Heraldic embroidery progress
Since I got home from MAAS (Sebastapol faire), I have picked up the embroidery project I was working on before. I am now working on adding gold threads to the ground, all couched into place.
Working with passing thread, I found it hard to work with pieces at a time, which is how I started. I would cut off a piece from the large spool, double it over, and couch it down. I usually ended up with far more extra than I felt comfortable having, although I could use some of those pieces elsewhere a couple of times. There had to be a better way, so I asked the folks on the Historic Hand Embroidery FB group, and got a few suggestions. One was to use 2 rolls of wool felt to hold some thread. The other was to buy some koma, wooden thread holders the Japanese use in their embroidery. While I waited for the koma to arrive from the Japanese Embroidery Center, I tried the rolls of wool felt with the passing threads. It went ok, but the thread just came off the rolls whenever they wanted to, which wasn't working for me. What I didn't realize was that I needed to add in a pin on each roll to give tension so they wouldn't just fall off on their own.
Then the koma arrived, and I've been using them ever since. They provide a nice tension, which is especially important to the Japan gold. They are not fully smooth, so I've taken to using a silk scrap underneath them, which is sliding around, and fraying. I think I need to hem a scrap of cotton to use instead.
So here are the photos of the progress as of today, including one shot with the koma pairs.
My new koma
I am using Japan gold #7 on the koma pair, which helps keep tension on the threads while I couch them into place.
Qtr 3 goldwork progress
Couched both passing threads around each motif and small vines, and Japan gold #7 on the main vines (it is slightly larger than the passing thread size). Bullion has been couched into the rose center (left), and the berry below it. Check thread has been cut into small pieces and randomly couched into the center of the honeysuckle flower (right).
Qtr 4 progress
Motifs & small curly vine being outlined in passing threads. Surrounding vines couched with Japan gold.
Progress as of Oct 2, 2011
Overview of the whole piece, and the progress so far.
Working with passing thread, I found it hard to work with pieces at a time, which is how I started. I would cut off a piece from the large spool, double it over, and couch it down. I usually ended up with far more extra than I felt comfortable having, although I could use some of those pieces elsewhere a couple of times. There had to be a better way, so I asked the folks on the Historic Hand Embroidery FB group, and got a few suggestions. One was to use 2 rolls of wool felt to hold some thread. The other was to buy some koma, wooden thread holders the Japanese use in their embroidery. While I waited for the koma to arrive from the Japanese Embroidery Center, I tried the rolls of wool felt with the passing threads. It went ok, but the thread just came off the rolls whenever they wanted to, which wasn't working for me. What I didn't realize was that I needed to add in a pin on each roll to give tension so they wouldn't just fall off on their own.
Then the koma arrived, and I've been using them ever since. They provide a nice tension, which is especially important to the Japan gold. They are not fully smooth, so I've taken to using a silk scrap underneath them, which is sliding around, and fraying. I think I need to hem a scrap of cotton to use instead.
So here are the photos of the progress as of today, including one shot with the koma pairs.
My new koma
I am using Japan gold #7 on the koma pair, which helps keep tension on the threads while I couch them into place.
Qtr 3 goldwork progress
Couched both passing threads around each motif and small vines, and Japan gold #7 on the main vines (it is slightly larger than the passing thread size). Bullion has been couched into the rose center (left), and the berry below it. Check thread has been cut into small pieces and randomly couched into the center of the honeysuckle flower (right).
Qtr 4 progress
Motifs & small curly vine being outlined in passing threads. Surrounding vines couched with Japan gold.
Progress as of Oct 2, 2011
Overview of the whole piece, and the progress so far.