All that was left behind

   A new piece, finished yesterday, and the most challenging yet. I have been pondering how to tackle a fragmenting leaf structure for a long time and was now able to get on with it. I'd finally found the right coloured threads and so with my 3d head on I devised  a reverse cordonnet system to recreate this leaf. 

  What fascinates me is how leaves slowly break down and become something completely different. The title references the idea in archaeology of 'taphonomy' (all that is left behind) where we find artefacts with very little context and have to build a world around them.If someone had never seen a tree and you showed them a dead leaf like this what would they imagine and could they ever understand all that a tree is and does from this one fragment?  I find myself exploring more and more the idea of empathy with things unknown and how to find a language to speak to them.

some 'in progress' pictures...

                                                

   As you can see from the image above I started with a very unconventional cordonnet, in fact it was a drawing rather than the usual outline.I put in a wire vein structure onto the drawing and then went from there.Technically it is almost impossible to say how I made this but here is a list of techniques for those who are interested;
detached buttonhole stitch ,picot stitch, fanned corded brussels stitch, needle chains and scissor knots.

and finally......showing how I 'lay in' threads as 'ghost' cordonnets

17 hours !!!

Moss jewellery

Alongside the moss growing in the book I have found some growing on a brooch and a ring...

...both of these will be at the Knit and Stitch Show from 7-11th October on stand TGi7 Fleur Oakes (as that is my name when not being 'epingle' !) Remember if you book online to add code EX15 to get a discount on the ticket price.

Knit and Stitch 2015

I'm getting ready for the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace  but Mab is ahead of me. She has her rather blunt fortunes/advice prepared and now just requires your silver when you visit !!!! She will be located at the back of the stand with a little assortment of beeswax and thread winders. I'm hoping that she won't overshadow Beryl and Charlotte the hydrangea moths....

They are quite small and unassuming compare to Mab and hide under small glass domes when not being worn as brooches ( I've found some mini glass cloches for them which are included with purchase..£75)

There will be some moss creeping in too plus lots of new colourways in some of my best selling buttons.
  The show is now a five day show from 7-11th October and you can get a discount on the ticket price if you add the code EX15 when you book your ticket.
  This show will be my seventh so as a small thankyou to my customers if you say the password........ 'aule'(say 'owley')...... when buying buttons you will get 10% off the stand price.

next post....preview of the finished piece to be on display..'Lachcrimae Rerum' ( the tears of things)

Sycamore key

Some people aren't happy to have these in their garden but I love them. I used some lovely subtle shades from Weeks Dye Works for this piece, the small changes in shade are perfect for something that was always going to be tricky !! I am still trying to work out how to put veining into stumpwork without it looking heavy so I tried to suggest it with colour and technique. The wings of this seedpod I made in single strand corded brussels stitch so that it was very fine. To give a hint of veining I freestyled a bit with the rows as I went, sometimes starting mid row and then again in mid row so to fan the rows out.

This technique meant that I avoided stripes in the colour of the thread as it moved from one shade to the next and instead gave it natural patches of colour. 

   For the seed pod section I tried hanging the stitches off a pre-buttonholed strand so as to retain a ridge for the vein. It sort of worked!!!

I had to take the work off the cordonnet pad to flip it over and make the pod cases . I used the same stitch but built 'up' and around to make a small cavity for a real seed to fit into ! (this is to scale )

Before I sewed the last row I put the seed in ...

For the second pod I wanted it to look as if the seed had already fired out. I did some tiny ghiordes knots inside and then furred them out with a pin...

and then built up the open pod case as before.

Moth assembly kit

How to make a moth.......

 You will need: 1 undercarriage with wings in needlelace,
                          1 small wing in needlelace,
                          1 furry body in ghiordes knot stitch
                                      ( with feather antennae)
                          6 furry legs.
                       

 Make the furry body with very dense stitches and learn how to tie flies.......

 Spend weeks making a wired segmented undercarriage with patterned wings,

                       Attach everything together and teach him to walk.....

One tame moth.

Release him to join his friends...

'feel pleased with yourself !

This is the last moth (and the largest at 6cm long) for this piece entitled 'Lachrimae Rerum ' ( The Tears of Things) . I'm nearly finished, only  a couple more things to make and add. Every time I think it's done I realise there is some more I can do.

Clover

  My desk has been full of equipment just so that I can see to embroider these clover leaves! I had some lovely embroidery silks which are no longer in production so I wanted them used on something special. I worked on a type of silk fabric called 'paper silk' which is very fine but robust because I wanted to make an embroidered page to slip into one of the books on this piece. After the embroidery I wanted dew on the leaves but it can be a bit tricky with something like this as the scale and shape of the beads can ruin it if they are wrong...I hope I got it right! I used tiny miyuki seed beads and a few of the smallest magatama beads that I could get.

 Here they are off the hoop and ironed (carefully),then trimmed down, a little edge stitching and then pinned into place with black entomology pins. As I put them in place I found that the page I had chosen gave a lovely description by Herman Melville of an elaborate tattoo of leaves.

Lacrimae rerum

...the tears of things.This is still in progress, more moths to come and some other things to make.Essentially a pile of old books with embroidery !

Moss Book

I wasn't supposed to be making this at all but I sat looking at this old book and decided that it needed moss more than I needed to be getting on with stuff .

Ghiordes knots in four shade of green , two in cotton , two in silk,

 ..stitch density of about one hundred to the square inch ( more than an expensive carpet....which takes my mind to unrealistic notions)

...four big tufts (12 hours) and three tiny ones to fill the spine of this old French-English dictionary. After listening to very inspiring music I decided that this will be part of a  larger piece that I have been working on for a while...the piece I was, in fact, supposed to be doing anyway ( thankyou Sigur Ros).

live leaves

The leaves in bottles will be briefly on show as part of PYF's pop-up show at Riflemaker from 19th-22nd September.....swiftly followed by the mossy tile at the Art Workers Guild  (London Open House) weekend 22-23rd September...

(free entry to both)

The view from my studio

 One of the views from my studio is of the vast tiled roof of a 14th C. tithe barn. There is moss growing between every tile and lichen growing everywhere. I am very fond of the moss as it looks like little islands especially when it flowers.Making lichen in stumpwork is a bit of a challenge, not least because it is black underneath and raises up when wet then flattens out when dry. I went for the wet version and took a tip from the 17thC. ladies and coloured the underside with conte pastel.  This piece, together with the dead leaves, will be on show in a couple of places soon ( 'will update this post with details).

little lichen

It is time to attempt some 3D,or is it 4D?, stumpwork. I am facinated by hyperbolic crochet and since needlelace and crochet are related I thought it was worth a go. What I actually wanted to make was lichen  and so here is the first part of my new piece. I have found some normal embroidery cotton that has a very subtle change in colour which is perfect for this project.

....now growing here !

The quick and the dead

....that is to say this dead leaf was quicker to make than the others !!! Here it is flat and then as it curls up and is blown away...

 ..finally to come to rest on an old milk bottle

It has now blown here !

O western wind when wilt thou blow

Finally , the third leaf is finished...random colour ,freestyle stitches ,splits and texture changes -it's all there.One of my students showed me some lovely yarn from Habu ,which is made from bamboo and copper, so I used this to make the leaf skeleton tip.