Tag: Silk thread
More on the Crock of Gold Hoard
Asymmetric Spiral Trellis
I’ve been making progress on the Crock of Gold Hoard. Quite a lot of progress, in fact. Working spiral trellis stitch in such a way as to leave an asymmetric gap in the middle was a rather odd experience! If you click on the picture to look at it at full size you will see that some of the crossover points where I changed colour break the spiral a little, but in fact I think the effect is working reasonably well.
Padding For The Rim
I decided not to pad this version of the Crock – although who knows what other versions I may try? – but I did feel that padding the rim would help to put the chipwork in the right context when I do it. I happened to have some variegated felt that toned nicely, so I’ve cut two hoops of it and stacked them to form the padding for the rim. It has the added benefit of concealing the raggy edges of the spiral trellis stitch, and should help the rim to stand out a little against the main body of the Crock.
Making A Start On The Dish
What I’ve yet to decide is how I shall work the rim, so for now I have set the problem to one side while I work on the dish that was used for a lid. In this case the spiral trellis is worked on the inside of one half of the backstitch foundation and the outside of the other. This may seem another eccentric variation, but bear with me – I have my reasons! I want to maintain the continuous slant in a single direction, which I feel better reflects the texture of a hand made pot, whereas the zig zag effect of trellis worked back and forth across a shape (look at any close up in Month Two of the Glittering NightCap) doesn’t feel quite the right. I grant you that it’s another tiny detail that may not really effect the overall impression, but if I’ve learnt anything in the last few years from Thistle Threads and others, it’s that small details do count.
Starting On The Crock of Gold Hoard
Photo (courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society) And Sketch
I’ve already written about the historical background for the Crock of Gold hoard, and described two possible planned “patches” based on the idea. Now, what with completing the Map of Amarna, I have energy and enthusiasm to start on a first representation of the discovery of the hoard.
I began with one of the photos that the Egypt Exploration Society was kind enough to let me copy for my reference material. The sketch that I worked from it has eliminated such details as the archaeologist’s hands, the confusing shadows cast by items and people outside the frame, and even the splinters of wood that the pot is sitting on. I can add such details to my stitching as I go along, but for transfer to the fabric I want something that is as simple as possible.
Sketch Transferred
Since this panel is going to include gold and silver chipwork to represent the ingots in the hoard, I’ve used calico to back the flimsy sandy overdyed turban cotton that I’m using for the main background fabric. I transferred the design using the prick-and-pounce method, and then gave the lines a little more staying-power with a quilter’s pencil.
Starting the Spiral Trellis Stitch
I’ve decided to work this version of the discovery at the same size as it appears on the photograph. I may decide that this is too large and I need to work a smaller version – since I had that fright in looking at the borders, I’m acutely aware that some of the pieces I work will be classed as “explorations” or simply mounted separately.
I’m working the pot in spiral trellis stitch, using a fairly heavy silk thread, a Silk Twist of medium thickness from Mulberry Silks. There are several close shades in the pack I have (it’s called “Old Cotswold”) and I shall be swapping between them. Maybe not entirely randomly, but close. I’m aware that this risks looking more like a woven basket than a terracotta pot, but the other obvious choice, I think, would be long and short stitch curving over the pot, and that risks looking too polished. As I am stitching I will be able to think about other possibilities, and if this ends up as an “extra”, I will be able to tackle the smaller version with a much better understanding of the shapes and design elements involved.
It’s precisely this sort of challenge that brings embroidery to life for me. I love picking stitches for what they might remind me of and how they might illustrate the elements I have in mind. Perhaps it won’t surprise you that my favourite painters are Impressionists rather than exponents of photo-realism!
The Elephant Doorstop is Finished.
Finished Doorstop
At last – after some months of puzlement, delay and confusion – and with considerable help from my mother, who was, after all the client, and knew what she wanted! – the Elephant Doorstop is finished!
We decided to make the dorstop vaguely teacosy-shaped, with a flat base, so that it wouldn’t fall over, and a loop to pick it up by so that no one is tempted to pick it up by the embroidery and abrade all that painstaking stitchery.
Pieces Laid Out
Once the pieces were cut out, my mother took a picture so you can see what we eventually decided upon. You will notice that there is a piece of buckram to flatten and stiffen the base, and it is being weighted with curtain-weights – small circles of lead held in their own fabric pocket. It’s easy to sew the fabric pocket into a curtain lining, or indeed, onto a piece of bukram, and it is less likely to catch and go astray than if the lead is sewn on like a button or a shisha mirror.
Elephant Finished
I’ve decided to call him “Kala Nag”, after the elephant in Rudyard Kiplings’s story “Toomai of the Elephants”, in “The Jungle Book”. He’s in ceremonial harness, rather than the working harness of the story, but I think he’s a very grand fellow, and I’m really very pleased with how the embroidery turned out. The variegated threads allow him to disappear slightly against the background in places, which makes for a more visually interesting piece than if he’d been stitched in the same tones throughout.
Side View
I propped the finished doorstop up on one of the living room chairs to take some more photos. This one gives you a better idea of the finished three-dimensional article, firmly stuffed with cotton linterfelt and ready to keep doors from swinging. He does a good job, too – those six small pieces of lead are just enough weight to keep him where he belongs.
And when he’s off duty, he sits on a bookshelf, conversing amicably with his older brother, The Elephant of Considerable Charm.
Quick Update on The Map of Amarna
Fields Of Amarna
The cultivation on the Map of Amarna will take quite a while to do, but since I’m really quite happy with the progress it is making, I thought I would post a quick update on it.
The scatter of tête de boeuf stitches is as much as I have managed to do since I finally decided that that was the solution I was going to use. Granted, I’ve been working on a lot of other pieces at the same time, and sometimes I am simply not in the mood for single-stitch work, but it’s also more time consuming than you might expect. I’m trying very hard not to use a regular pattern of stitches – the scatter is as random as I can make it, given the human proclivity for pattern-making.
Since what remains to be done is about four times as much as I have done, I expect it will be quite some time before you see it again, but rest assured, I haven’t forgotten…
Close-ups on the Elephant Doorstop
Close Up - Spiral Trellis Stitch
I’ve been asked to provide a few close ups from the Elephant Doorstop, so here goes.
This close-up shows the spiral trellis stitch medallion on the Elephant’s ear. I love this stitch – it creates a lovely nubbly texture! It’s about three quarters of an inch across.
The silk perlé I am using was in ready cut lengths, shading from orange to brown, and when I brought a new thread in, I started with the colour I’d just finished, so that the colour sections would be slightly longer and denser.
Close Up - Two Sizes of Four Sided Stitch
When I thought about working four-sided stitch on the Elephant’s headcloth, I was originally intending to work some other pattern over the top, so the background grid would modify the fabric and the pattern on the top would be the most visible thing. However, I couldn’t decide what size would be best and worked one section in each size, and now I’ve decided I like it just as it is. It recalls the Trellis Couching on the saddlecloth, but at a different orientation.
Elephant’s Anklets Identified!
Ladder Stitch Foundation
I’ve been struggling to decide what to do with the anklets for the Elephant of Infinite Charm. When I look at the Elephant without anklets it’s clear the design needs more visual weight lower down in the design, but when I asked the Elephant what sort of anklets he wanted, he just humphed at me. For days!
Now, however, I think I’ve cracked it. And one of the really pleasing things about the idea is that it helps me to practice my Ladder Stitch, which I’ve been struggling with for the Tudor and Stuart Goldwork Masterclasss. It’s easier in silk, partly because I’m not quite as conscious of the expense of the thread (I can’t believe I just wrote that!), and partly because the thread slides over itself more easily.
Zig Zag On LadderStitch Anklet
So here is my choice – ZigZag on Ladder Stitch. It adds a bit of patterning and structure , but it’s not out of scale with the Elephant or with his feet. The only slight difficulty is that because it it a complex stitch on top of a fairly complex foundation, it’s not exactly lightening-fast. Still, I’ve got one done, and the Elephant isn’t humphing anymore. When I’ve done both, I will need to decide whether to put a second anklet further up the leg. The original ceramic version does, but then in the ceramic version the anklet is smooth…
Christus Natus Est is Finished! (I think..)
Back view of the finished panel
After considerable effort, and not a few significant struggles that I rather doubted I would win, I think I have finally finished the Christus Natus Est panel.
This back view shows a tangle of ends of the gold thread, caught down occasionally where the silk work has carried on over the top. If you look at the full size picture (click on the one on the left) you will see that in fact the central section is reasonably neat. What has made it untidy is that there were elements that I added to it – the halos that were done after the heads, the rust colour that I added into St Joseph’s robe, the additional light blue added to the Virgin’s robe. And of course there are all those wild gold threads which have a mind of their own!
The full size picture also gives you some idea how tiny all the coloured silk stitches are (we think on the order of 80 to 100 stitches per linear inch) – which will explain why I really didn’t want to have to unpick anything..
I’m going to put it away for a week and then look at it again to be sure it’s as finished as I can make it, before I mount it over padded acid-free card in preparation for framing.
Cause for Alarm
The Star That Rose In The East
I’m pleased with the progress I’m making on the panel now, but I’m becoming slightly anxious that I might run out of the gold thread before I finish the panel. I don’t know how thick the core is at the centre of the spool, and I’ve noticed that the kinks in the gold thread are getting tighter and more stubborn. If I do run out, that will put paid to the idea of photographing the finished piece for this year’s Christmas card.
You can see from this shot that the extra thickness of the silk thread forming the star is creating an extra curve in the lines of gold. If I were working a classical piece of or nué, with straight lines of gold, I would be trying to space the lines to reduce the effect, or I would have chosen a finer silk thread, with the same aim. In this case, however, I am quite happy to add an extra couple of curves to the gold lines, because it will add life and movement to the background.
If I have enough gold thread, I will rework the corner that is infilling that triangle on the left-hand side. I don’t think that the bends in the thread work as well as they might, and they are revealing the core more than I like. I need to finish the rest of the panel first, though.
More Progress on the Elephant of Infinite Charm
I don’t work on the Christus Natus Est panel in the evenings, so I have been making progress on the Elephant of No Distinction But Infinite Charm. Slowly, because he has been proving obstreperous!
Progress on the Elephant of Infinite Charm
I’ve added a second row of cable chain stitch around his ear, and worked a single large roundel of spiral trellis stitch to embellish it. The spiral trellis is a very thread-hungry stitch – I think it used four or maybe five lengths, but it was well worth it. I was careful to bring the new end of the thread in using the end that the previous thread had just finished on, so that the blocks of colour in the variegated thread flowed smoothly rather than jumping about.
The Headcloth of the Elephant of Infinite Charm
You can see in the close up that I’ve used a pulled-work stitch for the Elephant’s Headcloth. I’m not sure which scale I prefer so I may just leave it as it stands. I wanted those sections to be covered, rather than open, but not completely solid. I think it’s pretty successful, but I intend to stare at him for a little while now, while I try to work out how I am going to work the anklets on his legs.