Antique Bible Conservation.

Working in the Royal School of Needlework studio means that I get to see, handle and work on some fantastic antique textiles. This year I was lucky enough to conserve an ancient bible which was fully bound in embroidery. The embroidery was metal thread work , both flat and padded. The embroidery dates to first half of the seventeenth century.

There was only one piece missing which was a small leaf . The client decided that they wanted to replace the missing leaf for aesthetic reasons. This can be subjective. Should the embroidery be left as it is?  However in this case the bible was for retail and therefore not in a museum and the leaf can be removed if any future buyer decides they prefer all the parts should be original.

Read all about the project and see some photographs on the Royal School website http://www.royal-needlework.org.uk/news/story/252/studio-rescues-ancient-bible 

A corner of the bible showing the fully embroidered background with couched metal threads and a wonderful rose in pink and yellow. This rose was stitched in a metal thread which was then wrapped with coloured silk.

A close up of the new leaf, it was a challenge to make a leaf that was going to fit in with all the antique stitching. I used Jacqui Careys book, Elizabethan Stitches to work out the correct buttonhole stitch to embroider. The picture shows me stitching a pulled piece of metal purl around the outside to try and replicate the original. Very delicate work!

Attaching the new leaf to the binding.

Freemason Cufflinks.

An unusual commission to show you here. A pair of hand embroidered cuff links showing the Freemasons symbol.They were tiny and very fiddly to make. I used a thin machine thread for the embroidery  which is about 1cm in size. The challenge here was getting them to look identical.

Close up of the embroidery , approx 1cm in size. The backing was a navy/black flat silk.

Compass and set square symbol of the Freemasons. mounted in silver plate settings.

Custom requests.

I love it when people have their own ideas for pieces of jewellery. Some can be a challenge, but who doesn't love a challenge? Here are some I have done in the last few months.
     The peacock range was made for the Royal School of Needlework shop to coincide with their Peacocks and Pomegranates exhibition. Details of that on their website. I have not made any pomegranate pieces yet but I'm working on it. I think I am much more drawn to the peacock colours , so they got first look in.

A lily of the valley silk ribbon and silk appliqué necklace. I really wanted to get the effect of the little flowers being like little round bells and quite three dimensional. I think I have achieved it.  

This large silk shaded brooch was done for a lovely mum on Mothers day. Her name ? Iris. Stranded cottons on a white silk backing. 5cms diam.

Close up of the colours, as the flower was so small I had to use stronger colours than I would use on a large project to enable me to get enough shading into a small amount of space.

Three necklaces with the letter G and two silk ribbon roses. Silver rococo thread and sequins make up the letter. 

 

The backing of this brooch is a silver lurex/silk mix which does not really show up in the photo, it really shimmers! Some fabric painting, sequins, beads and freestyle stitching finish it off.

Close up of a silk appliqué necklace with space dyed threads. 

Three peacock silk appliqué necklaces.

Silk appliqué and metallic threads bangle. 

Another initial , this one with three roses and a contrast colour on the sequins.

Close up of the silk roses and silver rococo threads

A freesia and buds in silk ribbon on a wonderful blue silk. 

A large brooch of two ginger toms. A little amount of fabric painting then alot of stripes. I had to do some editing to make the embroidery design simpler than the photographs I was given, but I think it has made the image more striking and therefore a better piece of jewellery.

Bits and blanks.

Some more jewellery pieces. Some new ones for me ; bangles and cufflinks .
        I buy my blanks in bulk from China. This is always a risk as it can be very hard to see the quality, some are great like the blossom bangle below. Others not so much, such as the atomic bangle I made for myself.

A thistle commissioned brooch, I would have probably put a leaf or third bud on this one but the brief was VERY specific. Long and short stitch thistles.I have added some purple metallic thread on the very top of the flower to catch the light. The backing is Campbell tartan silk from James Hare Silks. 

 A snowflake inspired small brooch. Stitched in silver machine thread with a Swarovski crystal centre.  

A cherry blossom bangle, now for sale in my shop. I will be making lots more bangles as I think they are a lovely way to wear embroidery as the person wearing it can also enjoy the embroidery. 

This metal blank was not good value for money, it is really lightweight and the corners are so sharp they catch on your clothes. I cannot use these in my shop so they will all be made up for me like this one. My favourite colour in a space dyed thread , satin stitch circles with antique Italian beads. 

     

Tiny cuff-link snowflakes commission. Machine thread with mini 2mm sequins and glass beads from Prague. The backing is a navy and black shot silk. 

Brooch commission.

Not posted for a while as been very busy, with work luckily. One of my lovely students that I taught last year at The Royal School commissioned me to work a number of brooches for her. A very exciting project . A few of them are shown below. All of them with very tight briefs , which sometimes I think is much better. Exact colours of silk backgrounds were asked for, and as an embroiderer I of course have every imaginable colour in my stash!!! The holly design was the hardest to work as it was so small but needed lots of shading for it to look realistic. So thank you to S , I know you read this blog . I enjoyed every minute of working them for you.

The brief for this one was just, black and white. My vase embroideries are always popular so I thought a black and white one would be interesting to work. I used a black silk thread and tiny glass beads from Prague. 2 inches dia.

 Two Autumn leaves in silk shading. Worked on a silk dupion. 2 inch dia.

 The tricky one !!! Two inch size again but it needed three leaves to balance the design which meant small stitches. 

 Pansies are one of the best flowers to silk shade as there is not much of an angle change and lots of dramatic colour changes. 2 inch diam.

 Another leaf this time I made it a little more orange. 1 inch dia.

Brooches

After trying out a couple of brooches I am now addicted to making them!!! The giant turquoise beetle embroidery did feel like a trial at times so these brooches satisfy my need for projects that are not on the frame for months.
     I have sold most of these in the Royal School shop and now have s frame set up with about ten brooch projects at a time. If I get fed up with one I just move on to the next. Although I am just itching to start another big project......

These two brooches have appliquéd vases with thread sketching and tiny antique bead work. 

A silk shaded leaf with stranded cottons.

A tiny silk shaded pansy.

Crewel work vase and flowers with french knots and stem stitch.

Crewel work oak and acorns on a silk background with metal work detail.

Long and short leaf with seeding on a silk dupion.

French knot hydrangea with long and short leaf.

Silk shaded thistle brooch.

This little thistle was embroidered on a beautiful Campbell tartan silk. I used stranded cottons but felt they needed highlighting as the tartan was quite dark so I added some metallic thread stitches.

20 years of silk shading at the Royal School.

Last month I celebrated 20 years of working at The Royal School. I still love embroidery now as much as I did when I started as an apprentice . Of all the techniques that I have learnt my favourite one is long and short silk shading. It is also the one that I was most apprehensive about and as a teacher it is also the one that I find students are most keen to master. All I can say is practise, practise, practise!!

This was my first attempt at silk shading, a wild dog rose. I can see many mistakes in it, the edges of the rose are very uneven and the turnovers on the petals are unshaded and very heavy. I also padded them which I think is unnecessary . A three dimensional effect should be achieved just by the shading. I used just anchor stranded cottons for this worked on a flat silk background.

I was pleased with the leaves though, I tried to include blemishes in the leaves and picked some actual leaves to copy as I worked. 

This silk shading I really enjoyed a green woodpecker, although again I would do it very differently now. I stitched this in the second year of my apprenticeship so felt more confident at long and short. I used anchor and DMC stranded cottons and worked on a very fine linen background. 

Rosie the cat. A companion piece to Lonnie which I talked about in another post.I enjoyed Rosie more , I think as I learnt so much from the first piece she seemed much easier to work. Her eyes were harder though, they were huge and she really liked to stare. I think I managed to capture her character and her stripes!! 

A close up of the long and short showing the many colours used. 

Another close up of her fur. 

My latest long and short stitch piece a crewel work embroidery. The long and short was worked in medici wools on a calico backing . I then edged the whole embroidery with silver pearl purl number 1.This is a real metal thread which is coiled like a spring , you pull it slightly apart to stitch it down. This one contains a small amount of silver which will tarnish over time. I then cut out the embroidery to wear as a brooch. Embroidery is not just for pictures.