Threads Across the Web: January 2015

Saturday, 24 January 2015

Progress Report - January 2015

I began Sake Boxes in March 2014 at my annual five day class. At the end of that week I had completed the foundations on the sake box and on the outside of the ladle, one leaf and a pointed petal chrysanthemum.

I made little progress over the summer completing only the foundation on the inside of the ladle and one round petal chrysanthemum. It was only during, and after, a four day class in October that I really connected with this design and since then I have made steady progress. At first the piece seemed to grow very slowly and the amount still to be done seemed daunting. But I tried not to think about the whole task and to simply focus on the motif that I was stitching. Keeping the work covered with tissue paper and folding it back to reveal only the area you are working on helps to keep you focused on that area as well as protecting the rest of the work from dust and sunlight.

Before long, I had completed the silk embroidery in one small area. Then another. And piece by piece the picture is building.

Now, when I look at the whole picture, I am pleased to see how much I have done. This is quickly followed by a sinking feeling when I think about how much is still to be done and this thought is quickly chased away by a reminder of how much I am enjoying stitching this piece and a further reminder to just focus on one small area at a time.

In the past few posts, I have looked at the foundation layers, a pointed petal chrysanthemum, a round petal chrysanthemum, the leaves and the noshi papers. Until I get to the gold work on the vessels there will be nothing new to say about this piece, except for an occassional progress report.

Happy Stitching

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Sake Boxes - Golden Chrysanthemum

This is by far the most challenging piece I have stitched so far. While I am really enjoying it, I don’t think that I am doing my best stitching. However hard I try the short diagonal stitches are just not as even and parallel as I would like. I try to accept that I am doing the best that I can at this time and hope to improve but I get frustrated when my stitching does not match up to my expectation.

That said, I feel I am improving with each and every flower. I felt that with the first few stitches on this golden chrysanthemum, even the padding, felt better than on previous flowers.

The silk is not as smooth as I would like but the stitches look more evenly spaced and parallel with a nice angle.

I am particularly pleased with the one point open space between each petal.

Happy Stitching.

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Sake Boxes - Gold Centres

I had not intended to do any of the gold work on Sake Boxes until all of the silk embroidery was finished but when I had done all of the silk embroidery on the central flowers it stuck me that it would be better to do their gold centres before I did the surrounding flowers.

I marked some guide lines to help me with the placement of the couching stitches. A pair of gold threads are couched in a spiral starting at the outer edge and finishing in the middle.

The first flower that I worked is almost in the very centre of the fabric and beyond my comfortable reach. I took my time and tried to keep the threads close together. I thought that I had done quite well but when I stood up and looked straight down I could see that there was a small gap between the pairs of threads.

The next flower (the red one in this picture) is just that little bit closer and I felt more comfortable stitching it. The white one is closer still but its irregular shape made it more difficult for me to stitch.

And the next one has an even more irregular shape. I am not sure if I like the way I have stitched this one.

By the time I stitched the last centre in this group of flowers I was starting to get a feel for working with gold threads again.

The gold centres really finish these round chrysanthemums off nicely. I can begin to see how this piece is going to look when it is eventually finished.

Happy Stitching.

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Sake Boxes - Noshi Papers

Noshi quiet often appear in JEC designs and, indeed, there are some designs based on noshi papers. The strips of paper can be quite elaborate with a different design on each piece but the papers on Sake Boxes are rather simple - long, thin strips of paper tied into a bundle.

The strips are first outlined with Japanese running stitch and then stitched in diagonal layer – yes, more short diagonal stitches!

The papers change colour two or three times along their length. The colour change is perpendicular to the edge and, unusually for Japanese embroidery, the stitches overlap so there is no gap between the colours.

The noshi tie is done in gold so, of course, I am leaving that until later.

Happy Stitching

Threads Across the Web