I was a bit quite last week as I went to the dentist, to sort out my wisdom tooth, & ended up on antibiotics. I’m ok with antibiotics, but they make me feel very tired & a bit nauseous. So progress has been slow. I’ve managed to get the basics of the Blackwork stitches in. I think the next job will be the outline, followed by lots of fiddling about with the shading.
I’m not sure how many people know I am dyslexic, I didn’t find out until I was part way through my physics degree, when a tutor looked over my shoulder at my lab book & stated; “ sorry I didn’t know you’re dyslexic”. Follow by a brief conversation about my lab book looking just like his. I am thankful for him pointing it out. I thought I was just bad a spelling & hated reading out loud.
Forward on to the Blackwork castle, some of the visual distortions came back. I found it very difficult to count & get the shading correct.
I happened to mention to one of the embroidery tutors about how difficult I had found it , compared to the Whitework, & that I happened to be dyslexic, & would normally work on lilac paper. We had a conversation about coloured fabric & my ability to to shade correctly. I found lilac linen & l’ve framed up my small slate frame. I found a photo of my Lilly I grew in the summer.
To transfer the design on to the linen we tend to use the tacking method. The design in drawn on to tissue paper, & then tacked on normally with a pale blue machine thread, but I have lilac linen instead on white.
After a bit of sampling, I decided on a stitch
My puffin is finished ✅
He really needs something to stand on to ground him, otherwise he’s just floating around in midair.
I need to have a think about the rocks & sea pinks in the photo I used, but also to check I have not missed anything from assessment criteria.
The lower half is finished 😊. On to the top half, just a couple of bits to fill in. Lastly I have the sea pinks around the feet to complete ( these still need to be worked out & samples)
Progress has been slow over the Christmas & new year holidays, I did finished my puffin’s feet. I like the iridescent gold leather & the over stretched purls, I added a coral stranded cotton core, using the same colour used in the beak.
Slowly progressing , I’ve finished working on the wing for now. It’s time to work on the area under the wing & the feet. I need to start thinking about giving him something to stand on, in the original photo I took my design from he’s standing on a rocky outcrop with sea pinks. Time to think about that too
I managed to finish the lower wing bar today. Attempting the cut work through the carpet felt padding has been a nightmare. The thicker the padding is, the more unlikely you are to know where the needles will come out 😅. If your needle comes out in the cut gold it damages it. Too many cracks or damaged bits & you loose marks.
Anyway, I bent so many needles 🪡, I’ve had to order more. Cut work will be resumed once the needles arrive. Meanwhile, I have scattered chipping I can continue to work on.
Today I’ve started working on my gold work puffin embroidery again.
The head is finished, I’m going to return to the wing to add the plate and cut work ( lengths of cut wire) over soft string padding.
I’ve finally finished my Blackwork, it might need a couple more tweaks before it’s mounted & handed in to be assessed. I’m so happy to get this one finished, it’s been hanging around for about 2 years.
I thought I would have a little change from black work & return to the puffin. Today I plunged all the ends in.
LucyAnn &Luna craft 