needle noodlings
My ankle is feeling much better after spending all day yesterday wrapped. Of course now my knee on that leg is feeling all twingey, usually only when I hyper-extend it, which I either do all the time or am doing it more lately. grumble. Seems like I need to wrap it when I get home. My right wrist is also a bit sore, but I'm going to blame that on the excessive mousing I had to do today for start of the semester checks. Maybe it's all psychosomatic after reading the article on ibuprofen and trying to avoid it except when necessary. I don't seem to have tummy problems, but man do I seem to have immune problems. Sinus infections/colds are to me like moths are to flames. grumble. (Though on the whole less so since my May move to another building at work. I always thought the air system on campus would be the death of me, although this one is very loud.)
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Anyway, for the past two nights I've sat beside my latest embroidery nibble (Thanks for that term Tricia W.) and not managed to pick it up. I've been on the computer running down the battery working online on stuff until far too late leaving no time to play with needle and thread. (I'm sure the needy pup nudging my elbow with the super soft ears and big brown eyes has nothing to do with my lack of stitching.) I vow tonight to at least outline one more area, darn it!
I also noticed that while I posted a note back in January looking at heathered silks on extant pieces, and my experiments with creating my own custom silks, and promised to post further about more experiments with only 2-ply of the Soie Perlee, AND that I did experiment with creating 3 2-ply threads from 2 3-ply threads with the leaf on isenglass 's pincushion, I hadn't really taken notes on that. (Update: I had mentioned it briefly in this entry, but completely forgot about it.)
Making 3 2-ply threads from 2 3-ply threads was tougher than creating 2 3-ply threads with a 2:1 color ratio. They wanted to tangle much more, the twist wasn't always as even, and I really lost a bit to the loose ends at the beginning and end of the new threads. So trying to create them from pre-twisted silks was more headache inducing than I had hoped, but it was possible. It would likely be better to twist them directly from the filament like Tricia Wilson does in the first blog entry on the subject. But I do think it gave a finish that is closer to the extant pieces. If you view the original size (2816 x 2112) of the embroidery you can more easily compare the relative sizes of the threads in use, and the heathered 2-ply thread is closer to the GST in thickness than the almost super fluffy 3-ply. (You can also see every stitch, all my mistakes, and that I needed a much higher count linen. Man that was a good focus.) I should really do some side by side comparisons, and try to bring them together with some of the images I have of extant stuff to check out the relative thickness of the Soie Perlee to what is often found in use in period. It is likely that the Soie Gobelins is a better fit for this type of work. I think I have some in pink and gold, so perhaps yet another test/comparison is in order. So many experiments, so little time.
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Anyway, for the past two nights I've sat beside my latest embroidery nibble (Thanks for that term Tricia W.) and not managed to pick it up. I've been on the computer running down the battery working online on stuff until far too late leaving no time to play with needle and thread. (I'm sure the needy pup nudging my elbow with the super soft ears and big brown eyes has nothing to do with my lack of stitching.) I vow tonight to at least outline one more area, darn it!
I also noticed that while I posted a note back in January looking at heathered silks on extant pieces, and my experiments with creating my own custom silks, and promised to post further about more experiments with only 2-ply of the Soie Perlee, AND that I did experiment with creating 3 2-ply threads from 2 3-ply threads with the leaf on isenglass 's pincushion, I hadn't really taken notes on that. (Update: I had mentioned it briefly in this entry, but completely forgot about it.)
Making 3 2-ply threads from 2 3-ply threads was tougher than creating 2 3-ply threads with a 2:1 color ratio. They wanted to tangle much more, the twist wasn't always as even, and I really lost a bit to the loose ends at the beginning and end of the new threads. So trying to create them from pre-twisted silks was more headache inducing than I had hoped, but it was possible. It would likely be better to twist them directly from the filament like Tricia Wilson does in the first blog entry on the subject. But I do think it gave a finish that is closer to the extant pieces. If you view the original size (2816 x 2112) of the embroidery you can more easily compare the relative sizes of the threads in use, and the heathered 2-ply thread is closer to the GST in thickness than the almost super fluffy 3-ply. (You can also see every stitch, all my mistakes, and that I needed a much higher count linen. Man that was a good focus.) I should really do some side by side comparisons, and try to bring them together with some of the images I have of extant stuff to check out the relative thickness of the Soie Perlee to what is often found in use in period. It is likely that the Soie Gobelins is a better fit for this type of work. I think I have some in pink and gold, so perhaps yet another test/comparison is in order. So many experiments, so little time.