Knife Sheath - The Embroidering Part 1

 The first order of business is to outline all of the parts that are going to have silk shading. This involves a lot of flipping the frame over to make sure I'm on the lines, but it means I can ignore the back for the actual shading part.
In this picture to the right you can see that I chose the colors for the flowers to match the original piece without taking into account that the background purple is very different. I'll be making some adjustments when I move onto the shading. But in person these lines show up plenty to give me guidance.

Here you can see the back of the piece and how I tacked the linen with the pattern on it to the back of the silk. There's actually another piece of linen in between, because the linen was so thin. You can also see that in the end I changed the pattern at the point of the sheath. I was having a hard time fitting all the motifs, so I dropped the tulips from the design. I'll need to decide on something small to put there later.

Once everything was outlined it was time to start my favorite kind of embroidery - silk shading! I used a few different similarly sized silks (primarily Splendor, though) because that's what I had in the colors I needed. I closely followed the original coloring, but I think either the threads I'm using are slightly finer, or the images are larger. It's difficult to know scale from the pictures that are available, unfortunately.





Here the left flower (minus stem) and laurel leaves are finished, and the peacock is well on his way.
I was originally going to put more shading into the laurel leaves, but people seem to like them a lot as is, so I've decided not to mess with success in this instance.

Next I'll be finishing the peacock and the right flower, before moving on to birds and stems.

Knife Sheath - The Planning

When my good friend Elaina was given her write for the Laurel, I realized that I was pretty Booked Out. I still definitely wanted to make something to celebrate her accomplishments, though. I figured she would be very supportive of me using her as an excuse to start my next real A&S project. And so!

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18705973/

I'd been looking at the concept of Wedding Knives for some time. Pretty embroidery and sharp objects all at the same time? Sign me up! It was an Elizabethan era tradition to give a newly married couple (or seemingly, just the new wife) a pair of table knives in a fancy case. Also during this period people had cutlery cases that were similarly decorative.

Cutlery from Queen Elizabeth

British Museum

Elaina had decreed that she wanted her vigil to be based on a 17th century Italian wedding reception. It just so happened that while I mostly have evidence of the English doing this particular tradition, I also have one knife sheath that is from Venice. And it also just so happened that is was my favorite.

https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/99-016973-2C6NU0X7YT91.html

Just look at the gorgeous silk shading and gold work throughout. It's like it was made for me to make.

The pictures don't have closeups of every part of the sheath, so I've done some guesswork and some adjustments, but I tried to stay true to the original.

One of the motifs on the cover is a pelican in its piety (which I'll definitely have to remember for a future pelican) so I've replaced that with a laurel wreath.

Now, the hardest part of this for me was how to go about getting a sheath to cover. And knives. 

I decided for this timeline to cheat on those particular aspects, and instead create something that might get some more day to day use. I took a large wooden needlecase and used wood epoxy to expand it into a sheath shape, and then used that as the base for the embroidery. 

 To the right you can see the original needlecase, the expanded sheath, as well as the pattern I created. The molded sheath was far from symmetrical, so I draped some cheap cotton over it to make sure everything would fit ok. (Here's hoping that actually works in the end...)

The next step was to get the actual pattern. I sketched out the base pattern without using the weird shapes made from my drape first (on the right) and then I transferred that to the correct shape. I the traced it all onto some thin linen.

And then, because that linen would be backing the silk, I flipped the linen over and traced again, in order to get the design facing the right way. Now, with the linen basted to the silk, I could use the lines on the linen to determine my stitches, and hopefully never have to mar the silk at all. Unfortunately I did the final basting backwards and things are facing the other way anyway, but oh well!

All in all, I think I drew this pattern 5 times, though. So glad it's small.

Thyra's Vigil Book

This latest book was made for Duchess Thyra as she was inducted into the Order of the Laurel. It was a lot of fun to do! After my foray into counted work, I retreated back into my love of shading and color for this book.

Thyra is a well know scribe who makes absolutely amazing scrolls, but I think many people outside of the dance community don't know about the passion and joy she brings there, as well. My goal was to make sure her book brought that aspect of her arts forward in people's minds.
I, of course, know nothing about dancing, so I looked to another expert: Philip White. He pointed me to a large variety of resources with many gorgeous images. The only downfall was that all of the images were people. Embroidering a person seemed like a lot of commitment.
(I'm sure you can guess where this goes.)

After some more searching around and back and forth with Philip, I decided that the first images he sent me were the best for my purposes. These were from Arbeau's Orchesography. The man on the right was chosen because apparently the move he's doing (a capriole) is one of Thyra's favorites. The woman on the left was because I wanted symmetry, and a woman, and there wasn't a whole lot of choice. There didn't seem to be any images women being active, which I'm sure could fuel a whole thesis.

The Felbrigge Psalter
Opus Anglicanum example, with split
stitch shading and underside couched goldwork

The arrangement of the cover is very loosely based on the Felbrigge Psalter, in that there are two figures interacting with each other with split stich shading used to embroider then. The laurel and heraldry are pretty serious deviations from the design, and are included because it's a vigil book. I chose this style of embroidery because I associate Thyra with the 14th century (for no real good reason, I admit) and split stitch shading was a very common technique in the more ornate embroideries of the day. Often it was combined with goldwork to make something truly spectacular...but I admit I didn't have that kind of time. A more focused recreation of the Psalter might be in my future...

The book that I was using was hand made by Marion. It's about 4.5 x 6 inches, and the embroidery is about 4 x 4 inches. Which, turns out, is pretty small for the detail, and I made some choices that don't align with the smooth lines of color you see in Opus Anglicanum. There are many small areas of color in an attempt to pack a little more detail into a small space. I also think I wasn't comfortable committing to the larger bits of color, and I need to experiment more with that in the future.

Completely unsurprisingly, hands and faces were very hard to get to look remotely like hands and faces.

 The fabric was a saturated blue (because it reminds me of some of the amazing dresses Thyra wore as Queen) but thankfully I was still able to trace the design onto it with a lightboard and pen.

All the embroidery was done with 2 strands of Splendor silk thread, except for some small details. One strand was used in the hands, for example. And for the faces I used Au v'Frenchname 100/3, which was still hard to get where I wanted it to go.

There are three shades each of red and green in the piece, and four neutral shades for the black, grey, and white areas of clothing. Two peach shades were used for the hands and faces, and two shades of brown for hair. In the picture to the right you can see that I spent a lot of time with a multitude of "parked" threads as I went between colors.


When I finished the figures and laurel, I realized that I had made the heraldic shield off center. And of course, the lines weren't erasable. You can see some white lines where I sketched in a slightly larger version.

And because Thyra loves scribes and embroiderers everywhere, her device was very simple to add. Hooray for geometric shapes!

Tola's Vigil Book

In what seems to be a trend (I like this trend!) I was asked to create a vigil book for Tola. I really wanted to call to mind her work with German brickwork, even though I hate counted embroidery (and do not hate it less for having done this project. Oops.)
The colored parts of the project are worked in splendor silk, using two strands, and all of the white portions in linen thread. In hindsight I wish I had used 3 strands of the silk. The blue and red just don't cover as well as I'd like them to.
I used a pattern from the Hildescheim Cope, found at the most amazing repository for brick stitch patterns, wymarc.com. (Really, visit that website!)
I changed the colors to match Tola's device, and adjusted the positioning so that it could be a vertically symmetrical band on the top and bottom of the book cover.

I left the period of brick stitch in order to create the device itself. It's fairly simple heraldry, but it wouldn't have lent itself well to being worked in a counted way. I also really wanted to use some laid work for the trellis, because it just fit so well. So the yellow base is long satin stitches covered by the blue laid stitches. The outline and yellow circles are split stitches.
The red bit actually is worked in a brick stitch style, because it seemed a good way to tie the motif back in with the borders, but I wish it had covered the white better. I tried three strands, but that felt too bulky, and after I realized that the slightly uneven weave made two strands too little it was too late to really fix anything.

I had a lot of versions of this book that I was aiming for. I know that given all the time in the world I wanted the borders to wrap around to the back, and the background to be filled in, and a laurel wreath on the back. I also knew that probably wouldn't happen in the time I had.
Unfortunately I didn't even get past my first goalpost - the bands on the front and a finished device. (This was at least in part due to losing a week off my working time because of Real Life.) But it is made in such a way that I could finish it even though it's already in book cover form. I especially would love to finish the bands - I didn't think of the fact that the thinner fabric (because it's for counted work!) would show the folds I use to create the cover. It's covered by embroidery in the front, but the back has some very apparently fabric lines.

I learned a lot in working on this book. I went outside my comfort zone, which is a good thing to do. But I also think I was overambitious, which is less good. 
All pictures in the post are courtesy of Tola herself, because I failed to take some before the elevation occurred. 

Remy's Vigil Book - Finished Product

The long awaited (for no good reason) end to the saga of Remy's vigil book.

 I miscalculated on the width of the velvet, and so the edges that wrap around the book covers are a little shorter than is ideal. The cover is a bit prone to falling off. If it's annoying for him then I'll add some width to those. But hey, it also means that it's easy to take the cover off so he can use it like a normal book without worrying about being delicate with it, if he so chooses.

Remy's Vigil Book - The Embroidering Part 4

The center of the book cover! While I was working my way through all the goldwork on the main piece, I was also traveling around with this centerpiece. I did not take nearly as many progress shots of this, but it was pretty straightforward.

I started with silk backed with linen (you can see the basting stitches in the lower left corner of the pictures). Because this is white fabric, I could actually put the design directly on the fabric! I sketched the heraldry with a normal pencil, knowing that I would cover all the lines. I then used __________ silk thread in split stitches and filled everything in. The only part that was any more complicated than that was the wolf - in order to stop it from being a blog, I did a bit of silk shading. It's still mostly split stitches, but there are a few stitches that are "whatever fit and moved in the correct direction".

Once the silk portion was done I couched silver passing thread around all the shapes. I didn't want it to be the only non sparkling part of the book cover! This was easy enough to do for the straight lines, but the wolf and fleur-de-lis were rather more difficult. I used tweezers to make particularly sharp bends in the thread where it was needed. I also used a slightly less thick passing thread for those areas.

When the embroidery was done it was time to applique this piece onto the main piece. Pinning it in place didn't work very well - it was very thick - so it ended up slightly lopsided. I used white and blue thread to do the couching, so it wouldn't show. I then couched a looped wire around the outside of the shield. This was to finish covering the couching, as well as to even out the slightly off center shield. I specifically used the looped wire because it called to mind the thread used for the oval of the original piece.

You can also see the many spangles that were added to the piece now. I followed the basic positions of the original piece, but primarily used them in particularly open places in the design. I attached the spangles by used a piece of check purl as a bead to hold them on, which is how they were done on the original piece. Some of the areas around the shield ended up somewhat open, but not in a shape that would easily accept a spangle. In those places I used just a piece of the check purl to fill out the design.

A critique that I've heard of my previous goldwork pieces is that they aren't quite encrusted enough with metal to be properly period. This is a very valid comment - the goldwork that I'm trying to recreate goes far above and beyond what might be considered "tasteful" in our time. Generally I didn't go far enough in the past due to time constraints. This time I was bound and determined not to have any large open spaces! The last two bits of work I had to do before covering the book were also to fulfill that goal.

The space under the swords had been taunting me for some time. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but it certainly needed to be filled. I ended up with a basic design and some spangles there, which turned out fine, but it taught me that the parchment paper I use to transfer my design does more than give me lines to follow. It also keeps the passing thread up above the pile of the velvet, making the lines stand out much more. Now that I know that I'll try to avoid last minute line additions to future projects.

The other item I added was a border. The original piece almost completely filled the cover of the book, and had a border that was actually around the edge of the book cover. In this case the book was slightly larger than the design area, so I decided to put the border closer to the rest of the design and leave the very edge of the cover undecorated.

And now we're essentially done, but it still needs to be put on the actual book!

Remy's Vigil Book - The Embroidering Part 3

With the passing thread and eagle done, it was time to fill in all the empty spaces with bullion.
The gold is the same stuff I used to fill in the majority of the eagle, and the silver differs only in color.
In the original piece the filling was done at a variety of angles. Most often it was a 45 degree angle to the motif, but sometimes it was a straight line across. The most notable of the second type is the wide curling leaves near each corner.

There's not too much to actually say about this step in the process. I find it to be the most pleasant step, although is it repetitive: bring the thread up on one side of the shape, cut the bullion to the appropriate size (the hardest part by far), bring the thread down on the other side of the shape. Repeat ad nauseam. It's meditative, and is very good at flinging little bits of metal everywhere.



I filled in all the gold first, and then all the silver. Then it was onto spangles, which will be in the next post (but you can see they snuck unto the last picture!)

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.

Pennsic 46 - A&S Experiences

Picture by Léonete d'Angely

I was convinced that I should display my works at the populace display this Pennsic, despite the fact that it overlapped with Rapier Champs this year. One of the big things that managed to push me over the edge was that my friend and fellow Handsome Boy was willing to babysit my precious books (and that others also volunteered for that task!)
I arrived early to set everything up. There was a non zero amount of running around because of forgotten items (oops) but the organizers had given us plenty of time (about 2 hours), which I very much appreciated.
At the suggestion of Mistress Vienna, I had business cards set out (Staples has one day printing, it was great!). I had also put out a book for comments, since I wasn't going to be able to actually hear those. I'll probably put out the book every time, now, because memories are good to have.
My display consisted of the two goldwork book covers I've made, with their documentation, as well as some test pieces that I did. The test pieces were there to be fondled and looked at, since the books themselves are somewhat delicate. I had many thoughts on how to make a better display from my A&S Champs experience, but all I managed to follow up on was a cloth for my space. My next display or competition I'll try to add one of the more complex things (right now, a step by step sampler that people can handle is highest on my list.)

Not shown: the piece of chocolate I immediately ate

I sat with my items for a little bit before everything opened, when the displayers were all wandering around looking at each others things. Then I went to fight in champs, and finally returned about 5 minutes before the display closed. But even in those 5 minutes I managed to have great conversations and heard many nice things! It was worth it just for that. I also returned to pile of tokens and several comments in my book, all of which were also heart warming. I didn't get to thank individual people, but know that if you stopped to look, I appreciate it.

There were a couple of amazing services that occurred concurrently with this display that I wish I could have partaken in. First, there was a team of artisans who gave their time to give feedback and advice to interested participants on a one-on-one basis. I hope many people took advantage of this, since it's absolutely the best way to improve - especially if you want to compete! There was also some people who were offering appointments for free macro photography of pieces. I would have signed up for this in a heart beat, since I find taking pictures of my work quite challenging. I have my fingers crossed that this will happen next year as well, and that I won't have a conflict for it.

And a class!

There were several embroidery classes that I had my eye on this year, but I was only able to make it to one of them. But it was a great class, and I learned a new goldwork technique! The class was taught by Vavara Laska doch' Koudelka from Trimaris, and it was about couching over a card. The class was coming from the direction of Russian goldwork, but many cultures have used cards to raise up their embroidery, and to get very crisp lines. I find it in ecclesiastical embroidery particularly often.

As is the way with classes, we didn't remotely get to finish the little project, but I think I have a solid understanding of the technique, and the handout is very detailed. The actual technique is pretty straightforward, although it takes some finesse to get exactly right.

Now to decide what to do with it!

Device Pin Project Part 8

It's been awhile since I finished some of these. I completed two more right before Pennsic, and they had been sitting around for mooonths. I keep getting distracted by things, I guess.

I've finally started in on our good friends the Calivers.

Per pale purpure and vert, on a lozenge argent a rose proper.

Argent, a chevron between three fleurs-de-lys and on a chief azure a wolf passant argent

These were the first two that I did on linen instead of a thicker cotton. I did it because it's what I had to hand when I started them, but I think I'll stick to the cotton - or at least use heavier linen. These were a bit of a pain, and I don't think they look as nice on the pin. And it's certainly harder to hide little thread bits behind the thinner fabric.

Also, that wolf is on my hit list along with certain horses and greyhounds now.

Remy's Vigil Book - The Embroidering Part 1

After finishing the design of the goldwork cover, it was time to start with couching down the lines. The lines were couched using #368 matte gold wyre from Thistle Threads and #5 silver passing thread from Hedgehog Handworks (now out of business). I happened to have both of these threads already, and chose them based on size and quantity, and the fact that I had bullion that matched their color. They were slightly different to work with. The silver was slightly thicker and acted more like metal wire would.

Sometimes I don't take the best pictures of my work, but hopefully you get the idea here.

The lines were somewhat complex to work with. In the original piece, there are two threads that are paired, but often have split apart to go create sub designs, to return to each other. Often they cross over themselves. In order to get all of that straight I printed out a very high resolution corner of the design, and drew arrows on it to follow. Even with one corner blown up to a full 8x11 page there were some more densely crossing areas that ended up being mostly guesswork.

Gold passing thread so close to completed

Because the lines were so complex I wasn't able to actual couch down both threads at once, when they were next to each other. I didn't have two spools of the thread, and couldn't begin to guess how long a second piece would need to be. Instead when separated thread returned to each other I tried to couch the second in the same places as the first, often going over both threads to give the illusion that they were couched at the same time.

Once I had completed all the gold portions - which amounted to four large motifs in the corners, and two smaller ones on each long side - I moved onto the silver. There was much less passing thread to worry about this time, and none of the motifs were particularly complicated. The flower petals were a bit of a pain due to the small loops crossing over each other and generally not wanting to go where I told them to, but it was still nothing compared to the gold motifs.

After the silver was done I outlined the last few objects with sewing thread, just so that I could find them once the paper was removed. This included the eagle, the central shield, and hilts of the swords. All of these were going to be more complicated that just outlined in passing thread, so couldn't be done over the paper.

All the passing thread