads differing in size and colour.

The second panel shows sequins couched down with sections of check purl, irregularly spaced and grouped. There are additional beads and sequins added to increase the range of textures that appear.

It’s probably very easy to tell from looking at these that, for all my embroidery has a somewhat improvisatory quality, I’m not entirely comfortable in situations where the work has to be completely freeform. I like to have a structure underlying my improvisations.

Also, at present, neither of these techniques is asking to be used in the Amarna panels or anything else I have in mind. I’ll think of something, no doubt, but in the meantime this is simply one for the notebook.