DING!!!

So, for the past few weeks I have been working on a peerage cloak for a friend of mine who was given her writ at Birka in January. Last night at East Kingdom 50 Year, she was elevated to the Order of the Laurel and I can safely post the finished pictures of the finished cloak now.  I am so very pleased with how it came out. Sadly, the heat from the day forced me to leave early and I was unable to present the cloak myself and see her face when she saw it.  I found this picture of her wearing it online this morning.

Materials:

• Cloak is constructed of navy blue wool and golden linen
• All embroidery was done by hand in split stitch, blanket stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch with Splendor Silk embroidery threads on linen and then hand appliqued onto the cloak. 
• There is tablet woven trim that was made by a friend of hers in her shire. 
• 90% of the cloak was hand sewn except for the joining seam of lining to outer wool fabric. 
• She chose the design and style to span her two persona's. 

Mistress Christina Jenevra de Carvalhal

Order of the Silver Crescent

Order of the Maunche

Her device

East Kingdom Tiger

Full shot of embroidered laurel wreath trim down front of cloak. 48" long

Elevation Book Completed

So, after a trip to pick up end papers, I sat down last night and completed the construction of the elevation book.  For the most part I am very pleased with how it turned out.  I took extensive photos of its construction, a pictorial documentation. 

Pages being stitched together using linen thread.

Adding ribbons for binding and strength

How ribbons will lay once glued in place

Gluing the ribbons in place. I always smear the glue to spread it.

Boards Glued to the linen lining (helps protect the glue from showing on the silk)

Fold the corners in and stitch closed

Shows corner stitching completed

Book cover assembly done

Gluing in the stitched book pages. The book glue in the picture is what I used.

Showing the pages within the book

End paper chosen for the book

End papers cut to size and glued in

Finished book, front cover

Spine

Back cover

I put the book in the book press very lightly overnight to allow it to dry in the proper positioning. When I took it out this morning I was so very pleased with it.  Today I will be mailing it off to the recipient for their elevation on the 12th.  Sadly, I will be unable to attend this joyous occasion due to real life. Real life sucks sometimes, ya know?

Well, onto the next project!

Making the Elevation book

Last night I spent a couple hours cutting book board and parchment paper pages for the Laurel Elevation book. Tonight I will stitch the pages together and then assemble the book. I have to make a quick run to the craft store for some end papers (and I was really hoping to avoid going to a retail store during the month of December, oh well).

Here are a few pictures I took:

All the supplies laid out

Cutting the book board

Pages cut and folded and setting in the press for flattening

Press set. Will remove and stitch pages this evening

Things of note:
1. This book board was easier to cut with a hearty pair of scissors than the exacto blade method. I did cut it with the box cutter, but had to trim it more due to rough edges. I grabbed a pair of scissors and found they performed much better.  Pictures of the cover cut out later when i get to book assembly.

2. I am wishing i had a paper cutter for cutting the pages. Would have sped up the process of cutting the parchment.

3. I am grateful for my friend MJ who gave me the book press on long term loan as it is an immense help. Its actually a flower press but works great for this purpose as well.

Tonight...page stitching, book assembly...and, of course, more photographs!

Cheers!

Yep, Another Book.

So, after a marathon 12 hour run of awesome movies snuggled up with my guy on the sofa, I finished all the embroidery on another book cover.  This cover is a commission book for a friend being elevated to the Order of the Laurel in Aethelmearc.   I am very happy with the cover as I think it is my best work yet.

My inspiration for this cover came from the Queen Katherine Parr's copy of Vellutello's of Petrarch's works, which is housed in the British Library (1544).  Though the recipient of this book has a much earlier persona, the aspects of this cover fit more appropriately for the books intended use, which is his vigil book.  Below is the original image of Katherine Parr's copy.

The materials I used for this project are as follows:

Red Silk Dupioni
Splendor silk thread
Japan gold blending filament

 I incorporated his device into the front cover in place of Queen Katherine's arms. On the back cover, I put the es carbuncle of Aethelmearc and a flying bee as another knod to the recipient.  The recipient asked that the phrase "Follow Your Bliss" be on the cover so I added it in the ribbon.  When embroidering the coronet (as he is a Court Baron), I added gold blending filament to the silk thread to add a little shine. I am very pleased with how it came out.

Getting ready to draw out the design

A close up of the pieces for tracing

Tracing the images onto the embroidery transfer medium

All traced

Adding the Sulky to the fabric and framing it up for embroidery

Image with the silks I used

Completed Embroidery

I had a lot of fun doing this project and I am so very thrilled with how it turned out.  I am making the book for it now. I will be using the same binding technique that I used in creating the book for the last embroidered book I created. (pic images here of the book construction I used then and will use now). Book construction images

I will be using a commercial brand of parchment paper for this book as it look more historical than the white linen paper I have used in the past. I found it when making the last book I created and it looks fabulous and fits this bookmakers tight budget. :D

Images with commercial parchment paper

When the book is all together I will upload more pictures and post.