Opus Anglicanum - if only I'd known.

A little while ago, I watched the BBC Four documentary 'Fabric of Britain', and in particular, the section on early English embroidery 'Opus Anglicanum' caught my imagination. I'm amazed at the Spanish Ensemble I blogged a few days ago having survived, but as I'm told, the golden age of embroidery was really from the 12th to the 14th centuries. One object in particular, the Butler-Bowden Cope, again found in the V&A, I felt was worthy of mention. It has been so abused over the years that it couldn't be said to be the most beautiful, or the most complete, or the best preserved, even in parts. Yet, the faces in it were so incredibly soulful, that I felt compelled to keep a picture or two. The first image, seen here on it's vivid red background, has the most fantastic striped hair.

Whilst the second image I took myself, from my recorded version of the programme - you can see the logo in the top left. Wow, those green eyes, and wow, those tiny pearls. 

As was demonstrated in the programme, the basic stitches used in all of Opus Anglicanum were split-stitch and variations on couching. But that's oversimplifying. The stitches are so tiny. They blend from one colour to another seamlessly. And the medieval design is to die for. Looking around on the internet to see if anyone had done a project based on this age of embellishment I had previously never even heard of, I did find a little tutorial here, on it's namesake blog. The way the stitches swirl to bring out elements in the faces and all of the outline work - I think it's something I should incorporate at least a little into my work later on.