Category Archives: Silke

Parlet Completed

I finished the partlet!

So it took me about two months to do the embroidery and another month to get it all put together. It is after this painting although my proportions are not exactly the same. I wanted a smaller ruffle and taller collar which fits my face better. That may not have worked so well. I did it entirely by hand with silk embroidery floss and linen thread. Real seed pearls on manufactured bobbin lace and linen ground fabric.

Most of the supplies I got at Thistle Threads which centers on 17th century casket construction and the embroidery that is featured on the caskets. I buy most of my silk floss there because she also carries purl that I use frequently and she is particular about carrying historical colors. All of the trimmings are accurate as well although some are modern recreations with more modern materials to keep costs down. The bobbin lace trim was no longer available in gold and I like silver better anyway so I got all trimmings in silver but also got the trim for the sleeves in gold. The red and silver cording I got two years ago and used most of the yard I had available. All of the silk threads (Ovale and Trame) were in my stash. The linen thread I picked up at Pennsic last year, Wm Booth Draper 60/2.

The ruffle is done on a singe layer of salvage so I wouldn’t have to worry about hemming it and I got it to ruffle using the pulled thread method. The base is done on two layers, of folded linen, using stitches I couldn’t name because I learned to embroider as a child. I did it all freehand without drawing out anything other than the boxes so I would get the spacing correct. I did not embroider the back/middle section of the collar because it should never be seen when I’m wearing it. The entire ruffle is embroidered with random flowers that are particular to me. When I hit the halfway point I did the same (similar) flowers in reverse so one side is nearly a mirror image of the other. I tried to keep the back of the ruffle neat and tidy because it is not covered up.

I beaded the trim and then attached the trim to the ruffle and then ruffled it by pulling a thread, then I sewed the ruffle to the embroidered collar. I then cut out and hand sewed the base of the partlet and hemmed it all the way around excepting the front opening which was cut on the selvage. I attached the base to the collar, sewed trim all the way down both sides, and cut a piece of linen to cover the back. I also stiffened a piece of organza and sewed that into the middle of the collar as well (it probably didn’t need it but I wanted to be sure it stood up without issue.

Before I seamed up the back I tried it on and it fit well but I found it underwelming visually. I decided to add some extra trimming (based on what I saw in the painting and what supplies I had on hand.)

I am very pleased with how it turned out.


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My A&S Weekend

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It has been nearly a year since we moved south and into a new SCA kingdom – the Kingdom of Calontir, and I finally attended my first event as a member of this kingdom. I chose A&S as my first event because it happens to be where my interests are and it is generally a smaller event where I can meet more people and, when I enter, I get to talk to people more in depth.

Three years ago I entered the triathlon in the Kingdom of Northshield and my entries were: The Shrine (which was a bit overwhelming for the judges), my carved statue (which wasn’t complete and had rather low-level documentation), and my research paper (which lost points because it was too long and too in-depth to be just one research paper.) I lost the championship by less than a full point and won the Queen’s Prize which I felt was a very good outcome.

This year, because of the moving and not being able to find everything, and not having much free-time, I decided to just enter one thing. I didn’t know if A&S was basically the same as what I was used to as now there aren’t divisions and there are three levels to enter (novice, intermediate, and advanced) so you can pick the level you’re comfortable with.

I chose to enter at the advanced level because I’m pretty sure I’d get laughed at if I did anything else. I chose the category of string manipulation because it really best describes what I’m doing with this art. I started making some flowers last month. But right from the start I was thinking about the birds and how I’ve been wanting to concur more of the animal shapes. I decided to make a bird. When I finished that I made some more flowers and finished off a batch of grapes that I had been working on. I attached my new flowers and bird to a Styrofoam wedge that I had covered with silk and then brought the Shrine and the research to fill out the display. The documentation I wrote was six pages and was pretty much off the top of my head, referring to the book for more in-depth explanations.  Frankly, the joy in knowing this subject as well as I do now is that I can just rattle it off the top of my head and not have to spend so much time with the books. I also found the folder with every prior paper I ever wrote on this topic so I was covered when it came to the documentation.

We arrived to the site at 9am and got everything set up – I was in space 9 which is a good number for me. I took the glass off the shrine and put it under the table cloth because it’s much easier to see the shrine without the glass in the way. I installed the statues and other mobile things that cant travel in there because they would tip over, and then sat down next to my display to answer questions. I didn’t get judged until 3pm.

It was a very long day and several people commented that I always seemed to have a crowd in front of me. I gave a brief synopsis of my entry to anyone who was moving slowly enough to hear it. I answered every question and I met a good number of people, several of whom were very interested in the period and locale of my entry. By the time the judging started for me I was ready for a nap.

One of my assigned judges didn’t show up but thankfully there was another lady hanging out with my judges who sat in for her. They read my documentation and then we started chatting – we may have exceeded the time allotted to us. The written comments were glowing but sparse and I got a perfect score – it’s pretty rare to get a perfect score and I’m very pleased. There isn’t much I can get in the way of constructive criticism because it’s an obscure art form that I tend to execute with precision but I was pleased with the whole of the conversation and letting the judges know how I discovered certain construction methods to get things to look exactly like the pictures.

I did get a chance to look at the other entries and I was quite amazed at how different the entries are from the ones I’ve seen in the past – the focuses are different but all within the same broader categories.  This kingdom appears to be way more musical based on the entries I saw.

We packed up everything and then headed to court. There was a laurel elevation (which might explain the large number of laurels at the event but I somehow feel that the laurels here have embraced the A&S venues and foster them here more than they did up north) and they announced the winner of the Judge’s Choice Award – who just happened to be me! I was surprised – and they gave me a big basket of “All the things” as my prize. There are some great things in that basket and I’m sure to get use out of all the things in there.

So – for my first event in my new kingdom – I think it was a smashing success and I look forward to participating more now that things have settled down a bit on the home front. I am very happy I got off on the right foot because it will make it easier for me to get to know people here quicker. I’m still kind of gob-smacked.

 


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A&S Entry

I decided to enter A&S for the first time in my new kingdom but when I went to print out the paper – I think the printer was having a bad day. So I attached it here in case I need it.

 

Reliquary Flowers


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Another New Hobby

In the middle of November two things happened – I taught a class at Fiber Arts and sat in on a class on hairnetting, which I didn’t stay for because it was a bit crowded, and got a bit warm. Being that I couldn’t then concentrate, I left. But then at Boar’s Head the class was offered again and this time I sat through the whole thing. I’m a lefty so I had to get a bit of personal attention but by the end of class I was just flying through it. I came home and made a hairnet. Most of a hairnet because I wasn’t sure how big to make it or how to attach it to the band.

Then in the beginning of January, at 12th Night, an advanced netting class was offered and I sat through that one as well. I learned how to do netting in the round and how to do a more period type increase. The resulting hairnet is in the picture – this one is black silk and probably near completion. I still have to figure out how to get them attached to the band but that should be the end of it.

Hubby is going to retrieve my pearl collection and then I will be able to sew on lots of little pearls so the resulting hairnet will look just like the painting that The German Dress is modelled after. I think that will then make The German Dress totally and completely complete.

Always nice to learn new skills!


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Teaching again

Last summer I entered the reliquary goat into an A&S competition and won. I was pretty happy with the way the documentation turned out; not to wordy and not to sparse. I was inspired to submit a class proposal for the Fiber Arts Symposium this coming weekend in Ames Iowa.

The class is a general look at the historical flowers with a concentration on the workroom photos since I can’t put those on the web. I will then spend time in the lab area so that anyone who wants to make flowers will have the opportunity to do so. I’m hoping for some good turnout because I don’t think I’m going to find another group of people so fiber orientated again.

I’ve wondered why this art is so little recognized and what I can do to let it become more known and practiced. It’s not difficult after all – just fuzzy.

I did load all of the instructional papers I’ve written and they can be found under the beadwork tab – Silk Papers.

reliquary-goat

 

 

 


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So Busy Again

So I’ve been working full-time for almost a year now. I’m getting ragged because there are still just as many things I want to accomplish but almost no time in which to do so.

And then to make everything more exciting we decided to move to another state. So we found a house we liked, put in an offer, jumped through the bank hoops, and now own a second home. We are currently in the process of moving to the new home. Meanwhile I am still working fulltime.

But I still want time to ART. I found an event that I think is perfect for me – The First Known World Fiber Arts Symposium in Ames, Iowa next month. So I now have the drive I need to get the flower directions written. About time right? LOL

Aside from all of that, I can show photos that I can’t put on the website. And in some strange way that sort of makes up for the fact that I’m not going to be able to see the exhibit in Lueven http://www.utopialeuven.be/en/utopia-different-perspective and see the refurbished gardens. I guess there will be time to see everything when I stop working in a couple of years.

So I should probably get moving on preparing the class.


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Goats

For awhile now I’ve been thinking that my shrine needs some animals. Of all the historical examples I have I think the Kalkar goat is by far my favorite so it’s the one I chose to start with. I had to think on it very hard because there are no patterns or instructions for completing the shrine animals and I wasn’t able to handle or dissect any of the original ones. I could clearly see that there was some wire base in at least the legs and they look to be wrapped in what I take to be lengths of fringy fabric. To me it looks like very short tassel skirting and that would make sense because tassels are in the same artistic group as the rest of the flower construction. Using a vellum base would also make sense given what I know about the rest of the items in the shrines.


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Silk Animals

So far my shrine has no animals or birds which were an integral part of the original shrines. So I’m making a goat.

I first got a book on making tassels. Tassels are part of the same art form that produced the flowers – Passementerie. So by knowing how to make tassels I can apply those skills to other shapes. Like goats.

Looking at the goat I see it looks very much like the body is wrapped in fringe. Fringe is the basis of tassels. So I had some special sticks made that look like H shaped eggs and then I wrapped the stick in lovely gray silk and am sewing it into a fringe. I will have to build a mold for the goat body but I haven’t gotten that far yet.

I’ll keep you posted. And if that works out alright then I will progress to birds.


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New Flower

I’ve made this flower twice before. The first one was much larger and was the very first flower I made. The second one was just a tad bit smaller than this one. There will be a fourth one as well which will be slightly larger than this one – I know because I’ve already started making it.

I wanted to try this one with the untwisted filament silk because I was pretty sure that it would go much quicker and look more delicate but it took me awhile to figure out how to make it go quicker and look more delicate. It turns out that when you wrap the thread across the petal you also have to give it a twist because the untwisted works just like flat. Picture this – you’re wrapping about three threads across a circle and you have to move to the next three spots with each turn so unless you twist (which changes the positions of the two outside threads) you will not get the same appearance as you would if you had wrapped each thread separately.

I also ordered some 34 gauge wire because I’m currently using 32 gauge and I want to see what it looks like with smaller but I have to admit that the 32 gauge is hard enough to wrap without some support so I will have to work out some sort of supporting device.

And I finally had a chance to look at the tassel book I purchased awhile back. It looks very detailed and I’m hoping to use the book to figure out how to make the goat that I see in the Kalkar shrine.