I said before that I really like this foundation with its flecks of gold twisted into the green silk but this cloud will have even more gold work. The next step is to superimpose the squares of gold leaf and pine needles onto the foundation. I thought this would be simple enough but, in fact, it is proved to be the most difficult technique I have encountered so far. Previous experiences should have warned me of the difficulties. I always find short satin stitches more difficult to control than long ones and when I used the gold thread to on the tip of the chrysanthemum, I found it difficult to obtain a smooth satin stitch. Added to that, this time I would be stitched through silk twisted with gold thread; the twisted silk is quite dense but you can’t stitch through the gold thread so the superimposed stitches have to go around them.
© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway
The little squares of foil should have nice straight edges and glint like real gold or silver. I could not get my edges as neat as I would have liked but I did manage to lay the stitches fairly well in most case so that the squares are nice and flat.
Although I am not overly happy with this work, I don’t think I will redo it as I don’t think that I would make a better job of it than I have. Nor do I think that it spoils the element, if it did I would definitely have to try to improve on it. I need to practice this technique before I use it again.
Happy Stitching
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