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. 

Scenes of Country Life Casket

 Progress

It's been a while since I posted about my casket progress...or lack thereof is probably more accurate. I don't know what I do all day long, but whatever it is, it sure goes by quick cause every time I turn around, it's time to go to bed again. 

Whatever happened to the days dragging on like they did when we were little? I might be able to actually accomplish something if I had that kind of time on my hands...

There are two scenes on the front panel~ one of me fishing, and the other milking a cow. Because I have them framed up with the top panel on the same slate frame, the only way I can reach them to stitch is with them upside down...which in itself presents some challenges. One of the best qualities or reasons for stitching with flat filament silk is the effects that the light has on it. A person can stitch with a single colour, and just the position of the stitches and how the light bounces off them creates shadows and illusions of there being different shades of colours there, when in fact it's all the same colour. 

So shadows play an important part in stitching with filament silk...insert stitching tip here...very important.....

Your stitching can look one way upside down, and drastically different once turned right side up! So check it often if you find yourself in my same situation...

I started with the ground as usual, and decided I wanted to work a basketweave pattern for one of the fields, as seen above.

I have to continually remind myself that this is a FLAT work casket that is supposed to be mainly satin stitch. It is very hard. I actually worked the entire forefield and then decided I didn't like it...didn't like the colours, and most importantly, ever so slight as it was, the field stood too proud from the surface. The milk jugs were going to be long and short stitch, so very flat, and hello, you can't have milk jugs in the foreground that sit behind the field that is supposed to be behind them.

So the field got ripped out el mui pronto, which actually made me quite happy as the colours I had chosen for the field were giving me flashbacks to our 1970s kitchen with orange, brown, and green mushroom wallpaper...

I kept the diagonal direction and worked stripes in satin stitch~ love it! It set the field off dramatically from the one in the background without it being too obnoxious.

Once the field was finished I built the fence and planted some long leg french knot trees. Worked the milk jugs next and REALLY HATED them. I mean, seriously close to ripping them out. As I am typing this you can see EXACTLY what I'm talking about with the difference of how something looks upside down....the jugs above are the same ones as shown in the picture below~ I think the ones below that are upside down are much nicer than the ones above....anyways, I decided to leave them and see how they looked after the cow was finished.

Everything is so tiny on this piece, as I was stitching Cow, I had to stitch the milkmaid's head and hat. They are seriously small and the lines were seriously hard for me to see. Am I overusing the word seriously? This should give you an idea of how stressful this panel was for me~ it wasn't much fun. The girl's face is literally half the size of the fishing panel's face, I think 4 mm from top to bottom, and not even that wide. R*E*D*I*C*U*L*O*U*S*L*Y* small. 

Enter stitching tip here: Don't draw things so small you can't stitch them with modern materials available today.

Cow complete, it's on to the costume. 

I wanted to make the costume bright so the girl would stand out against the fields...but not so bright she looked stupid...A farm girl does not dress in her best dress to go out and milk a cow! The addition of an apron and headscarf helped to keep her simple.

Rows of French knots for the foreground in blue-greens set them apart from all the greens in the background. A few strategically placed tiny silk gimps finished off the scene.

 I am actually really pleased with this panel which is odd because I think out of all of them thus far, this one had the most things I was not happy with in it. I ripped a LOT out, but I also left a lot in. One thing is so true with 17th c stitching it can be very easy to become hyper-focused on a single aspect of it~ be it a stitch or a colour etc....but there's so much going on, that once everything is in place, all the glaring things just kind of blend and disappear. 

Sometimes they add just the amount of quirkiness that is needed to make it perfectly 17th c

Whatever your stitching, I hope it brings you joy

Casket Side Panels Finished!

 No Glamorous Spaces Here

I often get asked what my stitching space looks like. I am usually a pretty organized person, I'm a Virgo so I do like everything to be in its place. When I am 'creating' though, things tend to get pretty hectic. We are always bombarded with pictures of Women's creative spaces looking so clean and glamorous...I personally don't know a single person whose space looks like those in the magazines. In case yours doesn't either and it bothers you, don't let it! This is a picture of my stitching counter, you can just see the corner of my slate frame in the bottom left there.  

See, I usually set aside January for doing my business tax papers....but doing so takes up my entire counter. I used the excuse that I would work on my stitching in January, and start my tax papers on 1 Feb. Well.....I was so close to finishing this current slate frame worth of casket panels, that I convinced myself that it would be a total waste of time to clean off my counter for tax papers, and then have to set everything else back out again. I mean. LOOK at it. I got EVERYTHING I need, right where I need it. It looks like a huge mess to the untrained eye, but it's what I call my 'working mess'. I stand to stitch, and everything I need is right where I can grab it.  You don't even want to see my doll room when I'm working on a doll. Just, no.

Anyways, I am also a numbers person and keep track of everything. I know how much time is WASTED getting stitching things out, and then packing them up again. Just think how much stitching you could get done in the time it takes you to set up and break down your stitching area every time. So this is my tip of the day for getting some serious gains on stitching progress~

Make yourself a dedicated stitching area. It doesn't have to be an entire room. Or an entire counter. A side table, the top of a dresser....just someplace you can have your stitching at the READY and not have to haul everything to and fro all the time. Portable rolling carts are great~ keep all your stuff for your current project in there, and then when you want to stitch all you have to do is roll it aside you. You may be surprised how much progress can be made with just 20 or so minutes of stitching a day!

Speaking of progress, yes! I have progress to share on my Scenes of Country Life or Rural Pursuits casket~ WOO!

I actually 'finished' them twice LOL. Above is a picture of the first time, with the original configuration of the silk-wrapped purl flourishes. Up close they looked good, but from across the room, they looked like a sideways crab or spider clutching onto the cartouche! It kept me up at night, literally. HUGE design flaw for me. I wanted the ovals to be within the center of a block of stitching....not hovering between two crabs in a rectangular negative space. So while I was sleeping I thought of all sorts of things I could do to remedy the situation. Just leaving it was not an option for me. What I decided to do was to make the one-sided flourishes into leaves. I drew them in with a pencil first, as can be seen in the bottom half. Then couched yellow silk over the lines to match the rest, as seen in the top portion. I just needed to get the rectangular angles out of this white/negative space of the ground.

A few silk-wrapped purls later, and bam! YES! Finished for the second (and LAST) time!  I am very happy with them now. 

I have now cleaned off my counter and started my tax papers like a good girl. This slate frame is ready to get cut up and glued to the casket, but I am saving that for when I get back from a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Cant wait to see them on the casket!

Did you stitch some today???! DO IT!!!!!

Casket Progress

 Hunting & Ploughing Side Friezes Complete!

I guess its been a while since I made a blog post, I apologize! It is so easy for me just to stick a picture on the Instagram, I forget I have not blogged in a while. I have been baby stepping along on my Scenes of Country Life, or Rural Pursuits casket, and just completed both side friezes today. 

These first few pictures are close views of the plough side. Love my rooster! This casket has been a challenge in so many ways. I have said a million times I hate satin stitch, loathe even more Soie Ovale or flat filament silk....but blast it I really love how they look and wanted to make a flat work casket. I picked the smallest I had thinking it would be a good thing...less area to stitch on. WRONG. Oh my golly was I so wrong.

 I want to stay true to 17th c design and colour, but also the actual stitching techniques used then. I cannot even guestimate the amount of hours I have spent studying period stitching and caskets. I have literally traveled the globe to lay my own retinas on microscopic stitches from so long ago. And they really are microscopic. If you have only ever seen 17th c period stitching from books or a computer screen, you will be amazed at how tiny the motifs and figures are in person.  For example, the photo above. Ok you know its for a frieze...but how tall do you think the hillock under the thistle is? 

Less than 1/16 of an inch!

Stitching on this scale one must think outside the box and scale down ready available materials, as everything other than tram weight silk is just too huge to use.  If there is interest I will make a blog post on the different gimps available and how they compare to each other. For every period embroidery that uses gimp to outline satin stitched motifs, there is equally one that does not. Outlining with gimp can hide a ragged or unsightly edge, and it does look very nice, but I want to highlight another 17th c stitching practice that I have labored very hard over to achieve

Not outlining or split stitching the pattern line before satin stitching over it. Today, stitchers will usually do so in a matching/ coordinating thread to help hide gaps between each stitch, giving a nice solid edge to the motif. I actually prefer to not stitch any kind of outlining under my satin stitch. Not only does it add greatly to overall stitching time, if you are a sloppy stitcher, you can also distort the motif. You become a slave to the underlying stitching. One does have to be very careful and place each and every stitch right along side each other, but after a few hundred stitches, one doesn't even think about it. I stitched the iris above with a single ply of Soie Ovale ( there are 6 plies to a strand)...Id say there are well over 50 stitches width wise to the inch. Basically, I would move over a single thread on my satin ground with each stitch. 

We are on the hunting side now, with the iris, hound, pansy, hare and strawberries

I saw gold hillocks on a casket and really loved them. Including grass blades within them helps break up a huge block of otherwise boring stitching. Its such a small space, I want to get in as many details as I can, without overcramming everything.

The pansy was sooooooooooooooo difficult. It just cant even put it into words. I spent an entire day trying to get this flower to look like how I wanted it to. First I stitched a petal with two plies instead of one, and was not understanding why it was looking so clunky. I thought it was the colour. I was starting on the second petal when I realized my blind melon was using two plies. An hour later I had the petals ripped out and was starting again. Now I had the right scale and was happy with the stitches, but not the colour. Did NOT look right, so out it came again. I wanted them to look like the little violas that sprout along the walkway in the backyard at home, so I persisted. Finally my white center stitches were not showing up how I wanted them to...two plies and they were invisible. Four plies, still invisible. Finally, I decided to use some weensie freshwater pearls. Success!

I had to include strawberries on my hunting side because we always find wild strawberries when we are out hunting. I think I have actually picked some wild strawberries that are larger than the ones on my frieze...

For scale, they are smaller than my pinky fingernail! Like I said, this casket is a challenge, but that's what makes it so much fun to stitch. I literally go to bed thinking about what stitching I will be trying out the next day....what colours, what techniques. If I don't get time to work on it, I actually get a bit cranky(or worse). I really do love stitching & hope you are having fun with your stitching too, whatever it may be!

Spring Flowers in a blizzard

 Progress on my Scenes of Country Life, or Rural Pursuits Casket

If a person was to have a look at my ort box, they would think there was massive progress on this tiny little casket... but not really! Everything is just so tiny...I really have to make grand efforts to scale down my threads in order for things to still look delicate like I want, and not huge and clunky

 It is somewhat disappointing how long it takes to stitch such a little thing. Maybe I'm just a super slow stitcher? I am working the flowers around the scenes now. Most are long and short stitch with either just one or two plies of Soie Ovale...or a micro fraction of a strand of Soie Perlee.  One must get inventive with the tools available...see Soie Perlee is made from flat filament silk like Ovale...it is a twist of three 'plies'...but if you look further once you get those apart, you will note that each of those three plies, is each made up of three plies...it can be maddening really.

 Here is a peek at what I have named the Devil's Tulip. I had to work four of them on the two panels I'm stitching now, and have another three I am very much not looking forward to doing on the front panel when I get that far... I have several sizes of gimp on my table to pick from, but sadly the smallest size that would have been perfect was not made in the colours I wanted to use...so I had to use a larger size, much too big for the scale of the flower but I used it anyways. There was a million starts and stops, they are really just an absolute nightmare to stitch.

After the Devil's work, I had to redeem my spirit with a couple of regular pretty little happy pink tulips

Last night I worked this little iris. I like it. It's tiny, fits under my thumb, and no, I don't think I have very large thumbs. I am saving all the foliage for last. I have one more iris to work today, I can't decide if it should be peaches or purples...I keep going back and forth. I have the corresponding friezes drawn on above each panel, so I am able to make sure the colours below will complement the colours that will sit above it. It's currently blizzarding in southern Colorado, for us, really the first measurable impactful snow other than a dusting, of this whole fall/winter season. I don't really care for snow anymore, it gives me great anxiety, so its the perfect day to concentrate on spring flowers and NOT look out the window

Happy Stitching!

Special Blog Sale

Hand Painted Needlework Tools

I haven't had a blog sale in a while, and wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog, so I decided to offer these here first. I really do love to work wood and paint. These are hand painted in a very long, early 19th c process with watercolours.

There is only one of each,  I am not taking orders. If you are interested in purchasing, drop me a line at rlkinnison@yahoo.com~ Shipping is priority mail, and I will invoice you directly thru Paypal. I will mark an item as SOLD AFTER PAYMENT HAS BEEN RECEIVED. If I get multiple folks interested in an item, it will be first come, first served. Payment is due within 24 hours of invoice. If not received the item will be offered to the next person in line. 

14 spool Spool Palette~ hand made of poplar, painted in fall colour acorns and oak leaves

The spools of silk are NOT included

Signed and dated on the side, as seen above. 

Fall Spool Palette: SOLD

This is a large size thread winder, a little over 2.5" across. Hand made from quarter sawn sycamore

The back is painted with a single cute little acorn, and my signature/date.

Large Acorn Thread Winder: SOLD

I made three needle minders. If you are not familiar with what a needle minder is, it holds your needles and pins while you stitch. The front is placed on top of your stitching. A second magnet is placed behind your stitching, and that is what keeps it in place on your work. A view of the back can be seen below. Pictured from left to right are Octagon Squirrel, Small Round Acorns, and Octagon Acorns. These are made from really beautiful quarter sawn sycamore.

Octagon Squirrel Needle Minder: SOLD

Small Round Acorns Needle Minder: SOLD

Octagon Acorns Needle Minder: SOLD

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!

17th Century Beadwork AKA "Beugle Works"

 Applying Learned Techniques to Different Projects

Over the next few days, I will be shooting a number of videos of different things I have made using the techniques I teach in my 17th c beadwork class, Beneath Thy Poft Oak.  So many marvelous things can be made using the core techniques from class~ change the beads... the pattern...change the colours and BAM! you can make some new something of awesomeness!!!  Today I will share a peek at my Padded Mirror Case. While I no longer offer this class specifically, I do still sell the pattern and figures for it. The surface work, three-dimensional berries and leaves, and clothing/figural work are all covered in the Beneath Thy Poft Oak class. I think the only thing not covered in this piece, is the making of Kings Crown, and the covered watte acorns. All of the beads on this piece are antique, which adds to its perceived complexity. As well, note that all of the beads are NOT the same. There are big ones, little ones, and metal ones....there are cut charlottes, and large bone beads (the berries above the Queen). There are opaque, transparent, satin, and greasy glass beads. For a proper 17th Century impression in your beadwork, aside from the colour palette, the more variation in materials you can glom on, the better!

Floss Tube Finer Finishing Tips 15

 Things to Think about when Looking for Trims for a Box or Casket

Happy Friday! I hope you are having a great stitching week...or perhaps getting ready for a great stitching weekend. I will be at a craft show with Pip all day tomorrow, so my usual Saturday video is a day early this week. The only thing left to share of the making of my little Dome Top Casket is how I apply the trim, but before I get to that, I first wanted to have just a little chat about the trim itself, and what you should take into consideration when searching out the perfect trim for your own project. 

Check back next Friday to see how I apply the trim to the box, and then on Christmas Day I'll post a video of the finished casket. I cannot convey enough how much fun this little project was and that I hope it has inspired you to continue on your own project, or maybe even start up a new one!

I do believe this is the first peek you will get to see at the completed Gum Worke~ if you like it and want to learn how to do it for yourself, I will be having a class starting in January~ just drop me a line to rlkinnison@yahoo.com to get on the mailing list. 

Hand Sculpted Bespoke Figures for Stumpwork

 Precious Ones...Sooooo Tiny

I sculpt figures for stumpwork embroidery from papier mache to whatever pattern I am given. I don't use any kind of molds, ever. The faces are usually about the size of my thumbnail, like the ones above. Even without paint, they are characters! My latest ones though, I just had to share~

I was asked to make a set of seven figures that are... oh my golly... soooooo tiny! I have never sculpted this small before and it was a serious challenge to get features this minute to be visible from a distance.

Each is boxed individually to help protect them until they are ready to be attached to the embroidery. I sculpt each set directly over their full size pattern to ensure they are a perfect fit.

Such tiny delicate little hands and fingers~ they were seriously hard to hold onto to even sculpt. I now with 100% certainty realize the limit to what I can and cannot sculpt. I know I couldn't go any smaller than these ladies!

Large or small, if you would like me to make you a set of figures for your embroidery, just drop me an email to rlkinnison@yahoo.com.