News / Stumpwork
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Mar 25, 2013
Deadly Black Henbane…Part II
Read more →I have been a bit quiet this week, as far as blogging goes anyway. But the needle has been stitching away as ever, and I just finished the Black Henbane flower yesterday, so here is part 2! When I left you last week I had completed the 3 petals using detached wire slips techniques. So here is number 4; And here is the fifth and final one. In some ways this was the easy bit over, now plunging the wires into the black ground fabric one by one, to constuct the flower head. As each petal is pushed through the...
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Mar 11, 2013
Procrastination, Distraction, and Getting On With It.
Read more →Procrastination is the art-killer. Who said that? I did, just then. I would believe it too, up until about 4pm yesterday I was having a very unfocused day, distracted, starting things, stopping, forgetting what I was doing. All quite annoying and not very me! But then I obviously got my shit together and did most of the Crab apple you see above. Other things I did/was distracted by: Moving house chaos in the spare room (AKA My office goddamit!). More tidy and lovely light-filled lounge. So much floor space! Fox in the garden! I never seen one before. We call...
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Mar 05, 2013
Stumpwork Willow Branch
Read more →I know I seem to always say this, but I’m really pleased with the way this one turned out. When I had decided on the construction I thought that as it was going to be so simple, it might not be so effective. I also wasn’t sure about how the detached woven picots would behave as willow leaves, and whether they would give that twirly, tendril-like appearance. They are in fact infinitely poseable. I wanted to achieve with this piece that soft, falling, almost ethereal quality that white willows have in the spring. And I’m also really happy that it...
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Feb 08, 2013
Making the Mandrake
Read more →I had fun making this little chap. I knew instantly exactly how I wanted to create it. I was going to blog this in two goes but life is crazy at the moment so it’s a one hit wonder. Hope you like it! I bought some special silver plated copper wire. It’s 0.2mm thick and to be honest probably slightly too thin to be flexible yet firm enough to be controlled easily. But the stuff I had already was too thick and I ended up with this: Just a bit too chunky. So I made this little wire mandrake frame...
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Jan 28, 2013
From Little Acorns -Part 1
Read more →I was pleased, then a bit surprised, when Craft Gossip featered me on their blog last week. Only because they called my post on the Hawthorn flower a tutorial. I didn’t think about that when I wrote it (the pictures are rubbish for starters), it’s just my normal way of showing step-by-step as I make something. But if it works as a tutorial for you, then good stuff (but don’t go selling it or copying or anything uncool like that ;)). This week as you may deduce it is the Oak’s turn and it had to really be an acorn...
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Jan 17, 2013
Creating the Hawthorn Blossom
Read more →I was venturing into new territory with this piece: I’ve not incorporated 3 dimensional and detached elements into miniature jewellery designs, so I was a little nervous that it would work out and I could pull it off – not only as a one-off, but as a workable design that could be repeated bespoke. Here’s how I did it: I finished all 5 petals. It probably doesn’t show up in my trademark excellent cameraphone pics, but I used various random shades of white to give a bit more depth to the overall flower. Then I cut each one out, trimming...
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Jan 14, 2013
Making a Stumpwork Hawthorn Blossom – Part 1
Read more →So one of my goals for this year for Mother Eagle is to stretch and develop my embroidery skills, and so when it came to this, the first new design of the collection I wanted to return to stumpwork techniques. Longer-time readers may remember that when I began taking my embroidery more seriously I made a sampler of sorts, a Death Cap Mushroom using various stumpwork elements as a means to try new stitches. However I hadn’t really employed any in my jewellery so far. Looking at the Hawthorn tree, I felt the actual blossom would be the element I...
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Sep 10, 2012
Old Favourites and New Twists
Read more →I’m so excited about all the new product development I’ve been doing. Some new things and some tweaking of old things. First, here’s the new: New custom birch frames for embroidered jewellery. **Disclaimer – I know I know. I always say this, but I just AM comfortable putting quick and dirty camera phone pics on my blog, and saving up my glamour shots for a proper photo shoot day when I get the proper DSLR out. Photography bores the shit out of me. Soz. And I celebrated with setting the three new Poisonous Toadstools into them. I rubbed natural soft...
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Sep 03, 2012
Poisonous Trio #3
Read more →This final Toadstool I am the most happy with, especially as I tried a new stitch out on it and pulled it off. RECKLESS. This one is Amanita phalloides – Death Cap. So far so same-as, but I decided to give myself a break and quit the bullion knots here as A – the shape of the mushroom means less of the fins are visible so it would be difficult, and B – I JUST DON’T WANT TO DO ANYMORE. So I used a darker colour and satin stitched it. Then I started with the new stitch – Turkey Rug....
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Aug 29, 2012
Poisonous Trio #2
Read more →Although snazzy, snazziness isn’t everything, so I decided to talk you through the construction of the next toadstool (rather than a slideshow), which I declare to be a juvenile Devil’s Bolete. I chose this nice subtle variegated silk (nauseatingly and wrongly IMO named ‘Pot Pourri’) for the stalk and fins on this one as it was the most neutral of my fine silks. Unfortunately it turned a bit more stripey and yellowy than I thought it would. Oh well. I won’t be able to use it again, seing as it has been half way down my cat’s throat: Sigh. Made...