In order to be able to stretch the fabric while I do the embroidery I bought an interlocking square embroidery frame. You buy two sets of two sides and click them together in the corners, this means that you can buy different sized sets and combine them together to get the frame you want. I bought the largest sets I could find, but it turns out I would not have needed a set that was this tall, only the length was needed. For this frame it's recommended that you tack the fabrick down with nails, but I chose to tie it on with strings instead.
I started with sewing on strips of a sturdy fabrics to the canvas layer of the fabric that I'm going to embroider. The canvas is cotton, and it only covers the area that needs to be reinforced for the shaping and the embroidery, not where I'm going to fold and pleat the fabric in the back.
The canvas and the linen layers are held together by the stitches I used to sew the felt padding on. Each shape consists of a base layer of black heavy felt, and then a top layer of wool fabric in the same colour as the thread I'm going to use. So dark yellow for the gold ad white for the silver threads. My pattern is a mix of my two inspiration sources. I'm using the alternating colour scheme from the Cranach painting, but the shapes are more like the rows of rectangles that are on the Västerås sculpture.
The thread and wire that I'm using were very much dependent on what I could get hold of. I made a big order from the Golden Hinde in the UK, but when it arrived I realised that it would not be enough. Due to COVID-19 the shipping time from the UK had taken so long that I needed to find Swedish suppliers. The Swedish suppliers didn't have much to offer, but I found a supplier of Jap Gold size 16 and pearl purl in size 1, I would have preferred to work with pearl purl 3 and gold passing in size 8-10.
For the silver pattern I used cut work to attach the copper and silver pearl purl size 3 and inbetween I have couched down silver pearl purl 1, since I couldn't find a needle that was small enough to thread through the thinner purl. The silhouette is made with 3 ply silver twist that is couhed down. For the gold parts I have divded the bigger parts in section with 3 ply gold twist that is couched down. I've then plunged down row after row of jap gold, and in order to attach them I have couched a thread of gold passing 6 over the jap gold threads. In my booklet about medieval embroidery this is called a double couching technique.
The couched passing thread is important to create different heights on the jap gold threads, and it affects the reflection of the thread a lot. In the photo above you can see that the top section of jap gold, that I haven't couched down yet, is a lot darker than the sections under it, because the even laying threads all catch the light in the same way, compared to the distortion that is made with the passing thread.
Mixing the two pieces that were my inspiration, and using techniques that were mostly used in silk embroidery, the double couching, means that it is a bit unclear how accurate this is. This is where I have to remember that I am recreating a wooden sculpture, and even if it has a lot of details, this is very much going to be my interpretation to get the result that I want.
No comments:
Post a Comment