Celtiberian Bronze Horseman

This metalwork image was popular in Celtic times because you see it now in various museums.  There is something about the image that means I have to do some work with it.  Considering they didn’t have paper back then to fiddle with design, my guess is they used clay to plan it all out.  It would be good to build up the image with card or something to bring it forward.

I played with the photocopy to bring out detail that was virtually lost.  The object is solid and the outline shows this.  I can see what I want at the end of this in my head, but I can’t put it into words  yet.  I like it as it is, which fills me with a sense of duty, because I want to resurrect its glory, not diminish it.  Verdigris is a whole new bag and although this piece is basically jewellery, I don’t think I’m going down the bling road, but the archaeologists route instead.

Ok, so let’s say I found it at the bottom of a path during a long hike in Cornwall, where I was lost and really tired with no water and sore feet.  Then I see it before me, just to the side of where I am about to take my next step, covered in dirt, lost and unloved.  I pick it up, it looks rusty but really really old.  I decide there and then that before I hand it into the authorities, I must take it home and draw it.  I can see it might have been gold, but gold doesn’t rust, so it has to be bronze.  I see there are large jump rings on it, so this means it was hung on something...etc etc.

I digress...
For classical iconography of creatures that fed into visual culture, you’re basically looking at anything that was around in the Ice Age.  We have to face up to the fact that before we figured out how to ride them, to Ice Age cavemen, women and children, a horse was food.

The other thing to note about Ice Age creatures is our modern day preoccupation with elephants that clearly comes down to us from our relentless pursuance of Wooly Mammoths.  Entire migratory routes follow the Wooly Mammoth.  A mammoth represented a lot of food for a community.  You see hundreds of representations of mammoth carved into rocks and bones.  To dream of catching a mammoth, to hope and pray...

The thing I’m really stuck on though is dragons.  All depictions of dragons faithfully record scales, so the original terrifying beast must have been a serpent of some sort and also must have lived in either a cave or in the water that bore holes into the cave.

There is a giant Mesolithic snake that could have been the source of the original ‘dreaded dragon encounter’ methinks, but the fossil record shows it died out before Neolithic times.  My view is, because it was so big and scary and you had no chance of defeating it with rocks back then, as a continual source of fear it persisted in the psyche of descendants of very early man.  Virtually all cultures have a dragon and that’s fascinating too, because so far they’ve only found fossils in Columbia of this big snake monster thing.

But saying that, the famous Irish Elk, which is another massive creature from cave man Ice Age days was actually a native of a huge expanse of the northern hemisphere, not just Ireland. So we have to take care with the names of these finds, so as not to restrict our understanding of their prevalence in the culture.  In my view, Scythian stag representation harks back to the giant Ice Age Irish Elk, but that’s only my own opinion from staring at so many luscious Scythian gold artefacts.

Ashmolean visit

I went to the Ashmolean Museum a while ago.  I really like that museum but it’s now first among equals with Wiltshire Museum and Salisbury Museum.


Here are some of the pictures I took...


Looking at this very cute posy.  I was intrigued as to how they made it and how quickly it might be made.  Now it just so happens that in the Sweet Bags book, it explains how to do it.  In fact there are lots of examples of miniature textile fruit decorating the base of  historic sweet bags and they are usually composed in sets of three.

The posy is very small and designed as a textile brooch.  I adore textile brooches but never wear them myself as they can be so hopelessly sentimental, they give away far too much about the wearer.  This first example is particularly fine.

This next example above isn’t quite so polished but very sweet all the same. Again, it’s tiny.

Next is the picture of the museum catalogue entry.

Lastly is this little flower.

* In my hunt for zoomorphic gold designs I’ve reached Pannonian Avars art, 55AD which looks more Celtic as a style than Alemanni but the really interesting thing about pagan iconography is shared Gods, not only between major tribes, but between ‘Barbarian’ tribes and early Romans.  I don’t think it’s enough to just admire these images, I need to somehow own them.

For things that I’ll never touch or even see in 3-d, some objects are so incredibly striking you just really want to get under their skin, somehow.  There is something so powerful about early patterns and designs, especially of animals and human figures that resonate even now.  In fact, simple designs have to be more perfect than grandiose statements, because every part of them will be scrutinised.

I have a lot of art materials lying around and to my mind, needlework work bridges a gap between 2-d and 3-d that nothing else’s does.  I suppose Picasso’s sculpture made of found objects is an exception.  It’s been my intention for ages to make repro archaeological finds. There, I’ve said it out loud, which is scary in itself.  Time is swallowing us all up.  What is time to a mountain?  What is time to a leaf or butterfly?

Update on stasis...

Ok, so because we still have progeny camping in our living room and consequently, I can’t find my stuff - you know how it is - I decided to dye my hair.

I think I’d managed about half my head, when a piece of errant hair decided to go AWOL and firmly deposit itself into my eye in a demonic thrashing motion.

So afterwards as a way to expunge the experience, I did this quick cartoon of how it felt in that moment of sudden agony, when the catastrophic vision flashed before me, where I maybe had to drive myself to A&E with the use of only one eye, during a pandemic virus Thing, with wet,  and horror of horrors, only half-dyed hair!

Well, I’m pleased to say the eye ball recovered but the hair is another matter....

Top section mermaid design decision

Update 17/08/20

Sun, sky, border and stitches have been decided. The two triangle templates will be sewn as separate slips in gold.  Not sure what colour couching thread yet, but that won’t take a long time to decide.

I decided I need to come forward now and bring the border out in relief. The highest surface point will be the border, then everything goes back into the image. My only concern is the rays of the sun will have two planes to transverse, so they will need to be added slips too that taper down with direct sewing, or bordered cord...?

I’m still leaving the face alone, because even though the eye is too heavy, it might not be at the end, when balanced against heavier elements e.g. the sun, fish scales and a pearl necklace and bracelet.  We’ll see.

P.S. It’s brightening up again now and the tiny birds are back at last.  I’ve surmounted my backlog in the day job and been reading about the Scythian culture from The Steppes. There was an exhibition about three years ago about this Russian tribe but I missed it.  It doesn’t matter too much, because there is a ton of stuff around now about them, as Russia has opened up.  I’m particularly interested in the Scythian zoomorphic art in gold.  They lived in Russia but were originally Iranian.  They were marshals of the Silk Road and invented these really powerful bows that contained sinew.
Scythian Art

Lady with Falcon

This little face was done a while back immediately after I had studied ‘back split chain‘ phase one of my analysis.  I’m posting it again now because it shows how we only see what we can see at the time, until our brains can work out some more of the mystery at a later date.  It also follows, I find, that you  need to see a whole stack of images to be able to sift through to the grist of what you’re searching for.

Clearly now, I can tell the sewing on the face is wrong but crucially am able to understand why: the stitches do not stack up in the correct order of one row to the left, return row pointing to the right.  So because the rows did not form pairs in this way, the stitches did not stack up as I know now that they should.  I will leave the face alone however, but just re-do the forehead. because that will be do-able.

The piece is going to be made up by various slips, which will then be mounted together to form the image below, again it’s smaller than A4.  I’ve decided to work in that way because that’s what can be seen on extant pieces, especially if you look at them from the side of the display case in museums.

I was thinking quite a bit of my DD at the time of sewing this image and as a result it looks more like her than the medieval lady.  Two serious ladies with great hair...

I’m very interested in the pattern on her clothes now, I wonder how faithfully they can be reproduced.  I might try a little swatch and see how it goes.  The question is always the same: do we simplify what we see or do we use the complexity of such a pattern as a springboard for creativity?  We’ll see...

I stopped working on it back then, because I realised the folds of her drapery were going to be really (really ) hard. Now I shall tackle them with underside couching of silk thread, which I’ve seen used on period pieces very effectively to describe drapery of clothes.  It’s a great design for running away with the illusion of texture...

I’ll post some museum examples next time...

It’s finally raining in Blighty again to cool us all off after being so incredibly hot for days and nights on end.

Opus Anglicanum - repro how-to

Edited Post : Apologies!
The pictures blue-toothed in the reverse order, so I’ve rectified the situation.

Following on from
This post
Here is how I made the stitch.

Double the thread.

Bring  needle out at point A

Separate the threads, all the way to the needle’s eye

Take one or two threads, sew method, going backwards into the chain, like a back stitch.

Pull through, maintaining control all the way

Keep the threads apart using your fingers as a loom

Nearing the end...

Draw all the way through. Tension upwards, gently.

Then bring the threads down and tension downwards, according to stitch length uniformity.
Keep the threads from twisting at all times, especially at the start of a new stitch.
You can work up to a decent speed in this way.

Continue in this way until you reach 1cm
I was able to make 14 stitches.  I took one or two threads each time. If I’m working inner curves, I would halve the stitch length by tensioning upwards a little more, as I mentioned before.

I have used two layers of ground fabric.  This is the view of the back of the work

As you can see, there is nothing to see.  This corroborates my analysis from what I can see of the extant examples I have been studying,
that can be found here
in that only the first ground fabric layer of silk was stitched, as the linen underneath is not similarly pierced.

I hope to carefully stitch a reproduction face within the next 6 weeks.

* I have to cut myself some slack in my schedule as my DD has come to stay for 2 weeks.  She’s a lovely girl but tends to take over, if you know what I mean?  I will still post, but probably not every day.  I don’t know where to get tassel formers from, it looks like I shall have to use wooden eggs?  If I’m unable to post much needlework in the next couple of weeks, I’ll post drawings and history stuff.
I went to three museums that I haven’t discussed yet.  Plenty of goodies in store...

Tassel former 4

Great Yarmouth was a very long drive in the intense heat but a worthwhile trip, some very nice architecture, very long wide beach.

OK, so here’s a video on Soumak and it will help you a lot to understand how to do stitch 2 that we were discussing.

Soumak Turkish Carpet Weaving


If you ask me, I think this Right Side Stitch is true Soumak, whereas Left side stitch is true twinning. How fascinating that they combined the two to decorate spherical forms.

Ok, so let’s dive in there....

Pull your fixed point brown thread taut, then with you worker thread come out in front, hook it over the top and pull it through to the RIGHT.  To achieve the ‘pulling through’ you need to reach in and grab it, or poke it through, whichever is more comfortable but my suggestion is find a way that works for you and reduces fiddling.  What you are aiming for is ease of movement and eventually a bit of speed.

A.

B.

C.

There you have it.

D.

As you can see in the link below.

RCT Bag: Gorgeous Bag 2

From these two basic stitches you can create shapes like the diagram you can see at the bottom of the sheet I’ve included and called D.

Another thing to note is that when they added new threads, using Larks Head Knot aka Rya knot, it creates an area of weaker tension, or put it another way, a desirable gap in the work, which they would either exaggerate or conceal.  I think that’s a very exciting concept.

Now you could say ‘oh well, you know that bag is the culmination of centuries of skilled work and rather like knitting, where you also only have two stitches, a knit and a purl, look at the endless possibilities in that craft etc?  I’d say yes, but if you could knit a sock or weave a bunch of flowers, which would you do first?

Exactly, where there’s a will there’s a way.  Or should we just let the bag rot and forget humans could ever make those things, and just sit around eating dehydrated food waiting until a space ship takes us to a new planet?

Precisely dear friends: we have a duty to rescue, collect and enrich our culture with knowledge from the past.

Have a good evening!

* I’ll come back to this RCT bag, after the Mermaid etc and I think the next step would be to draw the design carefully and try out a few motifs.  I think they made it like a giant Easter egg, then cut it in half.

I’m researching Alms Bags at the moment, in a very casual way,  nothing too involved,  but the oldest bag I found is French 1100....can you imagine!  I plan to map that one out too.  I figured if I draw it really carefully someone else might want to sew it.

Tassel former 3

Ppl, you are going to thank me, because I’ve cracked it!

Now first off can I say on Monday I plan to post re Opus Anglicanum, calling it Part 2.

Today I will show you how to do ONE of the two stitches used for tassel former creative lovelinesses in the past and hopefully the future.
My hands are trembling with excitement at the creative possibilities of this ancient craft...

Ok, here goes, first one is Left Side Stitch:
(Left so called because the working thread comes out to the left of last stitch formed)

Fixed point set up and brown.  Worker thread blue and you come out in front and go over the brown.

Then you grab the tail - from the front - and pull it up and to the right.

Then you pull it across to join its friends

Now if you keep working round and doing exactly the same stitch over and over again, wouldn’t that be so incredibly boring?

That is why tomorrow I will show you how to complete stitch number 2, which pulls in the opposite direction, to the right.

Of course, you can try to work it out for yourselves in the meantime....(implied challenge there folks) or you can wait until tomorrow.

For now, this is a diagram of what you are trying to achieve:

I’m off now to drive my parents to Great Yarmouth for the day.
Been reading about the Pleasure Garden at Vauxhall, a place where the Duke of Devonshire more than likely met Charlotte’s mother, the milliner.  Could also have been where he bought so much art...

Tassel info 2

*Ok, so my very close-work is on hold for a couple more days, as the day job backlog gets sorted out.

Ok, so the tassel former pattern is technically called:
Simple warp wrapping over a circular weft.

Now that sounds really scary, and what I say is, forget about that, its just jargon, techno babble, knot theory blah.

Forget also that it ‘looks‘ really, really hard to do, and just let yourself drift....

Go right back in time.... to when when people couldn’t read.
(I’m not being disrespectful when I say even one of a Henry VIII’s wives couldn’t read, I think it was JS...)
So it went, all the way up, from field hands to nobility.

So, what do you do with that mindset : you copy!
Think visually, have a fiddle and copy.

So, what are we actually looking at here:

Starts small, ends up much bigger.  Must mean adding more threads.
How to do that invisibly: use Larks Head Knot.  See next picture...

The tassel formers have up to 55 threads going round at their widest point.

Now here’s the really fascinating drum roll part:
There are two stitches.
Only two!
One pulls to the right.

The other pulls to the left.

What looks really difficult to us now, was actually very simple then, but made to look like it was insanely complex, rather like the long tradition of knots and interlacing.

So, the thing that takes the longest is rigging up your ‘fixed point’ and sitting on the correct side of it so that you can turn the work the right way.

This sounds simple, but  um.....you also need to turn the work upside down beforehand......That is the biggie. Only that.  Handy that we have two eyes in our heads to watch that the right side is worked tho’....!!

The right side of Larks Head Knot is a perfectly smooth imitation of the stitch you are using.

Larks head the wrong side is horrid, truly truly horrid....do you see the ridge across the front, this is NOT what you want to see in this context, ever...

Then, once you get going, it’s very very fast.

Here is my modus operandi.....fixed point being cellotaped weft to table.

Tassel Formers

I’m taking a short break from the Mermaid, but this post ties in with my reference to Soumak Weaving.

I haven’t seen anyone yet make the whole deal on the tassels of repro Swete bags.  

Then I found an image on Pinterest that started to bore a tiny hole in the side of my head.....oh no, here we go again, another puzzle....(in fact I might do a little video on this technique)

So I had a few goes with a tapestry needle and my trusty wooden spoon...

Then remembered in the book ‘Sweet Bags’ by J Carey, she explains how to make them...and they are not made with a needle, although the mechanics is basically stem and outline stitch.

When I first read that chapter I thought it looked tricky, but actually it’s very, very easy and dare I say...addictive!

Its basically a ‘manual‘ version of stem stitch.

It gets really interesting when you go under instead of over on the next pass and manage to create the most stunning floral motifs.

So here’s  the reason why I need to work out how to do it...
Royal Collection Bag

Can you believe that bag!

Opus Anglicanum - stitch analysis conclusion

* Please disregard earlier references to how I made this stitch. What follows is the final analysis.

I posted the mermaid yesterday.

I had stitched her upper body with what I believe to be the stitch they used in Opus Anglicanum ecclesiastical embroidery.  For those of you that might not have noticed, it is not split stitch.

Or put it another way, it’s not split stitch the way we do it now.

How I set about my investigations 
After studying several images in close detail over a considerable period of time, I made various stitch experiments, changing something each time.

I made about 10 such experiments. 

Sometimes making a small breakthrough, then falling back again. 

I had a strong feeling that the more I stared at the images I was working from, I would eventually work it out.

I don’t pretend to be anything more than a very determined ‘eyeball’ , that also likes puzzles.

I drew contour maps, I tried to sew spirals, circles, flat sections, etc etc. nothing looked like the images I was studying, there was something going on that still eluded me.

It was all very frustrating, until I decided to double my thread and use untwisted silk.
I did this to literally copy what I could see.  The historic stitches are perfect ‘Vs’, they are not trying to hide that or fade it out, and the Vs stack up perfectly if you work up in one direction and down in the opposite direction.  This means the lines of stitching sit side by side uniformly with no gaps.

I knew at that point I was leaving contemporary interpretation behind and I was someone going back, way back in time, to before literacy, before clean water to drink or shoes for most people...I was unlearning what I had been told and was about to learn for myself....to really discover something from the past, something so baffling....it was like an obscure piece of code, a half-understood formula scribbled in a margin., and there I was all alone and it was about to unravel before my eyes, like the clouds parting after the tempest and a clear sky can at last, be seen...

Then things started to get very interesting.

The spirals were still proving to be very difficult, but I persevered.
In situations like this, you are literally teasing out the truth and it involves a lot of back and forth cross-referencing.

Then from sheer exhaustion, I left off doing anything for about two days, then when I went back, somewhere in the back of my brain, I made a connection with what I understood about Chain Stitch and what I saw in the images I was studying and the switch was flicked!

So going back to this image, let’s really look at what we can see:

The stitches are very regular, both sides of the stitch have the same thickness of thread - I’m looking only at the stitches at the top of the forehead on this angel’s face, or right hand side of the image - in my view, this consistent uniformity of stitch, is not Split Stitch, as we know it, because when it changes direction it’s proportions do not alter e.g. both sides of the stitch maintain their balanced weight.  With contemporary Split Stitch this is not the case, especially when it takes curves.

Take a step back...if it IS contemporary Split Stitch, then why has it been so incredibly difficult to reproduce this kind of work in the centuries since?  Remember we are seeing this work in extreme close up. In my view it’s not enough to say “if you look at contemporary split stitch at a distance it looks the same as Opus Anglicanum”.

They themselves in historic times knew they could not be copied, they had ‘faith’ that their unique contribution to textile decoration would not be deciphered until it was unpicked, and no one was ever going to do something as ‘bad’ as that, because these items had become ‘holy’ at the time of completion.

I didn’t unpick anything to reach my conclusions, but I did study what the hands of Father Time had unpicked for us.  In the sections of 700 year old rotting silk are the clues....All we had to do was wait for was digital high definition photography...

In my view they made it especially difficult to be ‘copied’ because they took a Chain Stitch and not only did they split it, but in so doing they made a backwards split chain.  Just think about that a moment...a backwards split chain.

(Don’t confuse this method with a Reverse Chain stitch, as that is a very chunky chain stitch variation that wraps round two loops but does not split them.)

So we think of one stitch, they thought of two!

By splitting chain stitch and making it backwards, like stem, outline and back stitch, they were creating another fine line, but this time a line that could fill smoothly, consistently and take very very small curves without leaving gaps. Gaps were not part of their artistic oeuvre. 

They also did something else with it...

So in so doing, they produced the finest possible Chain Stitch you can make and on TOP of that, they further worked out that if you tension it in the opposite direction to which you are sewing, you end up with a stitch so small it forms a knot that can take very, very tight curves really well.

Also, a tiny, tiny knot of a stitch, was, because of its intrinsic design going to prove extremely durable.  As I said before, if the face can last, then the item will retain its value, both spiritually and commercially.

I went on to discover that you can work the stitch in two directions, from right to left, or visa versa if you’re right handed. And from top to bottom.  But you cannot work it bottom to top, as it’s a Back Stitch in essence, unless you crook your arm right round.  I’ve used the sew method as I find it faster.

Because it’s a way or working that harks back to Soumak Weaving, you don’t need to pierce the fabric by more than one or two threads.  And furthermore, as I worked out from the images I worked from, the stitch doesn’t go through to the linen. So that means the back is concealed from moths.

When I tried to unpick it, it took forever.  Now they knew this, and in my view that’s what they wanted it for vestments that needed to be handled, worn and stored for many decades.

The other thing to note is you can produce an extremely regular surface pattern.  This was perfect for workshop production lines, where a consistency of quality and workmanship was part of the deal.

The other thing to note is that in making this incredibly fine split chain stitch, you have to keep your threads untwisted at all times. So the first stitch demands careful untwisting of the threads, then you use your fingers like a loom to pass the thread through in a very controlled way. It sounds fiddly but in effect it’s very, very addictive.  The shorter your threads get, the faster you can go.

I will post pictures of how to do it next time.

In conclusion: I believe our interpretation of contemporary Split Stitch is heavily influenced by what came after the 1300s, in terms of surface embroidery and the desire for super-smooth, indecipherable stitches that merge and blend.  I would argue that Opus Anglicanum embroidery created very distinguishable, extremely fine lines of ‘split back chain stitch’ that could be steered to fit around and inside very small areas, to maintain a swirling visual harmony, not a million miles from the patterns created within Celtic metalwork designs. 

Update 4th August 2020

The face is saved, the hands are making way for circular forms of a gender specific nature.  The eye is a little heavy now, but I’ll worry about that later.

The main thing is -and it represents a huge trap door for me, where I’ve slipped down into another world, hundreds of years earlier - that the circular formation worked in the upper body.

(The day job is now heaving with backlogs...guilty feelings brewing, oh dear, time to wear another hat...)

Chatsworth House

Going back to The Duchess.  I went to visit Chatsworth House for my birthday two years ago.  It was a long drive, close to two hours, but boy oh boy was it worth it.  I have the photos, I need to transfer them. The fascinating thing is, as you approach the house, you’re given sign posts for Hardwick Hall too.  I think I’ll have to go there soon, but I’ll add that to the list for now.  

The staff are really nice at Chatsworth and you can get pretty close to artefacts.  The Duke was a big art collector and the items you see there just carry you away. In the hall is a Roman shield.  It’s a replica, but stunning all the same.  There are some very fine statues.  The house has been preserved in a time capsule and you almost feel the Duchess herself will come swishing through.  There are echoes of happiness in the house...her mother must have loved visiting her there. Wasn’t Charlotte Rampling superb as her mother?  It’s all in the casting my dears, all in the casting...

Opus Anglicanum Split Stitch final analysis 


List of Abbreviated terms 
OA = Opus Anglicanum
Benji = goldwork dog
OP = Original Poster
ppl = You, the reader
The Thing = Pandemic

Ok so the Mermaid’s face has been saved.  It’s nowhere near finished, but she lives!

“She lives, she lives” as Charles Musgrove declares when he runs to tell his family the long-awaited news of sister, Louisa.
1995 Persuasion - Amanda Root Ciaran Hinds

Here is what I’ve been up to.
Following on from what I was saying before.
Let’s compare the next two images.  I say they are both the same stitch.
I’ll analyse why I think so in detail after the mermaid is given a new face.

Each example is stitched with flat, untwisted silk.

If you agree with me, then I would humbly suggest, this is not split stitch as we know it, but something completely different and a very precise way of working that comes to us via the Vikings.  For now I’ll just say....it’s also super-addictive!


Comments most welcome.

P.S. The Duchess, the film, is on iPlayer with wonderful Kiera Knightly.  One tissue is not enough!  ...the music is divine, the love theme especially, which is more than a love theme because it starts running to signify when her heart melts and the magic of her unique personality emerges.  Remember ppl, after she went to the fitting room in the sky, her husband suffered tremendous grief.
The Duchess - Trailer

I saw some of the costumes from the production in Brighton a few years ago.  It’s worth noting that certain costumes in period dramas are re-used multiple times.  The dress I saw was grey, it had some nice decorative work on the bodice, but at close inspection it was actually quite unfussy.  Well there you go, illusion and all that.

Thrown in the deep end...

Oh dear me, I’m in big trouble.  I wasn’t thrown, I jumped!

I gave the Mermaid an ‘OA mini-face’ and it proved to be not the thing to do...

It took me quite a while to realise why it didn’t work.
Finally, I worked out it was because the mermaid is depicted in profile, whereas the OA code book, was very carefully adapted to faces in three-quarter profile.

Full profile presents us with various design problems, such as noses that need to be seen from a distance and so might end up a little large.  Then there’s the problem of half a mouth, which means a lack of expression.   Lastly, faces in profile appear very flat.  OE artists were fully aware of these problems and that’s why their figures are always three quarter profile.

I tried for some considerable time to fix my problems.  It was only when I took a step back did I notice what the real problem was, as above.

In unpicking the 200 odd minuscule stitches of OA Split Stitch, I learned something very valuable.  It just wouldn’t come off the fabric....very, very interesting...

Thought I’d use this post to quantify the work load for when I do a mini face.

Young Angel 
Forehead (widest part) = 26 stitches
Nose width =  9 stitches
Top lip = 3 to side of mouth, diagonal
Nostril to lip = 5 stitches
Hair right side temple to chin = 20 stitches
Side of nose to hair = 15 stitches
Lips = 9 across
3 down
Iris = 5 long stitches


Anyway, to soothe my furrowed brow, I’ll listen to this Early Music.  These ppl are really good, they combine Italian, Arabic, Spanish and Jewish influences, as was around during that time in Southern Spain.

Forma Antiqva

I altered a work bag and did some flat felled seams with a herringbone top stitch.  Flat felling is very addictive.  I also did some Pearl Stitch on the outside, just to reinforce the base. Pearl stitch is a very strong buttonhole variation.

WIP. update & other bits and bobs

I think I’ve made a quantum leap in my analysis of Opus Anglicanum.  I need a bit more time to put it all together and make a little replica face. If I’m wrong, (which I think is doubtful) then so be it. If I’m right, so be it.  As I said before, if two high definition photos side by side don’t match, then, they are not the same, simple as that.

I did a body of work on this topic about three years ago and recently found the folder where I’d kept the notes.  It’s a good idea when working on difficult ‘puzzles’ to leave leave it alone for a while and just put it to the back of your mind.  After all, we’re not working out how to make a machine, we’re unravelling the work of human hands.  The clergy had a lot of trade secrets but they still had only humans in those workshops.  I suppose ‘it’s a process of elimination‘ but that sounds so corny now....you know what I mean anyway?

Once the museums are open again in London, I’m going off to get more evidence myself, because one might argue that to reach my observations I had only three images by the same workshop on the single item.  I don’t think that’s a negative factor, because we are talking about the same workshop, near St Paul’s in London.  What’s particularly interesting to note about London is that all the main big hospital sites were once monasteries in pre-reformation days.

I think the St Thomas’ hospital site is particularly old.

However, it is possible it was only renamed in 1173 and that there was an infirmary at the priory when it was founded at Southwark in 1106.^{[3][2] (Wikipedia)}

St Thomas Hospital


Ok so here’s a jolly video :

Tanya Bentham Medieval Embroidery Course

I really enjoy the speed at which the video runs and the creative space itself.  It’s a real ‘workshop’, busy busy busy...the music is so inspiring.  Every time I watch it, I get in the mood to work...

Back to the ‘Mermaid‘ and I’m all at sea again. But this time I’m actually enjoying the voyage...This next part of the waves I’m overlapping of one wave onto another, is a lot of fun and gives me the opportunity to create drama.

Notice how the Stem Stitches stack up together when worked in tight rows, to create firm, flat areas with all-important contours....

In art theory what they keep telling you is “the mark should describe the form”.

I think I’m going to bring in some more bits and bobs about London on this blog, because I was about to do some research just before the ‘Thing’ happened.  Can I just say, it’s a very weird place and I’ve always felt lost there.  The very old parts are particularly ‘weird’.  Make of that what you will.

P.S. The 1948 version of Joan of Arc is on iPlayer.  Ingrid Bergman is sensational as Joan and I did shed a tear. Joan was 19, illiterate and a very brave warrior.  She was canonised in 1920.  I think the fighting scenes in that film are really convincing.  Joan would make a good image to sew...