Klosterarbeiten

Several years ago I was able to take part in a one day seminar on Goldwork with Linn Skinner. It was wonderful, it was fun, and it was also a lot of work. I don't remember clearly whether Linn called us back to order when we were tempted to just play with the purl, or whether the temptation and calling to order were all internal. But certainly that stuff is awfully fun to play with. If you've never used proper gold threads, they are couched down with regular thread, and most of them, purl, pearl purl, check ... are really springs.

Last night I had a chance to learn a craft that developed in the women's monastaries of the baroque era. Gold threads and precious stones were used to decorate various religious items. The club of creche makers has a monthly meeting for learning this. It turns out that what it is is playing with gold thread. I spent three hours learning some basic ways of playing. For example, you take a short length of a soft wide purl. You thread it on length of wire and twist the wire tight to form the purl into a ring. Then you squash it with flat pliers and make a simple flower shape. Or you take pearl purl, thread it, and then pull it apart a bit. Now do the twisty thing, and form that ring into a leaf or square or whatever. Then you take 'Wiener Gold' (which turns out to be very fine purl). You pull the end until you have a bit of kinky wire, and fasten the end to your working wire. Now wind the Wiener Gold around your shape either parallel or as a fan, or just wildly, pulling all the while to make a veil of thin kinky wire.

A few times my fibre reflexes got the better of me. We were using a check purl to make another layer around one of those wrapped leaves, and I wondered how we were going to get it to stay where we wanted it without spoiling the division between the veiled inner part and the free outer part. It wasn't until we were done that it dawned on me: this is wire, not thread. It just stays there all by itself!

The time just flew, and I found myself tired but happy, with a pile of finished units just begging to be made into something. I think I'll try to make an Easter egg with a triumphant lamb inside decorated with my little treasures. But I can't stop the little voice suggesting that this all started back in some monastary work room, with a bunch of novices who were supposed to be learning goldwork. The nun teaching them must have left the room, and they started playing instead of stitching. But they came up with something beautiful and convinced their superiors that they didn't really have what it took to become skilled embroiderers anyway. ...

Week 22 Project 12, SD Sampler

The day after I started making cards, a friend asked me to make a sampler for her. She needed a gift for a special occasion, and had an idea for something that would be very special - but it needed to be stitched, and she didn't have the skills for that.

We quickly came to an agreement, and decided that the sampler would include a monogram, the date of the celebration, and the Austrian greeting Grüss Gott that the friend knew from a trip to Vienna, and had really liked. The areas of text would be separated by rows of beading.

I had been looking for a chance to try out Jane Davis's Bead Embroidery: The Complete Guide which I bought in Vermont in January. Yes! I had to try out each stitch on a piece of waste band to get just the effect I wanted, but the book is just as good in use as it was fun to read. Another friend had sent me some Dinky Dye silks to try out, so I used those threads. As I had been promised, they are a real pleasure to work with. I also used some Swarovski crystals in the fringes.

The picture doesn't do the beads justice, but you get the general idea. I think the recipient will enjoy the sampler, don't you? I certainly enjoyed stitching it. (BTW, yes I have the permission of my friend to include this here.)