Starting again!

I've been thinking for a while about resurrecting my blog to keep track of progress on the projects I'm working on now.  I have two in progress at the moment so now seems as good a time as any!  Today I have been working on the design for an Art Deco inspired wall hanging.  I've been looking at lots of Art Deco, with Clarice Cliff inspiring me the most, so I've been sketching the designs I like the most.  I think the next stage is to try and work out how to create some of the shapes that I like.

Drawing has never been one of my strengths, but I'm learning to enjoy it!! I seem to have put all my round motifs on one page and most of the lines on the other, but it gives me an idea of which designs I like.  I love the circles at the top left, it is based on Clarice Cliff's Red Broth pattern.  I have a vague idea that I could reproduce that using suffolk puffs and felt circles.

And done...

Ok, so it was finished ages ago but it's been sunny!  Overall, I think I'm happy with it, but it's one of those pieces I think I'd like to do again, knowing what I know now.

Nearly there...

As usual, Tracy managed to pull me back from the brink last week in class.  I thought I was never going to get the centre circle done, but somehow, with a lot of handholding, we got there!  There is only (only!!!) the centre section of super shiny chips to do now, I'm hoping to get that done this week now that half term is over.

A long overdue update!

I haven't posted an update for a while.  Now my phone is fixed I can take photos again.  I've done some more work on the half circles, although I still have concerns about the shape, and the jap in one twisted while I was plunging it.  I'm leaving that for now to see if Tracy has some magic trick to fix it!  Also, a lot has gone on in the centre circle, some felt padding in the middle, and string padding around that to create the doughnut shape, then I covered it all with silk.  The cutwork has been tricky, it has been a lot further around the circle a couple of times now, but come back out again because the angle was wrong, the spacing was wrong or it all just went wrong!!!  As a result of this, I'm starting to gain confidence, but I'm still not getting the angle right.  Maybe it will come with a few more tries!

Best circle I could manage!

It's still not perfect, but it's the best circle I managed, and I tried more than once!  I did have to start wondering how many times I could pull out the stitches without the whole thing falling apart.  Next job is to reshape the half circles in the corners.

Arms are done...

I finished off the arms with some rococo and twist, stitched in the detail with twist, with a final bit of pearl purl to hide the joins.  I need to fiddle with the half circles a bit, to pull them back into shape.  Might be a bit tricky but I think it will be worth it.

Outline done

The pearl purl outer edge is all done now, and I think gives a really nice finished edge.  Only some rococo and twist to couch down on the inside of each arm now and my homework is done!  I'm a bit concerned about some pieces of felt showing under the edges of the gold, but I'm hoping Tracy can magically fix that.