Roaring Along?

. . . well. . . not exactly.  But I have been moving steadily -- if slowly -- ahead with my little stumpwork lion.  Here he is earlier today:

A couple of things are new since my last update.  First. . .the pretty flowers at the corners of the medallion.  These are made from silk wrapped pearl purl. .. silk thread wrapped around a metal core, which is then coiled to make a tiny spring-like "thread."   To create the little "petals," you cut little lengths, thread them like beads, and fold over to make the tiny shapes. 

Next, I've started the part I've been avoiding -- the lion's face and mane!  I know, it's the most creative and interesting part of the whole piece.  But that's the problem.  Creativity is a two-edged sword.  The results can be good . . . or not so good.  Yes, I am undoubtedly a counted thread stitcher at heart.  I LOVE knowing exactly where to put my needle!

But I also love the look and history of surface techniques.  So here I am, at a point where I simply MUST move ahead.  But baby steps to start. . . as shown in this picture.  Here I've solved two (smallish) issues with finishing up my lovely little lion.  First, I was worried about white fabric showing through my mane. . . especially since the techniques I'm leaning towards use up lots of threads. . . and I have a limited amount of threads left.  My solution was to "shade" the background of the mane area with simple long stitches.  I was thrilled to find a shade of needlepoint silk that VERY closely matches my lion colors. . .and should create the perfect dark under layer for the mane.  My intent is to cover all of those long stitches you see in the photo below, but if teeny tiny gaps remain, there won't be any stark white "dandruff" shining through.

(Dear readers, am I perhaps being a bit paranoid here?  Probably.  Would I or anyone else really find any white "dandruff" distracting from any reasonable viewing distance?  Probably not.  But having that matching background in place means I can move ahead away from that particular worry!)

My other accomplishment is completing the ears.   I cobbled together a technique that I think works pretty well.  First I padded the ears that were drawn onto the fabric.  Then I couched TWO layers of silk gimp around the outside. . .one atop the other.  Then I filled the ears with satin stitch.  I ended up using the needlepoint silk for this because my soie ovale created a really bright, shiny surface. . . beautiful, but not what I wanted for the ears.  Here's the result:

Now I MUST keep at it.  I have my materials out for the face. . . and have a rather unstructured plan for the mane.  And I have a super motivational video!  I ask you, after looking at this clip (see below), how could ANYONE even temporarily abandon a lion stitching project?

Lion in the Grass

I'm happy to report that the environment for my little stumpwork lion is slowly but steadily taking shape!  Here he is, resting in a sunny spot on a grassy hill!

As usual with Tricia Nguyen's designs, a lot of the fun is seeing and doing techniques that were used to create the historic pieces.  And I find that once I try a particular technique, I'm much more interested in looking at similar details in the historic pieces.

Here I started with the clouds.  With their blue outlines and white centers, these aren't very realistic, but I really loved effect anyway (maybe because blue is my favorite color).  The outer rows are blue gimp, and the two center sections are gylte silk twist, and everything is just couched down with gold-colored silk.

Next comes the grass, with its typical period striped "shading" created by horizontal bands of three colors of green silk.  This is simply stitched loops of soie ovale (which looks like uncut turkey work, but has no knots of any kind) worked over a very "sophisticated" spacing tool -- an opened up paper clip!   An option  is to take one further step and cut along all the loops, which is what was done historically to create a chenille-like appearance.  But given how VERY time consuming this was to stitch. . . and the fact that I'm pretty happy with the look of the loops as is. . . I'm thinking I will probably just leave it. 

The last environmental piece is the sparkly sun.  Up close this looks kind of messy, but at normal viewing distance it's really pretty.  The sun itself is gold strip that is folded back and forth and couched down at the edges.  The rays are crinkled gold strip that are couched then outlined with a line of gold twist cord.

Also complete is the preparation for stitching the lion's face.  The historical lions use a variety of different techniques for faces.  I decided to do a detached buttonhole base instead of a satin stitched base as in Tricia's example.  I started with two layers of padding, with detached button hold worked over top of the face area.  This is stitched with soie ovale (a filament silk. . . which is beautifully shiny but a real pain to work with). 

Next steps?  There's a lot of work on the outer medallion and flowers at the corners AND of course, the lion's face and mane.  I'm busy cutting and assembling components for the medallion. . . and poring over pictures of historical lions to come up with a game plan for the mane.  Hopefully, I'll have more to show in a week or two.

Road Trip!

. . . well. . .actually. . . plane trip. . .but it just doesn't have the same ring.  Regardless, I am home again after a wonderful week in London!  (Yes, I know, lucky me!)

We had beautiful spring weather. . .with all sorts of flowers out that we won't see for weeks yet here at home. . . and DH and I had a great time taking walking tours, browsing through museums, and generally soaking up the atmosphere.

Amid all this, I did manage to squeeze in some needlework-related sightseeing. . . most specifically, a visit to Fenton House in the Hampstead section of London.  We paired this with a walking tour of this charming part of London -- which we had never visited before!  Fenton House is a 17th century house -- which when built must have been WAY out in the country.  And what a pretty, pretty house it is!  I would move in tomorrow.

The house is known for two collections:  a collection of period harpsichords (all beautiful!) and a collection of several dozen 17th century needlework pieces.   So DH was again on his own as I stuck my nose as close as I could get to to the needlework. . .for what must have seemed like hours to him. 

The collection consists of both stumpwork and canvas work pieces.  I was most interested in the stumpwork -- not because I don't like the canvas work, but I am pretty clear on how those pieces were executed, while the exact "how to's" of the stumpwork remains rather mysterious.  Happily, I was allowed to take photos. . .but not with flash. . .and apparently when I turn the flash off, my auto focus goes off too. . . so my photos are really a mixed bag.

Here are some of the highlights.  First, a lovely panel that looks like it was originally meant to be sections for casket. 

There were lots of really neat animals in this piece -- including unicorn, snail, rabbit, fox, dolphin (or maybe whale), birds, butterflies, and several dogs. . .and yes, a lion too.  Getting good photos of many of these was difficult.  Below is my best shot of the lion (he's towards the upper left hand corner in the piece).

I was much more successful with the fox and the dog, located at either side of the main medallion and much easier to shoot.  I also don't remember seeing closely similar animals in other pieces, and I think they're both really beautifully stitched.  I especially like the textured effect on the chest of the dog.

 

I also spent a lot of time examining a splendid casket. . . gorgeous, but difficult to photograph without major reflection off the glass cabinet.

I really was taken by some unusual birds on this piece.  Don't you love the shading on the owl?

Some of the most intriguing looking panels were hung above one of the harpsichords. . . where they were close to impossible to examine -- unless I stood on the harpsichord, of course.   I was especially intrigued by the second panel, which appears to be worked on a darker ground of some sort.  Even with opera glasses and my camera's best telephoto setting, I wasn't able to see exactly what the ground fabric was. . . or whether the darker color is really stitching or needlelace over a more traditional light ground. 

So....I would have liked to look much closer and see more.  But it was a wonderful afternoon!

A Bit of Stitching - My Lion Takes Shape

Between wasting countless hours viewing needlework on line and struggling to write coherent instructions for upcoming local EGA programs, stitching has been slow lately.  But I have finally reached a milestone on my stumpwork lion.

Historically lots of different techniques were used for creating these lions.  The one designer Tricia Nguyen chose for this lion was a body of silk gimp in brown and tan lion-like colors, which is couched down with matching filament silk.  An exciting aspect of the project was the opportunity to work with silk gimp. . . which was made for Tricia for this (and other) projects.

As usual, I got myself in trouble by making "just a few little changes" to the piece as originally envisioned.  Here's the lovely lion Tricia stitched.

Well, I decided I wanted my lion to be a bit tawnier -- not so much dark brown.  Not too hard to accomplish.  But I went a little further.  Using some historic pieces as models, I also (foolhardily?) decided to change the pattern of the couching. . ."just a little," of course. . . but it ended up requiring a fair amount of fiddling.  But finally the body is finished!  Ta dah!!

The next step will be to work on the face and mane.  There are LOTS of options to consider here. . . so yes, it may all take quite a while.  For inspiration, I have been browsing some photos of real live lions. . .as well as Margaret's completed lion (from the same class) plus all my photos of lions from last fall's needlework tour.  Hopefully, the PERFECT approach will hit me soon.

In the meantime, how's this for inspiration?  Isn't he splendid?

1694 Sampler -- Correction and Some Interesting Details

Sorry no pictures to share here.  But I do have several pieces of info. . . embarrassing and interesting.

First the embarrassing part.  I'm afraid staring at similar samplers is beginning to befuddle my brain.  I mistakenly said that the 1694 Mary Thomas Alias Teethwell sampler was auctioned as a partial sampler. . .which this is not the case.  It was auctioned as Mary's silkwork sampler! 

I want to stress that it was not my intent to denigrate this sampler in any way.  I have been staring at multiple samplers (including hours and hours looking at the reproduction I'm stitching) where the lady and trees band is one part of a much larger work. . . so in my mind, this is a 'part.'  I also personally think (no expertise. . .just MHO) that the 1694 sampler is certainly 17th century. . . at which time samplers were almost always long and thin. . . not more or less square.  So I'm afraid my brain made a couple of unfounded logical leaps.  I hope my lack of accuracy has not unduly upset anyone or sent them off on the wrong track on their own research.  I repeat -- I am NOT an expert.

Now on to more interesting info.  The owner of Mary's 1694 sampler has shared her up close observations in response to some of my "I wonder if" questions.  In reference to the alphabets and crowns sections, she reports that "the fine red silk stitching matches exactly with the above red silk there is no difference whatsoever" and that if anything the color of the date is a bit more faded than than higher up on the alphabet.  Thank you so much for sending this information along! 

I feel like a real detective here assembling clues.  But I'll be darned if I know what they mean.  But I am enjoying spinning scenarios in my mind. . . and although NOT a researcher, I'm enjoying just a little thrill of learning a little new fact about this historical puzzle.  In my mind, the owner's observations would tend to argue in favor of a unified sampler by a single hand stitched in 1694. . . which would mean the pattern from Jane's sampler is being used virtually unchanged for over 20 years.  How exactly did that happen?  (Yes, I have some wild ideas. . .but no, it's probably better I just keep them to myself.)

But wait!  There's more.  As Sampler Stitcher has reported, Jacqueline of Needleprint, wrote her about yet ANOTHER lady and trees band, which is part of a VERY DIFFERENT 17th century sampler.  You can see a picture in the Goodhart Sampler book, pages 104-105. 

Although I own this book and have spent a lot of time paging through it, I never noticed this band.  And I think I know why.  What really strikes me about the lady and trees band in the three "completed" band versions (Jane Turner, Richmond sampler, and Mary Thomas) is the splendidly vivid colors.  Only after drinking in the riot of colors did I carefully examine the pattern.  And the band in the Goodhart sampler is much more faded. . . so I clearly just paged right by it.  But it is clearly the SAME band. . . with the lady presented full face.

I am pretty sure I also can identify another band from Jane Turner in this Goodhart sampler.  I think the third band from the top is an upside down slight variation (elongated center stem allowing the diagonal bands on either side to extend much farther towards the corner) of this band from Jane's sampler (photo below is my stitched version). 

However, the rest of the p. 104 Goodhart sampler is very different than Jane Turner and sister samplers. . . or at least so it seems, since this sampler is only part of the original (cut off just above the lady and trees band).  So for sure that lady and trees band had a life of its own and was popular enough to be stitched in almost identical form into this very different sampler. 

Interesting, huh?

Jane Turner Motifs Turning Up Everywhere!

It's getting to be a bit like an historic needlework version of Where's Waldo!  As Sampler Stitcher has been reporting, she has located what looks like a partial sampler featuring the lady and trees band from Jane Turner's sampler.  This pretty piece was auctioned in 2010, and the owner has given permission to post the picture (Thank you!).  Here it is:

Lots of things to think about here.  This piece was auctioned as a partial sampler, and I'd bet that is indeed the case. Note and correction - my mistake.  The piece was auctioned as Mary's SAMPLER. . . not a partial sampler. My guess would be that at one time the sampler was larger, since generally early samplers from this period are long and thin, but the piece certainly more than stands on its own as a lovely piece of work.  Looking at the other Jane Turner samplers, this pictorial band has come towards the bottom.  It's after this band and the pretty little flowered band below it that the three full samplers take off in their own directions.  Given that this band seems to occur well into the sampler, it seems logical that this version was cut down for whatever reason -- damage to the higher bands or just a preference for this really pretty pictorial part (easier and perhaps more attractive framed and on the wall).

The bottom part of this piece strikes me as odd, however.  There are three different stitched alphabets, a panel of crowns and coronets, and the wording "Mary Thomas Alias Teethwell" and "1694."  Hmmmm.  Jane Turner and Mary Lawrey (no photo found yet) are dated 1668. . . while this is dated 1694,  26 years later.  That seems a pretty big gap to me. 

And the wording is strange.  What does "alias" mean?  In those days, spelling was very fluid. . . so is this a misspelling or alternate spelling of a name. . . Alice?, Alyse?. . . or a different family name?  Or if it does mean "otherwise named," could it be the stitcher's maiden name was Thomas and her married name was Theethwell?  If so, it seems like an odd way to express this.  Does anyone know if "alias" was ever used to mean "married name."

I am definitely NOT an expert in samplers in general, or dating them in particular.  But to me the stitching below the lady seems later than mid-17th century.  I associate multiple alphabets and the crowns and coronets with later samplers. . . even later than the 1694 date on the sampler.  (I'd LOVE to hear from anyone reading this who DOES have the expertise to comment on this!)

This leads me to wonder whether the stitching below the lady band was added later. . . possibly in 1694. . . or maybe later yet by someone who mistakenly assigned the 1694 date to the piece.  Possibly the original stitcher added these sections later in life (I know there are documented instances of a stitcher completing a partial sampler later in life). . . or an even later stitcher added them to the piece.  In either of these scenarios, it would make sense that the girl's maiden and married names would both be available.  Or maybe there are two names for two stitchers:  Mary Thomas and Alias (Alice?, Alyse?, ??) Teethwell?

On a slightly different subject, since in my own stitching I'm "stuck" while trying to figure out how exactly to stitch my lady in this band, I'm especially interested in the variations of the treatment of the lady in these different sister samplers.  There seem to be two overall approaches.  In Jane Turner and the Richmond Sampler, the lady is angled slightly towards the right, and the center skirt, collar, and fringe of the shawl use a couching technique (a bit odd IMHO. . .but distinctive).  However, in the outline and partial samplers, the lady is depicted full on, and in the partial sampler, the collar, cuffs, and center skirt all appear to be in detached buttonhole (like the main skirt).

Here's Jane's lady:

The Richmond lady (almost a 100% identical copy):

And here's the outline lady.  It really looks like the partial sampler lady is worked on this outline. . . right down to the flowery bodice of her dress:

It's enough to make a brain tired. . . and mine is. . . so I will wait till next time for looking at YET ANOTHER example of this lady band. 

Oh boy! New projects!

Now, looking at my life, what exactly do I REALLY REALLY need?  Truth be told, more needlework projects are probably NOT at the top of the list.

But what the heck!  They're (marginally) cheaper than therapy. . . and less hazardous to the health than drinking or smoking.  And there are so many fabulous projects out there.

Temptation is all around me, and yes, I have succumbed again. . . most recently to two fabulous 17th century inspired creations by Tricia Nguyen. . .both taught at Williamsburg earlier this month. 

Day 1 of two days of classes was spent drooling over a raft of newly made threads including silk gimps, crimped gold, and silk covered perle perles. . .all materials for a jaunty lion surrounded by a cartouch-like outline.  Here's the picture of the finished lion.  Isn't he cute? 

Day 2 was a 17th century goldwork class.  Here's Tricia's version of the design, but in class we concentrated on trying out some new stitches. . . with Tricia suggesting we choose our favorites for our own actual piece. . . .so it will probably be a good while before I'm ready to tackle more than a doodle cloth for this piece.

This class does dovetail nicely with the on-line Gold Master Class.  So my plan here is to jump back into the Master Class. . . perhaps even organizing my doodle stitching so I have stitched samples of the various stitches right at hand for when I eventually start in on THIS goldwork piece. 

It will be quite a challenge. . .but provide nice insight into the extraordinary amount of work that went into some of the historical pieces.