A New Design

Things always seem to start simple, but, at least in my Universe, it doesn't take them long to become extravagant.  Phillip calls this sort of thing my "Cistine Chapels".  Okay, I admit it; he's right on the mark.  A friend gave me a broken Victorian mirror a couple of years ago.  When it hit the floor the thick bevelled glass mirror was hopelessly smashed and the joints in the frame had popped.  He's in the business of restoring furniture and got it with a whole truck load of rather nice things.  He said that fixing it wouldn't pay him for the time and energy involved to redo it.  So he gave it to me.  It is 52 in x 30 in and arched across the top.  The frame itself is 6 inches wide and 3 inches deep with a built in gilded inner frame - solid walnut.  Really beautiful fixed up.  and no, I don't want to go to the struggle of finding another piece of bevelled glass mirror that would cost a fortune.  So of course it has to have a suitable grandiose thing to go in it.  Its another one of those things with Great Potential.  So it has sat in the barn for the last couple of years waiting for it's Great Eureka moment.   

And then there was this tambour embroidery and the need to do something truly splendid with it.  That's when my gaze fell upon the poor abandoned broken frame and I began devising a Plan.  (And I'm using a lot of Capital Letters here because plans of this scope just can't be properly described in lower case. )  And, yes, I have a whole head full of really epic ideas that all include things I really don't know how to do or do well enough.  Then I began on the design. I am still in my Peacock Phase - all those sinuous curves and gorgeous colors.  At Gulf Wars, a friend  showed me a piece of gold couching work she'd done in a class she took.  It was really lovely and I thought to write down exactly the kind of thread she used - Kreinik #7 Japan Gold.  It was such a great addition to the rest of the idea.   It was as though I had too many ideas all wrangling with each other and each of them had something that was good.  It became a struggle, a hassle, a Problem to get this design put together.  And each one demanded to be finished before it would get out of my head and I could start on the next one.  I'm glad I have a big roll of butcher paper and a large design wall.  It was becoming a monster. That was last week.

Friday night I said to myself "Screw all that!".  Forget the Struggle; forget the Agenda.  Just do something that feels good.  I dug out a large-ish hoop (14").  Padded the inner ring with some heavy twill tape and just started sketching on the back of some of the rejected designs.  Doing something small and entertaining to practice those techniques I don't really know how to do, BEFORE I get all tangled up in the big project.   And, once again, it just sort of danced out of my fingers. 

Saturday morning I found a piece of dark blue linen that was just big enough.  I cut a piece of heavy cardboard to fit inside the back of the hoop behind the fabric.  I pricked out the design and pounced it onto the fabric.  Then I connected the dots with a Bohin white pencil.  Seeign it on the frame gave me some better ideas about where to go with the flower  so I adjusted it some .

Then I just started - simple as that.  The lesson here is to discover what my heart wants my fingers to do - to learn to get out of my own way - to stop thinking and efforting and struggling and all those other "ings" To just let it be and do that.  To trust my own inner process and my sense of beauty and joy. 

There will be more to it as I go along.  Designs very often have a way of evolving with the work.  And I will need some more colors and gold thread.  But for now what I see makes my heart happy.

When Things Come Together

Silk damask with embroidered ducks, Central Asia, 7th–8th century Textiles from the regions along the Silk Road play an important role in the newly furnished permanent exhibition. This red silk was woven in China and embroidered in Central Asia with stylised duck motifs that may be traced back to Persian prototypes, thus documenting the exchange of goods and motifs between east and west. ©Abegg-Stiftung, CH-3132 Riggisberg (photo: Christoph von Viràg)

We've just gotten back from our big Spring show.  Every year we merchant at a regional SCA event called Gulf Wars.  For those who don't know, the Society for Creative Anachronism is an international group that fancifully recreates the Middle Ages and Renaissance.  We set up in a big canvas tent and sell our jewelry and Phillip's carvings.  There are two big arts and crafts exhibits too.  One for people who are really serious and have competed all year - very serious with academic documentation and all.  the other is for the general populace and is more on the order of a nice show-and-tell.  Having done a little digging into the history of tambour I thought I'd put my box in and see who liked it. 

I threw together a notebook of really ancient examples  like this one from Central Asia in the 7th century And a few from Egypt in the 9th and 12th centuries - just to show that this sort of thing has been around for ages. 

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By the 9th century CE it can be found in Egypt, in pieces thought to be imported from Persia or made in Egypt for import to the Persian market.

Base fabric:  linen

Embroidery:  wool & cotton

Stitch – chain stitch

Tissus d'Egypte, Temoins du Monde Arabe VIIIe-XVe siecles, Collection Bouvier, Musée d'art et d'histoire Fribourg, Genève and Institut du monde arabe, Paris. 1993.

 Fig. 175-177 pp. 277-280

Egypt - 12^th Century CE

Base fabric:  linen

Embroidery:  wool & cotton

Stitch – chain stitch with woven stitch backgrounding

Tissus d'Egypte, Temoins du Monde Arabe VIIIe-XVe siecles, Collection Bouvier, Musée d'art et d'histoire Fribourg, Genève and Institut du monde arabe, Paris. 1993.

Fig. 178  p. 281

It was fun and satisfied by academic instinct to justify what I was doing.  And people seemed to like it - a lot.  Since Phillip had made those gorgeous ivory hook handles, I thought it would be nice to sit and do a sort of show and tell to demonstrate what they were for.  I was amazed at the number of people who wanted me to teach them.  So, having a spare hook and frame, I did.  It was delightful.  I bought some rather stiff silk gauze from Carolina Calico and set up my own project so I would have something to work along with them.  Failing any serious ideas as to design, I got out a small wooden hoop (4 inches) and drew a curvy line on the fabric.  It looked sort of like a flower stem so I added a flower on the top.  I had some pretty variegated turquoise thread I just liked a lot.  I made a start just casually.

Then, between one breath and the next, for no real reason at all, my brain and my hands decided "We've got this."  Suddenly it was effortless.  All the struggle and tangles and snags of the box lid project were no longer an issue.  Maybe it was because it wasn't a big deal.  I wasn't all that worried about the outcome, just keeping busy, just playing with the thread.  Maybe my brain had figured it out in my sleep when my conscious self wasn't looking.  Whatever the reason, it fairly danced out of my fingers and in about a day, I had the flower done. A nice show-and-tell for Phillip's fancy handles and a new toy for me.  It was so effortless and so gratifying I decided I just wasn't done yet.  So the next day I added the gold border.  Even though it was cheesy fussy gold thread I'd gotten at the craft store and it was a pain to deal with, it was still such fun.  And now there must be more - more designs with curvy lines - more sparkly gold  - more wonderful colors.