I was very nervous about entering because of a past bad experience in a competition, but I bit the proverbial bullet and threw my hat into the ring. Here are pictures i took and I will copy and paste my documentation in for further reading.
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| This is my entry set up at St Eligius. |
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| Cell phone shot while working on it. |
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| another cell shot at 1am the day before of the stopping point. |
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| A photo of me at my spot someone took of me. |
Documentation papers from St Eligius:
St
Eligius 12 Question Contest Documentation
What did
you make or do?
I
am currently working on an Italian embroidered hand towel inspired by
an extant piece in the Victoria and Albert museum.
What is
the connection between your entry and a medieval item or practice?
I
am creating an Italian persona for myself and want to have feast
linens for myself.
How would
your entry have been made/done in period?
The
detail work on the towel/napkin that inspired me was actually a
separate piece that was woven and then stitched onto the linen towel,
then the hem was created and trimmed with red stitching. However
there are other extant pieces that show the linen being directly
embroidered on.
How was
yours made/done?
I
am embroidering directly onto white linen with a counted stitch
pattern using Splendor Twisted Silk 12 strand embroidery thread, two
strands, color number 0822.
What are
some similarities and differences in materials, process, tools,
approach?
The
silk that would have been used on the piece at the museum would have
been stranded silk. I am using twisted silk thread for durability,
also it was what I had in my stash already.
What
inspired you?
Two
pieces from history inspired me. The pattern came from a “cover”
that is at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I found a pattern
already charted very similar to this one in the New Carolingian
Modelbook and am using that. The other piece that inspired me is the
towel also at the V&A with a woven band of embellishment.
What was
your favorite part of preparing your entry?
I
love to embroider. I have always been a lover of counted work (except
when I miscount and have to pick out stitches). Blackwork is one of
my favorite embroidery styles to execute as well. So with creating an
Italian persona having a feast gear linen set made for my persona was
an appealing idea.
What
would you do differently next time?
I
would invest in stranded silk to execute the embroidery to make it
more accurate to the original pieces.
What
references or sources would you recommend to someone interested in
your work?
The
V&A has a large collection of embroideries and this is where I
found wonderful images of redwork.
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/2295/cover
(cover with the embroidery pattern)
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O119345/napkin-unknown/
(images of the towel)
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Image of
woman with embroidered towel on shoulder.
Towel/Napkin
from V&A Museum, 1500 Italy
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How did
you find your sources of information?
I
found images, paintings and inspirations mainly through internet
research as well as a few books in my collection.
- Assisi Embroidery by Jos Hendriks ISBN 9082190028
- New Carolingian Model Book by Kim Brody Salazar ISBN 0964208229
Did you
find a connection to a medieval artisan or owner while working on
your entry?
I
have always loved embroidering. My mother taught me when I was a
small child and have progressed through the years from cross stitch
to free embroidery and after I found the SCA 26 years ago, now
researching techniques done through out history and doing my best to
recreate them as accurately as possible. Recreating the embroidery
from pieces in history gives me an idea of what it was like all those
years ago. Modern day conveniences such as electric lights, machined
metal needles and threads and magnifying glasses give me an advantage
that they did not have then. I have, for the sake of curiosity, tried
embroidering by candle light with a large glass vase filled with
water to act as a magnifier but it proved quite difficult with my
already aged vision. I imagine embroidering that way caused eye
sight to deteriorate more quickly over the years.
Any last
thoughts or amusing stories about your work?
A
fellow friend who also embroiders once told me “Embroidery always
takes twice as long as you think it will”. As always, she is
right. Even though I allotted what I thought was a generous amount of
time to finish this project prior to the event, I did not allot
enough. The tight linen I chose, even with reading glasses, was
sometimes difficult to count and mistakes were made that required
stitches to be removed thus delaying completion.
Internet
Research Web Site Links:
Image
References:
Close up
of Towel/Napkin at V&A Museum, 1500 Italy
“Cover”
Showing cross stitch pattern Inspiration
While I most likely will not enter another competition, I did learn quite a bit while sitting for this one. I wanted to thank everyone that stopped by and gave suggestions or compliments at my work.
