Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part six. Leaves as overlapping outlines.

In the reference photo for this piece, the leaves were very mechanically shaded and divided, the lighting being rather harsh.

I thought that using this type of shading, whilst I'm sure it would be effective, would be too similar to my last piece. Therefore I used more intuitive stitches (as they are almost always crossing over each other, it doesn't seem quite right to call them straight stitches, though it is the same basic action) to create the outlines of the leaves, and overlapped them by pretending they were transparent, going down through all the layers. Here is the result:

It took a good long time to do, and though I used plenty of different colours in working it, I don't know if I should have used such a dark green as the top(-ish) layer. If I was working in textiles generally, and not just embroidery, I could perhaps have done this as part-appliqué.

Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part five. Leaves as blocks of colour.

Three of the pictures I took on this walk were of quite dense groupings of leaves. This is the second of those pictures. As I've probably said before, I was given quite a substantial collection of embroidery silks, and have quite a lot of scrap fabric I'm trying to use up. I thought that using another scrap of velvet, as I did in part two of this series, this time in black, would create a good contrast to the smooth surfaces of the 'leaves'. Here is the reference:

I thought I would be a little less strict, and try and use my satin stitches in different ways to create the leaves. By less strict, I mean that I used the basic outlines of some leaves from my reference photo, but made no effort to copy it. I'm quite pleased with the result. Using so many stitches grouped so closely together, however, meant that the fabric was beginning to weaken at the edges of some of the more densely stitched leaves - so I thought I would stop here. A larger study, perhaps of a single leaf in silk shading, on such a background, would be a good next step.

Raised Embroidery

Another example of historical needlework I'm a big fan of is raised work. In particular, I like stumpwork and raised goldwork. I wanted to show some examples of the craft here, but some of the best images are under copyright, and subject to very strict rules of reproduction on other websites, so I'll have to link. I think that what first got me interested in the technique was the Lord Chancellor's purse, held by the National Trust at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire. Some pictures of it are available to view here on the NT's 'treasure hunt' blog. It's beautiful, and so refined! Stumpwork, on the other hand, is much more... colloquial? Here's an image of one of my favourite pieces, from the Royal Collection.

It's the top of an entirely embroidered casket. Further details can be found on it here. As I've been saying quite a bit recently, I love cross-overs between different art forms, and this is a brilliant expression of a flat art (embroidery, that is, and mostly in detached-buttonhole stitch) made into practically a whole sculptured landscape. Click on the image to be able to zoom in, especially to see the sheep. Another lovely version of the landscape casket can be found here, at Christie's. As you can see, this version has a whole garden of near-life-sized flowers inside the fold-out box.

I think if I was going to pick a favourite piece of raised - no, maybe of all embroidery - and I don't say this lightly, it would be Krakow Cathedral Museum's Kmita Chasuble. This close-up of it is unattributed, unfortunately, but as it was originally uploaded to Pinterest, I'm sure a few extra 'shares' won't do it any harm. It looks like layers of padding, built up with gold couching.

One day, I'll visit. Even the most amazing zoomed photo wouldn't be able to tell me how it was made so effectively as being there, I'm sure. God, it's fantastic. You can see it full length here.
It's important, when studying textiles, I think, not to look at any recent, unorthodox pieces and say 'but that's not how it was used in the past!' when clearly, it's always been as dynamic as it is today.

Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part four. Hedge.

Again, I thought about the Japanese approach for this little exercise. When it's not layers and layers, it's the minimalist approach on black. I went towards this photo:

With the intention to do it in the same way as the puddle picture. Lots of tiny pink French knots for the centre buds, surrounded by mint and lime green satin stitched leaves. However, I started to put it down (on a plain cotton this time), and realised I actually quite liked it minimal. That's a first for me! I may lay it aside and come back to it later on, after a few more frame-fuls, but for the moment, I quite like it like this (though the colours aren't really as deep in this photo version as they should be!) What's happening to me?!

Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part three. Underside of a thatched roof.

One of the (and I know, it looks as though they're few and far between) things that I do like about modern needlework that's still going on is the amazing overlapping of Japanese embroidery. It's built up in layers, which is what gives it it's unique look. I was thinking about this when I put together this new embroidery based on this picture:

As a surface, it looks chunky, tough, rustic, and above all, thick! So I went back to my little sampler of thread sizes and picked packing string, without thinking about the burns it would later exact on my fingers! I used a form of backstitch on a fairly loose linen cloth, and looking at it now, it must be 10-15mm thick! I formed the backstitch into a kind of 'brick stitch', rather than being abstract with it, as, after all, the straw is added methodically to a roof! When I ran out of string, I added the white sky in the same way as the puddle last time, and added lots of little spool ends of embroidery floss and ecru crochet cotton between the brick stitch. Then I took some darker floss and made a rough diamond/hexagon pattern over the surface. I never thought I'd say this, comparing it to the delicate historical objects that I admire, but wow, I'm really pleased it's so chunky! Brief fulfilled!

Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part two. Puddle.

Again, for this project, I selected a fabric that wasn't on the list, but that I had in stock. It's a scrap of velvet in sky blue. This piece turned out a little... gaudy, I know. Again, here's the inspiration photo:

I wanted to use the pile of a fabric like velvet so that it could peek up between the the French knots like the water between the rocks. I outlined the rough edges of the puddle with ink first, then went up to them with the white embroidery silks. Then I started to make the rocks. I should have known how long it would take! When I finished the 'banks' of 'rocks' I put a few floating in the water. I should admit that I did cheat a little on this one. I sometimes wrapped my needle twice to create larger rocks! To finish off, I put a few thin branches reflected in the water. When taking this piece out of the frame after photographing it, the white satin stitching picked itself up into lovely ripples. Here's a picture of the piece:

By the way, when I take them out of the frames, I do trim them!

Embroideries based on photo walk and sketches. Part one. Brambles.

As one of the recommended fabrics for this part was hessian, I thought I might use it as inspiration for my first embroidery for this section - here's the original picture from that recommended inspiration walk earlier in the folder.Yeah, it was really overcast that day!

As you can see, the briers and dead plants flop all over each other, and go across the frame of the picture in every direction. In the lower right is the only real dash of colour, some dark green leaves.
I thought that I would use a fabric that would be useful in creating as many of those crossing lines as possible, but at the same time, would give it a sense of depth, as there is in the photo. Well, I did a few sketches, but they didn't really help me out much - all you really get when you try and sketch this subject is a dark background, crossed by lines in each direction and a few green splodges. I didn't want a plain black background, or to use more pinstripe, as it was too similar to the last exercise. In the end, thinking about the hessian, I went for something with a very low thread count, was dark but transparent, and would therefore show up both the threads heading out topside and returning on the underside. I chose an old piece of millinery sinamay, which I believe is made from banana plant fibres. I then chose dark shades of different sizes and went wild, finishing it off with green embroidery silks for the leaves. I decided not to use any machining this time, as I didn't feel it would cling well to the loose weave, and if it looped up, it'd show through in a big way. Anyway, here's a picture of the result. When you hold it up to the light, it makes for a lovely effect.