Sake Boxes - Finished

When I began Japanese embroidery, I had only one frame and only one piece in progress at any one time. And, initially, I worked only on Phase pieces. I began them in class in February or March and worked on them throughout the year, often working hard in January to complete them and free up the frame for the next piece.

While still working on Phase III, I had the opportunity to attend a special class, Embroidery Bridge Between East and West. Unable to complete Phase III before that class, I purchased my second embroidery frame. Over the years various ‘special’ classes have come up and, not wanting to miss the opportunity, I have had to add a few more frames to my collection.

However, I stuck to my mission to concentrate on each Phase piece in turn with the aim of completing one per year. Until, that is when I got to Phase VIII, Queen of Flowers. Although I began this piece on schedule at my Spring class, I had also started my Phase V beading, Pouchette, a few months earlier and was keen to progress with that. And then both my Japanese embroidery and Japanese Bead embroidery went on hold while I worked on a sampler for the online Goldwork Masterclass I was doing. I did get back to Queen of Flowers but had not finished it by the time my next class came around. For the first time, I began one phase piece before I had completed the previous phase.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

That was in March 2014. In the years that followed, I did not spend as much time doing Japanese embroidery as previously. There were several contributing factors; a growing obsession with early English embroidery being one but long periods when my mojo went AWOL was the biggest factor. I continued to go to my Japanese embroidery courses, each time making a little more progress on Sake Boxes and hoping that would rekindle my mojo, only for my embroidery to languish again until the next class.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

In 2017, I attended an advanced class with Arata-sensei. The piece we worked on had many challenging pieces and the class was excellent, I finally felt in control of some techniques that had struggled with. This time my mojo really was ignited and in the following months, I stitched regularly making slow but steady progress with the design.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

A year later, I went to Japan with a group of friends and we took a 5-day class with Kusano-sensei. Again, I learnt a great deal and certain things seemed to click into place. I felt I had reached a new height in my stitching.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Following that trip, I was really fired up to stitch. I reluctantly put away the piece I had begun in 2017 and the piece begun in Japan and turned my attention to Sake Boxes. Once I had completed the Wisteria vine on the ladle, the rest was plain sailing and I thoroughly enjoyed stitched what remained.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Finishing Sake Boxes was quite a victorious achievement for me but it was not quite the triumphant moment that it should have been. In order to move on to Phase X, phases I-IX must be completed … and Phase VIII was hibernating in a cupboard waiting to be finished.

That said, I am extremely proud of myself for finishing Sake Boxes. Not only because I am proud that I stitched such a large and complex piece but, more so, because I overcame my personal struggle with this piece.

Happy stitching

Sake Boxes - Gold Leaves

There is not nearly as much goldwork on the upper part of Sake Boxes as there is on the bottom portion but there was on challenge remaining – a few goldwork leaves.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Like the gold centres of the round petal chrysanthemum’s they are stitched round and round but, unlike most of the gold centres, They are highly irregular in shape!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I began by following the outline of the leaf. In some cases, the leaf is partly obscured by something else, as is with this one. For the first few rows I stopped where the two met and restarted a fresh row.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I continued in this way until section of the leaf becomes closed and then proceed to couch round and round until that area is completely filled.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The remain areas where then completed in the same way.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching.

Sake Boxes - Buds

Sometimes, reaching a certain point in a design is so monumental that can feel like you have completed the entire piece. Sometimes that feeling of having finished can rob you of all enthusiasm for going on with the design. When I completed the gold work on the section of Sake Boxes where I had already completed the silk work, I certainly felt that I had reached a milestone. Fortunately, I felt energized and more than ready to push on with the rest.

What remained was a few pointed petal chrysanthemums (some in full bloom, like those I had already stitched, and some partially opened or in bud) and a scattering of leaves. I was particularly looking forward to stitching the buds and partially opened flowers.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I always enjoy stitching padded elements. It literally adds another dimension to the embroidery. The unopened buds are highly padded and look deliciously plump! You can see from the shadow on how rounded this one is.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I did not add as many layers of padding to these buds as I did not want them to be more prominent than the partially opened flower on the same stem.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

As with the fully opened blossoms, some of the petals on the partially opened blooms are padded.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I enjoyed stitching these and think that they really add to the overall appeal of the design.

Happy Stitching.

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

Sake Boxes - Wisteria, Overcoming Obsticles

One of the things that first attracted me to Sake Boxes was the goldwork. I enjoy doing goldwork. I never anticipated that the goldwork on Sake Boxes would be an issue for me. It was. Specifically, the wisteria vine on the ladle brought me to a complete halt.

I made a very small start on it in March 2015 but that was just to learn the technique while in class. Two years elapsed before I returned to the ladle with the intention of stitching the wisteria vine.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

For some reason I could not get motivated to work on the wisteria vine. I stitched the outline and added the studs hoping this would get me moving and in a way it did, I made a start on the trailing vine. A small start, and then stopped.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I stitched the spout and made a fresh start on the trailing vine. Another small start, and then stopped.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

And Sake Boxes languished.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I am a little irrational when it comes to stitching (well, most things, actually) I create an order in which things should be done and I find it very difficult to transgress from that order. The rational thing would have been to carry on with other areas of Sake Boxes until I found the motivation to more on with the wisteria vine, but I could not bring myself to do that.

After a long and agonising hiatus, I again found the urge to stitch. I consulted the Japanese embroidery community and they overwhelmingly urged that I put my efforts into completing Sake Boxes. So, I returned to the SMART approach. At the beginning of each week, I posted my objective, an achievable amount of stitching, and throughout the week, I posted my progress. With the support and encouragement of my friends, I soon found myself not just pushing through a barrier but energised and looking forward to stitching each morning. Over the course of several weeks, not only did I complete the wisteria vine, I rekindled my passion for Sake Boxes and for gold work. With this phase complete, I knew that I was on the home straight to finally completing Sake Boxes.

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - Wisteria, a Learning Curve

As I progress through the phases, I find that I have previously learnt some aspects of each new piece at an earlier phase. I try to stitch these in advance so that, when in class, I can use my time learning the techniques or variations that I have not encountered previously.

Although I was not at the point where I was ready to stitch the wisteria design on the ladle, I wanted to make sure that I learnt the technique during class. I had previously done the stitch transfer and removed the tissue paper.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On the sake box, I had used different coloured couching threads to demark different elements; red couching thread for the red cords, gold couching thread for the gold work. I repeated this on the ladle. As the whole of the outside of the ladle is superimposed with goldwork, I did the stitch transfer in yellow couching thread.

When I had finished the goldwork on the sake box and came to remove the stitch transfer, the task was made much easier by the simple (and accidental) fact that I had done the stitch transfer with yellow couching thread but had used red couching thread to couch the gold with.

On the ladle I used gold couching thread to couch the gold threads but I had also used the gold couching thread to do the stitch transfer. Distinguishing, and removing, the stitch transfer after doing the superimposed goldwork would prove to be neigh on impossible! But it would be a long time before I discovered this!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy stitching

Sake Boxes - Short Stitch Holding

In Japanese embroidery we make a lot of use of what we call foundation stitches. These are essentially what are commonly known as satin stitch. Satin stitch is generally used to fill relatively small areas; if a stitch length of more than about 1cm is needed to span an area, another filling stitch would be more likely be used. Japanese foundation stitches can be used to fill an area of any size but if the stitch length is more than 1 cm some form of holding stitch is needed to prevent the stitches from moving or sagging.

On the sake box and the outside of the ladle, the superimposed gold work serves to ‘hold’ the foundation in all but a few small areas. The inside of the ladle has no superimposed work so the long foundation stitches need to be secured with short stitch holding.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Short stitch holding (SSH) is the main focus of Phase six; a phase that I had really looked forward to and thoroughly enjoyed. On Mr Duck, the SSH is mostly used as a decorative effect. In most cases, as in this case, it is intended to be invisible!

There is more than one factor involved in achieving invisible SSH. SSH is very often applied to a foundation of twisted threads. The holding stitches have to align with the twist, otherwise they clearly show against the foundation.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

When correctly aligned, the holding thread vanishes like magic! But, for it to vanish completely, the twisting of your foundation thread needs to be consistent.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Some of this I had begun to realise prior to doing the SSH on the ladle; some of it I had not really grasped before twisting and stitching the foundation. This, for me, is the paradox of the JEC course. Each Phase is intended as a teaching piece; I aspire to stitching each phase perfectly, forgetting that this is the first time that I have attempted these new techniques. I am trying to adjust my perspective and see the imperfections, not as mistakes, but as part of the process.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy stitching!

Sake Boxes - Legs

Like the fabric, the instructions that came with my design were quite old. While the fundamental techniques remain the same, some elements of the instructions do occasionally change. My instructions said that foundation for the sake box should not cover the legs. When I visited my tutor to discuss my colour scheme, we reviewed alternative instructions for Sake Boxes and noted that some suggested stitching the whole foundation in one piece, covering the legs. This is the method I used.

The first step in stitching the legs is a silk diagonal layer of flat silk. My main concern was that the black foundation would show through the yellow silk, so I took care not to allow any gapping between the stitches.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

As with the instructions, the designs themselves are sometimes altered. On my design sheet, the gold features on the legs were quite simple. I had seen more decorative features on other designs. I copied these features from another design sheet. Stitching these elaborate shapes, I understood why some might have chosen to simplify them.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The whole of the box and lid are outlined with one and a half pairs of #4 gold (here, I have only done one pair; I realised that I had missed the additional half pair and added it later) and short stitch hold was used to secure any visible foundation stitches longer than 1cm.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes – Reverse Stitch Transfer

There are two vessels on Sake Boxes with ladle. The round box with Cherry Blossoms is the actual sake box. There are a lot of different elements and techniques on this vessel. As long as you stick to the rule of stitching foreground elements first, you can chop and change between cords, tassels, cherry blossoms and curlicues.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Each time I stitched, I could do whatever I felt in the mood to do and things moved along at a reasonable pace. I really enjoyed stitching this vessel.

The stitch transfer was invaluable in providing a guide line for all of the different elements but now the superimposed work was complete, some of the stitch transfer was still visible.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

From a ‘normal’ viewing distance, it was not as evident as it was up close but it still ‘blurred’ the edges of the cherry blossoms and curlicues.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Putting the stitch transfer in is time consuming and laborious; removing the stitch transfer when the superimposed work is complete is very time consuming and tedious. It has to be done slowly and carefully so as not to dislodge any stitching.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

It helped greatly to have done the stitch transfer in a different colour from the couching threads used for the gold work. Something I wish I had known before I did the stitch transfer on the ladle.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy stitching

Sake Boxes - Tassels, part 2

On the second tassel, I opted to use a transfer method that I am more familiar with, stitched transfer.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

This helped me position the strand lines more precisely.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

While still not perfect, I was much happier with these staggered diagonals than on the first tassel.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I was already dissatisfied with the first tassel, seeing them together I decided that the strand lines had to be redone.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The final detail on the tassels was the wrap were the tassel joins the cord.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Sake Boxes - Tassels, part 1

I do like tassels! Be they a simple bundle of threads to the most extravagant passementerie, I find them joyful. I like making tassels – although I generally stick to the simplest techniques – and I like stitching tassels. Happily, they feature quite frequently in Japanese embroidery.

The first, and simplest, that I stitched was on Suehiro. There are two tassels; each has a flat silk horizontal foundation that is held with a tightly twisted thread that is couched into place. Simple but effective.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The single tassel on Himotaba is the one I have found most challenging. Each strand of the tassel is stitched as a line of staggered diagonals. When I had finished stitching, the tassel looked too light and flimsy for the piece. I overcame this by stitching an additional strand between the existing ones. This resulted in a fuller looking tassel but I now know that the problem was my poorly executed staggered diagonals. When I stitched Loving Couple, I encountered the same problem but this time, rather than fill the spaces with more feathers, I restitched them. It took three attempts before I was happy with them.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The next tassels I stitched were those on my own design, Riches. While they look more flamboyant than those on Suehiro, the method of stitching is essentially the same, a horizontal foundation held with a couched thread. Their shape and padding give them their voluptuous looks and the katayori couched around the skirts makes them appear ruffled.

© Carol-Anne Conway

The tassels on the sake box also use, more or less, the same methods as Suehiro and Riches. The horizontal foundation layer is stitched in flat silk over a layer of self-padding. This time the foundation is held with lines of staggered diagonals. Had this been a couched thread, I would probably have positioned the lines by eye. For a line of staggered diagonals, I knew I would need a guide line of some sort. I opted to use the shell powder technique.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

One of the reasons I do not like this method is that (when done by me) the lines are thick and not very precisely positioned but, in this instance, they were good enough to serve as a guide.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I’m still struggling with staggered diagonals and was not 100% happy with these. I decided to work the second tassel and then consider whether or not to redo these.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching