Remy's Vigil Book - The Embroidering Part 2

Once all of the passing thread was couched down it was time for the worst task: removing the paper used to transfer the design.

I have it down to a bit of a science at this point, but that doesn't make it terribly enjoyable. Using a chenille needle, scratch the paper to rip it. I start with the large open sections, and tear up whatever I can with my fingers once the needle starts the process. If you tear smoothly and slowly a lot of the lines will act as perforations and large chunks will easily be removed. (That part, at least, is satisfying). Next, I drag the needle along the lines in where the pieces are smaller, so they can be removed from the stitches without pulling on the threads too roughly. Once we get down to truly small pieces, tweezers are the way to go. I have some that are bent at the end have a thing and rounded end, so I can use them to poke and grab all sorts of things without damaging the stitches.
But oh, does it take awhile.
It's amazing the difference in how the piece looks once the metal threads are allowed to stand out on the velvet, rather than fading into the white paper, though.

The next item I tackled was the experimental portion of the project. I wanted to pad the Caliver's eagle with felt, which is far more complex a shape than any I've done before.
I experimented on some linen, trying different amounts of padding (all with gold colored felt) and different ways of laying the bullion down to get the right feather effect.

I ended up going with a method that had only the middle parts of the shape padded, with lots of unenclosed areas for feathering. This got a more curved effect than if I had tried to fill the entire shape with felt, and it also gave me some leeway on the edges where I couldn't completely fill the area.
Even with the reduced padding, I found it very difficult to fill the area. The curves were the hardest part - it was simply difficult to change the angles that way I needed to while still covering everything. And so, close up you can see that the bullion is cut quite irregularly, but I think the effect is fine when looking at it from a normal distance. It helps that the bird is maybe an inch and a half tall.
I do particularly like how the ends of the wings and tail worked. I like the little bits of a different bullion for interest, and that they really do end up looking feathery. The tail is also where the padding is most easily seen, unfortunately. I would reshape that if I were to do this again.