The New 2025 Ornament Class is Here!

 

The Holly & The Ivy

A Lavish 17th C Inspired Sweet Alms Bag Ornament Embroidered in Golde, Sylver, & Sylke

                                                         

My new Stash Buster Course is now open for enrollment & I am super excited to share this amazing project with ya'll! Watch the video above to learn more about it, and if you decide you would like to make one, or two, or three... click the link to the Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy under the header at the top of this page.... or just click here.

Do you have one of These in your stash?

Have you Always wanted To embroider a 17th c Style Fancy Mirror but dont know WHERE oh WHERE to Start???

 Are you one of the many with a Thistle Threads Fancy Mirror Frame base sitting in your stash collecting dust??? You had every intent and dream of a beautiful embroidered mirror gracing your favorite space, but got stuck for whatever reason? Maybe the thought of coming up with a design was too overwhelming.... or you don't have a slate frame big enough??? 

Well my friend~ my Four Seasons Quaternion Class may be just what you need to make your dream a reality!

 Several students in class are currently working on their Quaternion pieces to mount onto a Fancy Mirror Frame. When I was designing the pieces for class, I specifically sized them to fit the Thistle Threads Fancy Mirror, just in case anyone wanted to do just that. They are super versatile~ they can be stitched and mounted separately, in pairs, or as a group...they can be incorporated into a box or casket design, and they are a super GREAT way to kick start your Fancy Mirror journey!

 No~ the frame does not come with class. If you don't already have one, you can buy them on the Thistle Threads webstore. But if you do have one, I will show you in class how the cartouches can be incorporated into a mirror design~ as you can see above, they really do fit perfectly! There is enough space left around them to accommodate the traditional tape trim that usually edges the mirror.  

Will I design the rest for you? No, I wont. BUT...I WILL help you with your design, and guide you through the finishing. ....

Which brings me to another point~ I will also share with you my ideas on finishing a mirror in steps~ like a casket. You don't have to have that huge slate frame to work the entire design at once. I'll teach you how to break it down into small, easily digestible pieces so that you can mount and finish your mirror in steps!  

If this interests you, you can learn more about my Four Seasons Quaternion Class here

There are 11 Spots in the fully kitted class remaining.

Class just started on the 15th of April, and its work at your own pace anyway, so you won't be behind. If you want to join us, we would love to have you!

Now Open for Enrollment!!

The Four Seasons Quaternion~

A Study of 17th c Embroidered Beasts

   

Would you like to stitch these wee beasties for yourself????

This 8-month fully kitted web-based class at  Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy takes the student on a journey of exploration into 17th century embroidered animals. Each 4"x4" season is viewed within an opulent cartouche of looped glass beads and silk-wrapped plate purls, which the students will make themselves. There is one beast for each season, inspired by Ann Bradstreet's 1650 poem, The Four Seasons of the Year.        

Sweet Spring depicts a cheerful leopard relaxing upon fertile green hillocks..... 

Burning Summer is represented by a stately Bactrian camel......

. 

Eden's Autumn depicts the ever-popular 17th c noble Lion.....

Snowie Winter shows a beautiful 17th century winter landscape

I only plan to run this fully kitted class once due to the difficulty I have had acquiring the materials for it. This class will be limited to 30 students, half of which have already filled from the newsletter sneak peek, so as of my posting, there are only 15 spots remaining!!

Class will begin 15 April 2025 and run for 8 months. 

You can learn more about the class or purchase an enrollment by clicking the Four Seasons Quaternion tab at the top of the blog page directly under the header or by clicking here. 

Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy

 Puffed Silkes~ 17th Century Inspired Padded Silk Interiors

Class begins 1 April!

Class Login information was sent last week in the emails, so if you are new to the Online Academy, you should have your particulars in hand. If not, there are links in the body of the email, so check your spam box. If it's still not there, email me and I can resend it. I have had students email me with their excitement to start, and let me say, I am just as excited. I cannot wait to see what ya'll create!

If you are interested, please click the tab for the Online Academy at the top of the page here to learn more about the class. This is a 3 month long course that I keep adding to, because hello~ I want your interiors to look FABULOUS!!!! Not just a casket interior~ but any box interior. The photo above is just an example of what you will be able to accomplish. The box on the left is the box I started out with, and the result is on the right. Some of the bonus lessons include how to make custom compartments, the 17th c technique for integral hinges on interior doors, and making velvet-lined ring compartments.

Class is work at your own pace.

Class starts on Monday~ but you don't have to! You can download and start when you are ready. (Though there is so much eye candy and inspiration in the history lesson one cannot help but get super jazzed about all the possibilities!!!!!!!)

Will this mean I will only be available to you to help you during course time?

Absolutely NOT. I know who is in class. If you download your lessons and get started a month from now~ or a year from now, it makes no difference to me.  I am here to help guide you through your process as long as I am still living!

Course material is written and downloadable in full lesson pdf's, with supplemental videos. I myself have Viasat internet and am not able to stream, so I try to keep videos short and to the point.

This course does not include instructions on how to make an octagon configuration interior.

Octagon interiors will be covered in my upcoming class~ Through The Looking Glafs~ 17th Century Inspired Mirrored Interiors

Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy

 New Skills Based 2024 Classes

I have several new classes planned for this year at the Online Academy, most are skills-based classes that will help you take your embroidery to an entirely new level.  My goal this year is to offer my students the tools to make their embroidery projects spectacular. While I love project classes, and will indeed have some of those too, a skill-building class can be applied to the thing or what of your own choosing. You can mold the class to fit your particular project now and in the future!

The first class that is open for enrollment now is 

Puffed Silkes~ 17th Century Inspired Padded Silk Interiors

I will show you how to make a custom padded interior to fit whatever receptacle you have on hand, whether it's an old cigar box or fancy casket. No matter how elaborate the embroidery on the outside of a box is, there is always a gasp of excitement when it is opened to reveal an interior just as beautiful(or perhaps even more so) as the outside.

There are a couple of bonus lessons that will include how to make partitions for custom cavities like the ones I made in the casket above for the tiny Penhaligons scent bottles, 

and another on transforming the inside of a drawer into a 17th c style ring holder.

If you are interested in learning my techniques for finishing a padded interior, you can click the link above to learn more about it!

Upcoming 2024 Skills Classes~

*Through The Looking Glass~ 17th Century Inspired Mirrored Interiors

*Windows To The Past~ Frames & Cartouches in 17th C Embroidery & How To Make Them

A Casket & A Class...

 Scenes of Country Life, or Rural Pursuits Casket Finished!

Its been a whirlwind the past three years. I am a bit surprised that I was able to get this casket done...but on the other hand, as usual, stitching helped me through it. I started the interior in 2021, and thought it was an easy mark of planing it to be finished by the end of 2022. Then I got sick...was already a nervous wreck when dr told me I had a coconut size liposarcoma that needed to come out not next month or sometime in the future...how about the day after tomorrow? So things changed, and I couldn't stitch on it for a while. You have no brain capacity for anything at that moment...at least I didn't. Slowly as I got better and realized I wasn't on the expressway to the other side, I started stitching on it again. At first, stitching gave me something to concentrate on so my mind wouldn't think about other things. Then, stitching gave my mind ease in reflecting and thinking about ...well...all the stuff I didn't want to think about. 

There is a mine of information just waiting to be discovered about the effects of the sounds of a needle and thread moving through a fabric. Perhaps it is that, combined with the repetitive motions of stitching, moving the arms up and down, that relaxes the spirit? I don't know, but whatever it is, I like it. I need it.

 I love how this casket came out. It is my Scenes of Country Life or Rural Pursuits casket, and it is everything I love about my childhood and then some. 

It is stitched on dutchess silk satin, entirely in flat filament silks. There are five cartouches with scenes in them that remind me of special memories. I am on the front sitting on the shore fishing(she also represents my Mother), and in another, milking a cow. Growing up there was many a day spent fishing. Sometimes we were fishing for our supper, so we sat there till we caught something to eat, rain or shine. I never liked going out in the boat to go fishing because one, I always had to pee, sometimes before we even got to the 'spot' to fish...and two, if I sat on shore, I could sit and play in the dirt while fishing. Maybe that's where I first learned to multitask? ha 

I learned to milk a cow at a little dairy farm in the first grade. I loved the sound of the milk hitting the can, and seeing the steam rise up from it. Can't stand to drink milk, but milk the cow, yes!

The surround holds flowers I know well~ my Mom always had the most beautiful iris and tulips in the yard~ I love red tulips and would always pick her a bunch for Mother's Day. She was always so happy that I picked them for her, and looking back on it now, probably secretly a little sad I had picked them. The frieze holds flowers and fruits that are special to me~ the turkey here is a nod to the turkeys I had here on our own farm. The central flower is a sunflower, Pip's favorite. Of course, we didn't have borage in northeast Washington...that is an homage to 17th stitchers

Filament silk is so wonderfully shiny, this really glows from all angles. Here you can see up close the faux tortoise shell trim I made for it. I love 17th c caskets with tortoise trim, and it was a favorite for picture frames as well, the dark colours really set off the embroidery.

The proper right side depicts my Pa hunting(then again, I could be me too). We never hunted waterfowl, this is a grouse that has just flown out over water ;)  There are two wild strawberries on the hillock behind him, and more up in the frieze. I set the traditional 17th c configuration of a dog chasing a rabbit to the center, but in all honesty, we hunted rabbits a different way~ while riding in a Toyota landcruiser with a pistol. The pansy represents all the little violas that always grow in our yard at home and that seem to pop up always without ever being planted

The proper left side is a plough scene. I think of my Great Grandpa Randall, whom I never knew, out in the fields...pretty sure he was on a tractor, but I didn't really want to stitch a green and yellow John Deer tractor on my casket. The little flowers in the frieze to the far right were as close as I could get to a 17th c representation of the matchsticks I loved to pick out in the woods in the spring. There are thistles in the center, a snail cause I adore snails and a rooster...I thought it was fitting he was crowin the sun up in the panel below. 

One of the challenges of this casket is the scale~ everything is so small. I scaled down my threads to get the detail I wanted in my stitching, as well as made others. I made this silk wrapped plate purl in two colours for the snail shell.

The top is a single large cartouche with me sitting under an oak tree...lazing away. I have been picking wild strawberries again and am holding one. Three suffolk sheep graze in the foreground, and my kiko goats Luke(white and brown) & Meisie(black) are relaxing with me. The windmill in the background is not from my childhood. I have always loved windmills depicted in 17th c embroidery, and when I saw some on a trip to Paris in 2017, I knew I was going to include it on something! To the right of us all is a big pond...this represents my most favorite place on earth~Potter's Pond, at home. I also love swans, so you can't have a pond without swans in it

The surround is a mixture of flowers in long and short stitch, and purl work using silkwrapped purls. Two silk wrapped kidskin parchment flowers ornament the cartouche

All of the stitches on this casket are flat stitches~ satin stitch, long and short stitch, French knots, long leg French knots ect

I loved stitching the swans

The back of the casket and back frieze are made of silk wrapped cards~ the figurals on the bottom from left to right top to bottom are green apples, thistle, acorns, single acorn, pink wildflowers, and huckleberries

The interior is dressed in blush pink silk, with secret compartments to the lid and otherwise, with a special portrait that sits behind the mirror. I will be teaching a class this year on mirrored interiors that will include instructions for making the octagon design...

 If you like the look of the padded silk interior and would like to make your own, my new class Puffed Silkes~ 17th C Inspired Padded Silk Interiors is now open for enrollment~ you can click on the header for the Online Academy at the top of the page, or here to learn more about it.

As excited as I am to see this finished, I am also kind of sad. It has been a good friend to me and kept me company for many hours! 

New Beadwork Class Open for Enrollment!

 Fruit of Thy Hands

I am super excited to announce my new 17th c beadwork class at Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy is now open for enrollment. I am so far behind from being sick last year, I am trying to catch up & sincerely apologize to all of my students patiently waiting for the classes I was working on to be ready.   

I designed this project class to teach the basic detached techniques used in making beaded baskets like mine shown above. What is learned in class can be applied to any and all the flowers and fruits and acorns etc I made for my basket!

If you are not familiar with 17th c beaded baskets, I can refer you to read an earlier post on them here. There is a link to the basket above at the Met~ note the wonderful beaded oranges and lemons in the border surround. I will teach you how to make them in this class~ though you will make strawberries, the technique is the same for all fruits/ nuts etc. 

Class starts on 1 July, and the kits will ship mid-June. If you would like to learn more about it or enroll,  you can do so here, or click the Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy PAGE TAB under the header at the top of the page to see the current classes offered.

10 Spots Available

 Beneath Thy Poft Oak

Beneath Thy Poft Oak, The Art of 17th c Beadwork is a wonderful class that will teach you all about 17th c beadwork. It is a 12 month class that I am now running individually, so you will not have to wait for a class to fill if you are interested in taking it!  I have just 10 class spots available.

You can learn more about all the particulars and/ or enroll here. You can also click the tab at the top of the blog page here for the Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy to see all the classes currently offered.

For those of you who keep asking me about teaching here in the USA,  this is the perfect opportunity for you to do so right from your own stitching chair! This is the most comprehensive class I have ever offered, and like all my classes, all materials you need to complete Beneath Thy Poft Oak are included in the class kit. All the student need to provide are a few tools and a slate frame. The class is divided into 12 easy-to-complete monthly lessons. Each lesson contains a slew of pictures, step-by-step photos, instructions, and videos for completing this pastoral Texan scene.  This is not just a class to work the shown picture~ it is a class aimed at teaching you all you need to know about 17th c beadwork techniques and how to apply them to other projects you have milling around in your head.

As you can see above, my scenes are complete. Ladye is not just sitting under a tree with a one-dimensional top of a skirt draped over her lap....she has beautiful legs, shoes, stockings, and garters under her gown. 

Each kit comes with a one of a kind 3 piece hand sculpted papier mache figure set (bust and two arms)

.

Along with flat and looped cartouche treatments, speckling, grounded and in-hand peyote stitch, flat and curved couching, French wired leaves and flowers, detached hair and lace techniques, netted overlays, designing and working clothing, and bead history, I will also teach you how to make these gorgeous fully detached yellow roses. The same technique can be applied to any flower~ known to nature or contrived of your own imagination. 

17th c Beadwork Class Starting 1 October

  Twelve Spots left!

If you are interested in learning the art of 17th c beadwork, aka beaded stumpwork, there are 12 spots left in my Beneath Thy Poft Oak class that starts 1 October. This is a twelve month long class, and I am not planning on offering it again until at least 2024, more likely 2025. You can learn more about here . 

Happy Stitching!

Future Class Dates...

 A closer look at my Beaded Stumpwork Casket

Here is a video sharing some closer looks at my beadwork casket. I chose to work my entire casket in beads, but there are literally oodles and oodles of extant 17th c silk embroideries that contain motifs worked in beads.

Registration is still open for my 17th century beadwork class, Beneath Thy Poft Oak. Class starts October 1st, 2022. I have had several folks ask me when I will be running it again, and the answer is honestly, probably not for some while. The class itself runs 12 months, so that puts me at 2024 for the next running. However, I am booked for in person teaching then, and as well my last is graduating from high school, so it may not be 2024, more like 2025 or 26 if I can still get the materials for it. 

You can learn more about it/enroll by clicking the link to my Online Academy classes at the TOP of this page, right under the blog header. 

Happy Stitching!

Another Wedding &...

Another Finish!

Three weddings in less than thirty days.....I certainly hope my youngest isn't planning to get married anytime soon. My son Josh got married this weekend~ such a beautiful wedding! They say a family tree grows over time...I feel like ours has exploded all at once, but in a good way. 

I also wanted to share this beautiful finish from one of my students! Frances is in my Gum Work, The Art of 17th c Gummed Silk class that is currently running. It's not even over yet and she has made this stunning dome top casket of her own.

I am just so proud of her! I love her colours and design~ and that the three flowers stand up along the top like pretty little jewels on a crown.

Making and working with gummed silk is so much fun, once you start you can't stop! If you are interested in making your own, you can click the link above to find out more about the class.

I hope you have a great week ~Happy Stitching!!

17th c Beadwork Class

Beneath Thy Poft Oak, 2022 Registration Open

 Registration is now open for my 2022 running of Beneath Thy Poft Oak, The Art of 17th c Beadwork. Spaces are limited so if you are interested, you can learn more about all the particulars and/ or enroll here. You can also click the tab at the top of the blog page here for the Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy to see all the classes currently offered. 

 It's hard to appreciate any beadwork in a flat photo, so I made a video for you. I will have more videos in the coming days of other beadwork projects that can be made using the same techniques that I teach in class....my padded mirror case, beaded basket, and of course my beaded casket~ I hope you'll check back!

 

My New Teaching Website!

 Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy

It gives me much pleasure to announce the opening of my new teaching website,

 Diamond K Folk Art Online Academy

All of my online classes will be hosted here from now on, so save the link! Some classes will be digital-only, some will be more traditional with associated physical kits. I have new classes in the works, and will be adding some from previous years as well. Classes are fully paid up front, and content is released at the first of each month for however long the course runs. I will announce classes here on my blog, and link to pages where they may be purchased.

 If you are in Colorado, please email me to enroll and I will invoice you directly to include applicable taxes, if not, I will have to send an additional invoice with added tax.

I am planing the second running of my 2020 Beneath Thy Poft Oak class later this year. This is an in-depth 12 month long course covering 17th c surface beadwork embroidery techniques. A project kit is included with the class. If you missed the first running and would be interested in the waitlist for this class, just shoot me an email. 

Gum Work~ The Art of 17th c Gummed Silk

Class Starts Feb 1, 2022!

My new Gum Work class is now open for enrollment and will be starting on the first of February. This class is three months long, and is a digital only class, meaning there is no associated class kit. A full list of required materials with link to where they can be purchased online is included in the first lesson. You may already have much of what is needed, or be able to find them locally.

If you are unfamiliar with 17th c gummed silk, I will invite you to click on the tab on the right sidebar 'Silke Gum Work' to learn a little more about it....and if you want to learn how to make beautiful gummed silk carnations like the ones shown above, I hope you will sign up for the class!

Traditionally, items decorated with gum work only contained gummed silk, such as the top of my dome top casket shown above. But in class, I will show you how to elevate this dainty craft to a new level by adding goldwork stitches and some bling to it!

You will learn both flat and curled techniques. Even the lion's mane shown above is gummed silk

You can learn more about my Gum Work class & Enroll here