Saturday, February 26, 2011

Lion Roundel final steps to FINISH

So last week I was so busy stitching in the evening, so all my stitching is in one big blog post.
Here is the sun, made with gilt strip and crinkle gilt strip with an outline of gilt 1 1/2 twist, all couched down with TIRE silk.

The grass is Soie Ovale stitched over a large paperclip. In the historical pieces and the sample from Tricia, they cut the loops to form a fuzzy surface - much easier than Turkey work but very susceptible to pulling. One of Tricia's hints was to wait until all the stitching was done before cutting. But when I had it all done, I was rather fond of the looped look. I'm also not sure of my ability to cut the loops evenly. So I'm leaving my grass as loops. Maybe I'll try the cutting on a smaller area some day.


So, here are the sun and clouds and grass all done.


Next up, the mane and tail. Tricia used a combination of purl left as is and pulled, and twisted silk gimp. As I've mentioned, I love the silk gimp, but the purl curls made me think of the Cowardly Lion after his makeover in the Emerald City, so I started thinking of something different. I looked through all my books to see how the various manes looked and then I though of a technique used for the mermaid. We threaded Soie Ovale through purl, then pulled the purl, then twisted to purls together to mix the colours. You can see this in the rock below.

So I twisted various colours of brown purls threaded with various colours of brown silk and then couched it down with light brown Soie Ovale. I am very pleased with how it looks. I added ears done in detatched buttonhole on wire so I could shape them. DD the younger says they look like rabbit ears, but I think she is trying to push my buttons.

The face came next and then the covered parchment around the lion. I spent time watching football and hockey twisting 3 shades of Soie Ovale and one shade of purl around 1/8 in by 5 in strips of parchment. You can see the face and roundel below.

The final step was adding spangles at the corners. I think it is very interesting how a few little spangles can really finish a project. The top photo below is a plain corner, the bottom has spangles. I makes a difference.



Framing is a bit of an issue. I didn't use glass on the mermaid, but with the parchment and purl mane, I really felt this one needed glass. I found a memory box type of frame, with a front that opens, but the 5x7 frame was deep and dark inside so it didn't seem like the best thing. So I picked up an 8x10. I'm not sure about the amount of space around the embroidery, so this may change. There is some glare, but you get the idea.

Here is the close up, no glass in the way. I'm pleased with my final product, even if the lion is neither scary or fierce looking.




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very very beautiful, i have enjoyed seeing this come together. The design is really lovely, and i happen to like the friendly look on your lion. I think the mane is perfect.Are there tutorial around that show some of these stitches, and i am very unfamiliar with the threads..i nderstand about metallic purl, but not the nonmettalic purl..does the thread really come all twisted like that?

ktj

Margaret said...

Hi ktj, good to hear from you.

The silk wrapped purl is sold that way in a variety of colours. You can get it through Thistle Threads http://thistle-threads.com/shop/accessories/index.html as well as other places. It is a fun thing to work with. Much of the lion is couching - the silk gimp of the body, the gold outlines, even the mane is just couched down once the purl is pulled to expose the silk threaded inside. The various techniques are from classes taught by Tricia Wilson Nguyen, the owner of Thistle Threads. She teaches through an online university as well as in person classes http://thistle-threads.com/teaching/projects/onlineclasses/index.html

Stitching With Kittens said...

Margaret,
LOVE your lion! I think the face especially came out just right - I see the Cowardly Lion influence in just the right amount. Must get to work on mine as soon as I get instructions together for upcoming EGA chapter programs.

Rachel said...

He's gorgeous and shows a lot of intriguing combinations of thread and technique.

I think your loopy grass is delightful, by the way.

MeganH said...

Absolutely fantastic!

Mandy said...

I love the detils in all the texture on your lion picture. Well done. This has taken such a lot of work to achieve.

shirley said...

What a glorious piece of embroidery this is. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful work of art.

Unknown said...

Fabulous work, love the lion!