Advanced Goldwork - Latest Progress

Only just got round to uploading some photos.  I returned to Durham for a couple of days in October and early December to continue with my Eagle.  This is where I am today:

Still a lot to do, but I have a couple of days this week, so I hope to get a long way.  I still need to buy another teddy bear eye. I am back in Durham at the end of February, so my aim is to have finished so that I can mount during the 2 days I am there!!  Best laid plans ......

Advanced Goldwork

The 4th Technique for the RSN Diploma is Goldwork.  I have chosen to represent a Golden Eagle, whom I have named Freya after the Golden Eagle chick which was satellite tagged on Springwatch.

Image transferred to fabric

Carpet felt and then wool felt

Adding the string for the basket weave

Basket weave using Twist and Smooth Passing in copper and gold

Faux leather in gold and rose gold edged with Pearl Purl. Gold Plate for her talons and the start of chipwork at he base of her legs. And that's as far as I got when I came to end of my Intensive. Will carry on on my own and return for a couple of days with Tracy in October.

Whitework Finished

Went to Durham for the 2 week intensive session in July and started by mounting my Whitework ready for Tracy to post down to the RSN for assessment.  Here it is:

Unfortunately, when you choose to include the hemming part of the brief in the design, you don't use a mounting technique which stretches the fabric.

Finished!  Well nearly.  Just need to do the hemmed border and mount on card with a blue fabric background.  I'll be doing this in Durham next week with Tracy.  Then it is off to the RSN for assessment.

Advanced Whitework

I decided to start my Whitework again, as I wasn't happy with what I had done so far. So that is what I did when I went back to Tracy in Durham in November and January. The design above is what I chose to do. So this will be in pulled thread work and then I have to do a border and corners showing drawn thread work.

I did most of the work at home, but when I went back to Durham for my two week intensive session I started on the drawn thread work. This is the piece before adding the drawn thread work.

And after three of the drawn thread borders were completed:

Closeups of the borders:

 

Closeup of one of the corners.

I have three more corners to do and I am re-doing one of the borders as I'm not entirely happy with it. I then have to hem the edges and mount it!

Teddy Finished

After a long break due to health issues, I finally finished Teddy. This image was before I mounted him, so the puckers are no longer there. I went back to Tracy in Durham last November and mounted Teddy, and off he went to the RSN for assessment.

Not much to show for the Whitework yet.  I'm attempting to reproduce the William Morris sunflowers shown above.  I do like the whitework technique but having problems knowing how to finish the ends!

After a great many hours and lots of unpicking this is as far as I have got with Teddy!  Will I finish by next summer, so that I can mount him. Let's hope so, but as I am juggling him with Whitework (and a day job!), it's going to be tough.

My first 'Teddy Day' since coming back from Tracy's in Durham.  Not sure if I am happy with what I've done, but I'll move onto his head and perhaps do some 'fine-tuning' on his front later.

Teddy before and after the weekend. Not entirely happy. I don't seem to be getting the hang of silk shading. It's probably just practice, but how long does it take? I think I should have started at the bottom as it looks like his fur is layered that way. I think when I restart I'll start at the bottom. I spent some time on Tanya Berlin's website to see how she does her fur. She draws a lot more on her silk and has a pattern to follow. I'll try this I think.

At the end of my first week with Tracy in Durham, the Lace Maker is now finished and ready to mount ready for assessment. We will start mounting on Tuesday and I will finish in the evenings.

Tracy started me off again on Teddy on Friday, so I can work on him over the weekend.

Also hoping to get started on Whitework next week, so I will have two projects to finish before next summer!

Nearly there! Just need to soften the shading on her face. It is a bit too sharp. Then I 'm adding some embellishments to reflect those in the painting. Tracy will help me next week, when I'm in Durham for my 2 week intensive.

So the plan is to finish The Lacemaker, mount it and submit for assessment, re-establish contact with Teddy, my silk-shading project, so that I can finish him over the next year, and start a whitework project. Gosh, what a plan!

Nearly there!  Just need to add 'slanted blanket stitch' to the bottom edge and tidy up the right hand edge.

Ready for "fine tuning" when I go up to Tracy in Durham for this year's intensive.

Now for the cap.

Well, after 18 difficult and not very nice months, I feel ready to return to my Blackwork and the RSN Diploma. I still have quite a bit to do, but I'm feeling confident that I will finish in time for my trip to Durham in the summer and another 'intensive' session!

I need to sort the shading on her chin, which isn't quite right.

The cap will have some blackwork patterns, so I need to practice how to achieve it.

All is positive at the moment.

Day 7 & last day for Teddy in class

Well, this is as far as I got! I need to buy some fine Piper's silk for his tufty fur. I think I know how to continue.  We'll see.  Watch this space!

Day 6

2nd ear done.  Not so much unpicking today

Day 5 and After the weekend

Unpicked most of what I had stitched over the weekend.  Just couldn't get the direction of Teddy's fur right.  No Day 4 as I had to go south!  I think they may look like ears now!  Definitely not a two week project no matter how intensive.

Day 3

I need to a bit more blending on Teddy's ear and I worked on his mane today.  I took this photo when I got back to the cottage, decided it wasn't right and un-picked a lot of it!

Day 2

Fluorescent lights are affecting the colours!  Images were the right way up when I downloaded them from my phone. Apparently there's a bug in Blogger!