Threads Across the Web: April 2012

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Missing Harikuyo

I was very busy at the beginning of February and I did not get a chance to hold my annual needle cleaning ceremony in celebration of Harikuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles. I did however offer a little prayer of thanks to my needles but nothing as beautiful as the poem written by Lane Jennings and reproduced on Plays with Needles.

I have come to enjoy this annual ritual and was sad to miss it this year. To compensate myself and my needles I enrolled on Susan’s Elliot's Needlebook Ecourse.

I might have known that Susan would put the same level of care and energy into her first e-course as she puts into every other venture. The course was presented in a variety of medium, all delivered via a blog set up especially for the course. Even before the course began Susan welcomed use with a post to let us know that our kits had been posted and to give a supply list to those who had opted not to purchase the kit. The supplies in the kit were of the highest quality and arrived beautifully packaged.

When Lesson 1 was posted, I had a lovely surprise – videos! I have known Susan for several years now, through her blog and communicating via email but what a treat to see and hear her. I think that the videos where probably my favourite part of the course. It was like having Susan in the room with you. There were video demonstrations of every step and there were also pdf files that gave further information that I found very useful.

As well as the actual lessons, Susan posted extra blogs with related information about Hari-kuyo and needles.

The entire course was fun, beautifully presented and best of all, I was able to produce a needle book that I am very pleased with.

Happy Stitching

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Purple Pansy

In my last post I mentioned that I have done three online courses that covered long and short stitch during the last year. I began the final course after I had finished Camellias and have just completed it. Soon after I finished the Chinese Flower by Trish Burr, I learned that Tanja Berlin was offering a course. Well, why stop at learning with one world renowned thread painting expert when you can learn with two!

I am not going to do a comparison of the two courses other than to say that both are excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending either.

The design (outline and contour lines) came drawn onto the fabric. The kit included an ample supply of the threads pre cut into stitching lengths and stored on thread cards. Also included was a booklet with well written instructions and excellent diagrams and further instructions were posted to the website each week. Students were encouraged to use the course forum to ask questions and post pictures of their progress. Tanja marked any observations onto the photographs and/or add any tips and suggestions in a comment below the photograph. I don’t think that everyone in the class used this facility; they may have preferred to email Tanja for a private review. Personally, I was happy to up load pictures of the bits I was not satisfied with and discover how to improve my stitching. I hope that others found the advice offered to me useful. I certainly benefitted from the observations made other photographs.

Initially, I thought that the Pansy was a rather simplistic design but I now realise that it was a very good teaching device and getting the angles right, especially on the petals, was more difficult than I anticipated.

I’ve written an awful lot about long and short stitch this year, perhaps too much, but his will be my last post on the subject for some time. I think that I have overcome my fear of the technique and will be more inclined to use it in future but for now I have lots of projects planned, none of which include LSS.

Happy Stitching

Friday, 6 April 2012

Camellias - finished

The last flower was not the final last thing on Camellias. Three leaves remained. These were outlined with a couched line of gold thread.

When I look back on my journey with Camellias it has been the most difficult since I began Japanese embroidery but also probably the most rewarding because I have climbed a mountain.

At the outset, it is no exaggeration to say that I was terrified on long and short stitch and even more scared of random long and short stitch. It seems ridiculous to talk about being afraid of a technique but that is exactly how I felt.

The best way to tackle your fears is to face them head on and over the past year I have done 3 online courses that covered long and short stitch as well as stitching Camellias. I don’t feel that I mastered this technique but I have overcome my fear of it.

Indeed, I have come to relish the challenge!

Camellias: 110 hours

Happy Stitching

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Camellias - the last flower

Finally, it was time to revisit the last flower. I had started this in October as well at the branch and I decided that this also should be removed and started over. However, not because I didn’t like what I had already done but because I thought that my stitching might not match what I had done previously. And, if I am honest, I was looking forward to stitching this partially open flower; all of it, not just the small petals remaining.

In Japanese embroidery the foremost elements are normally stitched first, in this case that meant the small turnover section of a petal. This was done in diagonal foundation rather than LSS. The remaining petals are done in random long and short stitch starting with the large petal on the right.

The last row of stitches on this petal is done with #1 gold 'WOC'. Japanese gold threads are made of paper with gold leaf applied to one side. The paper is cut into narrow strips that are then wrapped around a silk core. The thickness of the silk core determines the weight of the thread. 'WOC' stands for 'without core'. The gold leafed paper strip is very carefully removed from the silk core and threaded into the needle. It is very, very fragile!

On the three back petals there is barely room to add a second row of LSS. A few stitches here and there, some silk, some gold 'WOC' are all that is needed. It only took a few hours to stitch this little flower – it was over too quickly!

Happy Stitching

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