Out of the Cupboard!

So, this week I have sort of been a bit off colour, hence the relative silence!

But as I haven’t been in work, I have been plodding along with the two catch up projects as and when I’ve felt up to it and the crewelwork is very nearly finished. I will post it onto here when it is made up. The slippers keep going.......!

I thought it might be nice to share some of the work that I have already done for the RSN Certificate and Diploma with Tracy Franklin in Durham. I know where all the faults are in these and normally they are hidden away, but we're none of us really ever satisfied are we?

The first module I did for the Certificate was a piece of Jacobean Crewel work that I took from a number of design sources. This introduced quite a variety of embroidery stitches as well as the concept of shading which is a large part of what you learn at the RSN. There are two contrasting shades of Appletons crewel wool, each in a number of tones, and it is executed on linen twill.

Jacobean Crewel

I then did silk shading and the tulip is based on an old botanical drawing. Boy, did I have trouble with this as I could not get my head around 'painting with a needle'. It is done with DMC stranded cottons using single strands in the needle and on cream silk.

Silk Shading

The next module was canvas shading. The picture was inspired by an old Chinese print. There are a number of canvas work stitches in the piece and it was done in Appletons wool, DMC stranded cotton and DMC stranded linen with highlights in silk threads on 18 TPI canvas. 

Canvas work

The final module was the Goldwork. This piece was inspired by a pair of Elizabethan gloves I had seen. You learn to put down padding, kid leather,couching and plunging a variety of gold threads using waxed threads, and chip work. There are also some spangles in the 'grapes'! It was done on cotton velvet.

Goldwork

Each module is done in 8 taught lessons but you do as much homework as you are prepared to put in. I had never done half the techniques and the others I had only scratched the surface of. So like I've said before, I learnt that I can do things and finish them without tossing them into the cupboard!