Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Phase II

For Phase II I'm doing Golden Fan. I've changed some of the colors--from black to dark green and from orangy red to winey red. I've also added some possible metallics.
It's not all planned yet.
So, I mounted the diamond patterned silk fabric in the frame (almost as much of a process as finishing) and got it good and taut. Then I began to check the design lines. The stretching often distorts straight lines on manmade objects and it did with my fan. So I used line-of-held-thread to mark straight design lines. We also found that if I followed the measurement for the outermost fan blades and used them for the center blades, the measurement was much too short. So we recalculated the lengths and set the top edge of the fan so it has a nice shape and curve.
This is about when my cold set in and I didn't accomplish much after that. I used the time to complete all of the guidelines for the fan. I observed lessons for others in the class--another student began this piece a while ago and provides me footsteps to follow. I practised stitching between the barely visible guide lines (up to, not through or over). I made a sample of twisted thread (which I know is not twisted quite tightly enough, but will provide a guide when I begin on my own. I padded the edge of a maple leaf. 
Pretty minor accomplishments, but accomplishments nonetheless.

5 comments:

Jenny Woolf said...

I hope your cold is better soon! what amazing painstaking stuff this is.

terryb said...

I don't know that I could handle the preparation and finishing aspects of Japanese embroidery. Maybe I'm just a lazy stitcher, too accustomed to mounting my canvas and starting to stitch, for this technique.

I like the deep greens and winey reds that you have chosen. The gold and copper (that's what they look to be) metals should work well with those. Did the lovely and interesting diamond-design fabric come with the transfer, or do you choose your own backgrounds and do your own transfers?

What treatment do you use for your hands so that you don't shred the threads when you twist them?

coral-seas said...

This is a beautiful fan, similar to the Suehiro that I stitched but with more veins and therefore more technique. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Suehiro.

I know that I will enjoy seeing and reading about your progress.

Hope the cold is gone now.

Anonymous said...

Anything at all is an achievement when you are coming down with a cold. And you have so much to look forward to with this as you get better!

Isabelle said...

What a beautiful fan! I did know the Suehiro but that one looks more complete with more technics.
Enjoy your embroidery: it'll be wonderful!!
I will follow with a great pleasure your progresses !!