Pounced, painted, and embroidery started.
Sorry it has been awhile since I last posted about anything, especially on my latest embroidery project which I've dubbed the heraldic embroidery since it has my SCA arms in the middle. I've been sick, very sick, and very tired from being sick, so it took me awhile to get the various parts going, and once going, to find time to write about what I've done in any detail.
I figured I would explain what I've done to this point, and hopefully keep up a weekly checkin on the progress, with photos. I hope this will keep me motivated to actually accomplish the embroidery. Actually, looking at what I've done so far is helping me to continue. It is the tired arms that make me stop from time to time.
Last Wednesday, I spent late afternoon and early evening pouncing then painting the design onto the silk. The pouncing went quickly. I'd bought some pounce from Hedgehog some years ago, along with a large pouncer. It doesn't take a lot of pounce and seems to go on better when there is less powder than more. If there is too much, the design became rather covered in powder all over which made the design a little harder to follow when I painted. I did end up having to clean up a bit of the powder from my table when I was done. I blew off the loose powder before I began painting.
For painting the design, I ended up using a yellow gouache (watercolor) paint from my illumination kit. One book I had suggested either watercolor or acrylic to draw the design. I didn't want to use acrylic in case I made a mistake. The watercolor I had barely showed up on my dark silk, so that's why I turned to the gouache. There are light areas, and areas with lots of color as the color didn't want to lay down smoothly on the silk taffeta. Not sure why. I may try acrylic later to see how well it lays down onto the silk taffeta. After I was done, I used a large soft brush to remove the remaining powder, then let it all dry overnight.
Here are the photos of that process (click for larger image):
Pounced
Pounced dots on a quarter of the design
Painted
Painted lines playing connect the dots.
All painted
View of the entire painted design on silk taffeta.
While that was drying, I spent the later part of the night coloring up my design, so I would know where I was putting what color and how it would be shaded. I think I should have done this before transfering my final design, as color wise, there are a couple of flowers I want to switch around to match better. But I think instead, I'll just do a lot more yellow to my rose, and far less rose-pink. While this won't match my inspiration image rose as much it will give a mostly yellow rose to balance the marigold. There are a few of the leaves I am not sure what to do with as the original image shows them as nearly white! I am not sure why. Was the dye so fugitive that it faded that much? There are some other leaves that I am not sure what is going on with how it was applied. And there are some portions that it looks like a bunch of little knots, which may be french knots, or it may be something else was once there but only knots remain. I can't tell yet, so I'll leave that to figure out later. I've got more than enough to start on.
On Thursday, after a lot of sleeping, I finally put in my first stiches to the embroidery, starting on the marigold in the corner. This one is straight forward long & short stitches, gold, yellow & pale yellow, on every single petal. I am attempting to do all of the work from the front, not flipping it over to start or finish threads. This means the front gets a bit messy from waste knots, the tiny backstitches, and end threads hanging around until I work over an area to hold the threads. I've finally figured out that the best location to start a thread is just before the area I am working on, so that as I fill in an area, it covers the waste knot thread. I try to end the threads in a similar area. I've already messed up once with a loop of thread that I couldn't get out when I found it, so I flipped the frame over, hooked the thread loop under other threads on the back, and kept on stitching. The back looks relatively nice, and the front looks messy while I work, but it works pretty well.
I am leaving room around each petal for the gold thread that will be couched around it. I may have left too much room, but I'll figure something out - maybe using the wider jap gold thread, or doubling the passing threads. I've been working on it slowly since Thursday, and tonight am nearing the end of the silk coloring on this flower. I seem to work better when I concentrate on actually placing my stitches, then spending part of my time watching tv or playing AD&D.
More pics, showing the progress as of tonight (click for larger image):
Marigold front
Long & short stitching done on outer ring of petals. Progress as of 5-15-2011
Marigold back
Not perfect, but fairly neat.
I am having a problem with my floor stand. I bought it used from eBay a few years ago, and this is the first time I've put it together and used it for anything. I managed to put it together using just the photo of it from the net (seems to be a basic model at Joann.) It is designed to work with a basic scroll frame, and it has a groove to hold the round bars. It is wobbly and leans forward a lot, but holds decent enough. The main problem is that the wooden clamp really does not want to hold the wooden slats of my slate frame, so it often pops out if I move it wrong. I'd love to have a period trestle, but that would require lots of money to buy and take up more room than really would work in my home. I think I'll see if I can find another used floor stand that is better built, maybe one of metal - but those are expensive, too. Until then, I will continue with it as it does the job decently - maybe I can use my small C-clamps to help hold things together better.
And now that I've dealt with the technical issues around my photos, I can post this, and head off to bed.
I figured I would explain what I've done to this point, and hopefully keep up a weekly checkin on the progress, with photos. I hope this will keep me motivated to actually accomplish the embroidery. Actually, looking at what I've done so far is helping me to continue. It is the tired arms that make me stop from time to time.
Last Wednesday, I spent late afternoon and early evening pouncing then painting the design onto the silk. The pouncing went quickly. I'd bought some pounce from Hedgehog some years ago, along with a large pouncer. It doesn't take a lot of pounce and seems to go on better when there is less powder than more. If there is too much, the design became rather covered in powder all over which made the design a little harder to follow when I painted. I did end up having to clean up a bit of the powder from my table when I was done. I blew off the loose powder before I began painting.
For painting the design, I ended up using a yellow gouache (watercolor) paint from my illumination kit. One book I had suggested either watercolor or acrylic to draw the design. I didn't want to use acrylic in case I made a mistake. The watercolor I had barely showed up on my dark silk, so that's why I turned to the gouache. There are light areas, and areas with lots of color as the color didn't want to lay down smoothly on the silk taffeta. Not sure why. I may try acrylic later to see how well it lays down onto the silk taffeta. After I was done, I used a large soft brush to remove the remaining powder, then let it all dry overnight.
Here are the photos of that process (click for larger image):
Pounced
Pounced dots on a quarter of the design
Painted
Painted lines playing connect the dots.
All painted
View of the entire painted design on silk taffeta.
While that was drying, I spent the later part of the night coloring up my design, so I would know where I was putting what color and how it would be shaded. I think I should have done this before transfering my final design, as color wise, there are a couple of flowers I want to switch around to match better. But I think instead, I'll just do a lot more yellow to my rose, and far less rose-pink. While this won't match my inspiration image rose as much it will give a mostly yellow rose to balance the marigold. There are a few of the leaves I am not sure what to do with as the original image shows them as nearly white! I am not sure why. Was the dye so fugitive that it faded that much? There are some other leaves that I am not sure what is going on with how it was applied. And there are some portions that it looks like a bunch of little knots, which may be french knots, or it may be something else was once there but only knots remain. I can't tell yet, so I'll leave that to figure out later. I've got more than enough to start on.
On Thursday, after a lot of sleeping, I finally put in my first stiches to the embroidery, starting on the marigold in the corner. This one is straight forward long & short stitches, gold, yellow & pale yellow, on every single petal. I am attempting to do all of the work from the front, not flipping it over to start or finish threads. This means the front gets a bit messy from waste knots, the tiny backstitches, and end threads hanging around until I work over an area to hold the threads. I've finally figured out that the best location to start a thread is just before the area I am working on, so that as I fill in an area, it covers the waste knot thread. I try to end the threads in a similar area. I've already messed up once with a loop of thread that I couldn't get out when I found it, so I flipped the frame over, hooked the thread loop under other threads on the back, and kept on stitching. The back looks relatively nice, and the front looks messy while I work, but it works pretty well.
I am leaving room around each petal for the gold thread that will be couched around it. I may have left too much room, but I'll figure something out - maybe using the wider jap gold thread, or doubling the passing threads. I've been working on it slowly since Thursday, and tonight am nearing the end of the silk coloring on this flower. I seem to work better when I concentrate on actually placing my stitches, then spending part of my time watching tv or playing AD&D.
More pics, showing the progress as of tonight (click for larger image):
Marigold front
Long & short stitching done on outer ring of petals. Progress as of 5-15-2011
Marigold back
Not perfect, but fairly neat.
I am having a problem with my floor stand. I bought it used from eBay a few years ago, and this is the first time I've put it together and used it for anything. I managed to put it together using just the photo of it from the net (seems to be a basic model at Joann.) It is designed to work with a basic scroll frame, and it has a groove to hold the round bars. It is wobbly and leans forward a lot, but holds decent enough. The main problem is that the wooden clamp really does not want to hold the wooden slats of my slate frame, so it often pops out if I move it wrong. I'd love to have a period trestle, but that would require lots of money to buy and take up more room than really would work in my home. I think I'll see if I can find another used floor stand that is better built, maybe one of metal - but those are expensive, too. Until then, I will continue with it as it does the job decently - maybe I can use my small C-clamps to help hold things together better.
And now that I've dealt with the technical issues around my photos, I can post this, and head off to bed.