About

Mary Corbet

writer and founder

 

I learned to embroider when I was a kid, when everyone was really into cross stitch (remember the '80s?). Eventually, I migrated to surface embroidery, teaching myself with whatever I could get my hands on...read more

Contact Mary

Connect with Mary

     

Archives

2024 (28) 2023 (125) 2022 (136) 2021 (130) 2020 (132) 2019 (147) 2018 (146) 2017 (169) 2016 (147) 2015 (246) 2014 (294) 2013 (294) 2012 (305) 2011 (306) 2010 (316) 2009 (367) 2008 (352) 2007 (225) 2006 (139)

Embroidery Project Update: Lamb Symbol

 

Amazon Books

Previously, I mentioned that I’m working on an embroidery project against a short deadline. I’m down to less than five weeks to go, and have managed not quite a quarter of the project. But I’ll give you an update, anyway, and hopefully, the next time I mention it, I’ll have made some better progress!

This is an embroidery project for church, so the design is a religious one, the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God symbol. When I mentioned this embroidery project previously, I had managed to get only some of the grass in. Although I’ve finished a bit more, I have to admit I’m not super satisfied with it! I’m hoping that as it develops, it grows on me.

This is a photo of the whole project so far. The colors in the sky – especially the darker blue – are not quite that bright of a blue. They have more of a periwinkle hue to them.

Here you can see the book up close with the Alpha and Omega symbols. The pages are stitched in long and short stitch, in a tan, cream, and white Soie d’Alger. The edges of the pages are worked in split stitch in two tones of red. I stitched down the middle of the spine and around the pages of the book in a darker stem stitch. The Alpha and Omega are worked in padded satin stitch.

Here’s a relative close up on the sky. The sky is much shinier than the rest, because it’s worked in a flat silk. I’m using Eterna Silk for this, though I’d rather be using Soie Ovale, which lacks the color range, as explained in this comparison of flat silks. The stitches here are satin stitches that encroach on each other, kind of like an exaggerated long and short stitch. I’m using a laying tool to get the silks to lie flat. Last night, I decided to take out the darker blue of the sky here, and try a different approach. I’m going to sketch in a barely curved gradation in the sky, from the very light blue only up to about a medium blue, so I’ll be keeping the color under the belly of the Lamb and extending it over to the edges. The sky just isn’t measuring up so far, so I have to do SOMETHING. I looks more like a river to me!

To see how the Italian Stitch would work out, I started couching a little bit of the gold under the belly of the Lamb. I’m using a size 4 2% gold passing, and couching it with gold-colored silk thread run through a cake of beeswax.

Here’s a closer close-up on the book, so you can catch the shading.

And finally, a close-up on the spine down the middle of the book.

So that’s my update so far! If you have any critiques or suggestions, I’m all ears!

 
 

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*


(1) Comments

  1. Mary, I don’t see anything wrong with the sky. When a painter does a painting he works the colors into each other gradually like you did. I think the whole thing is just too good for words, no flattery intended. I think it is so very beautiful and I am amazed at how realistic it looks. Keep going and do not get discouraged. Every one in Church will be looking at that and thinking how awsome it is.

    1
More Comments