Sake Boxes - More Goldwork

My plan was to complete the goldwork on the ladle and then to do stitch some, or all, of the flowers and leaves in flat silk leaving the remaining goldwork to the end. I imagined that I would have had my fill of goldwork and would need a break from it.

In fact, the discipline of daily stitching rekindled my enthusiasm for goldwork and, rather than champing at the bit to do any but goldwork, I was moved straight on to complete some of the other goldwork on the lower part of the design.

I started with the ends of the noshi papers which were stitched in exactly the same way as the rest of the papers but using two strands of #1 gold, half hitched in the needle. The greatest challenge here is to keep the threads parallel and the tension even.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The handle of the ladle was done in a technique that I have done several times now, couching round and round. On the left, were the handle attaches to the ladle, I used black couching thread.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On the right-hand side, I used the traditional red/orange couching thread. Both sections of the handle are worked from the outside and the challenge is to have everything meet up precisely in the centre.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The section on the right-hand side is particularly challenging because the handle extends to the very edge of the design. I needed to fashion a ‘shelf’ to support the koma beyond the edge of the frame.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - Wisteria, Crossing the Line

When removing the stitch transfer after completing the gold work on the sake box, I realised that I would have difficulty do this on the ladle because I was using the same gold thread for the couching that I had used for the stitch transfer. I decided to remove the stitch transfer just prior to stitching each leaf or vine.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Because I had done the stitch transfer more than two years previous, when I removed the stitches, they left a very slight indentation on the foundation. Enough of an impression for me to make out the outline.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

While this slowed down the process, it was a much cleaner and easier way to remove the stitch transfer.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I think one of the reasons I could not find any motivation to stitch the wisteria vine is that it is very fiddly – each leaf is tiny – and I found it difficult to find any rhythm or flow.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I am really happy that I persisted – the gold on that blue does look rather splendid!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy stitching