Scenes of Country Life Casket Progress

 AKA the What Was I Thinking Casket....

I have had such a large workload in the shop I haven't had much stitching time. Well, I probably have had a good amount of stitching time, but struggles with my health have prevented me from being in the happy zone that allows me to stitch. I am soldiering through hoping I will bump into my former self sometime soon. I have just three panels left on this casket, the front, front frieze, and top. I am working the front panel next, which has a smaller cartouch scene on either side of the front keyhole. I try to post on Instagram at least once a day, and if you have been following along, you will already know why I am now referring to this casket as the What was I thinking? casket. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me offer you this advice. Just because you can draw it that small, doesn't mean you can stitch it that small! This panel is an ode to my many days spent fishing for supper as a child...didn't like it then, don't like stitching it now. I started with the background~ the tree trunk is several hundred French knots in 4 or 5 shades of brown, I can't remember off the top of my head (probably blocked it out)

After the trees, I stitched the bridge, the water, the fishing pole, and the fish. The fish were a nightmare in themselves. I had always planned on using some microscopic metal spangles for the fish scales~ TINY, less than 2mm in diameter... I stitched them on the fish and they were way too huge and hideous, so the fish got worked in satin stitch, which I actually really like. But I wasted at least 3 days stitching dinner plate sized spangles onto microscopic fish and then unpicking it all off again because my brain would NOT let go of wanting to use them. 

Then came the ladye & my descent into HELL

I can fit this entire scene into the palm of my hand...and I have pretty small hands. I am not holding a giant pencil...nope, this is a standard size pencil eraser. It looks HUGE compared to her tiny face. 

I ended up stitching her face and unpicking it THREE TIMES before my final fourth try(which is just ok). This is her second face. I call this one the burn victim. Poor girl. HORRIBLE.  So I will remind you that I have macular degeneration....on top of having to wear regular glasses cause my ass can no longer SEEEEEEEEEEEE.  It is beyond frustrating. My first try was satin stitch...didn't like it so I thought I would stitch directionally. My eyes were tired, sooo tired. I have to have magnifiers on and even then, I am trying to focus and what I am focusing on will literally just disappear from my vision. Its gone. nothing, and I have to start all over....then maybe the lines of stitching will literally move, right as Im looking at them, and Im not moving. Enlarge this poor thing and say a prayer for my eyes, please. She didn't look that bad really, until I took a picture and looked at it on the computer. OH MY Golly. What the heck happened!? These stitches couldn't come out quick enough~they took forever to unpick cause they are so small. 

I put this picture on because I took it to show the fourth try at her eyes...not bad~ again though, it went all down hill from there. The only reason I did not unpick it and try again was that the ground fabric just could not handle another unpicking (neither could I)

I chose some really great taupes for her gown, purple but not too purple. I really wanted to give her a yellow dress, but who in their right mind goes fishing in a yellow dress??? At this point, I am hoping that the gimps will relieve some of her massive homliness. Enter Hell 2.0

What a person wants to use and what is available are not even close to the same thing when working at this scale. I used Jenny Adin Christie's Very Fine size gimp for her gown, which actually came out really nice. Thanks to my guardian angel for having mercy on my soul and letting her have just the colour. Now traditionally the hands and hair and face would have also had couched gimps for the defining details....but not here. Everything I had was too big. For her hands, I used  HALF of a single PLY of soie ovale. (first, separate a strand down into six plies, then separate a single ply in half~this will grant you entry to Hell 3.0) 

 No gimp currently on the planet is small enough for her hair...nor silk-wrapped wire. All too huge. I finally ended up digging through my silk-wrapped purls, finding the tiniest one and straightening it out. I like her hair a lot actually, as long as I don't look directly at her face shes great. 

 So here is the finished fishing panel, and now I am on to the milkmaid panel...Lord help me her face is HALF the size of this one.