Mastered.com: Lotus is Finished!

I finished the lotus for my Mastered.com Goldwork class with Hand & Lock!  As you may notice, the two center areas of cutwork are slightly different.  I did the first adding in the purple smooth purl somewhat sparingly and I thought it would be interesting to see what it looked like with more purple.  Originally, I was going to experiment with it and rip the side I did not like out as much and redo that side.  Then I remembered I could do the same thing with Photoshop without ripping out the experimental side.  Also, I kind of like the different sides for the sample to have as a reference.  

Now, the one thing I am really not liking is the far right side of cutwork.  I think I must have either:  1) cut a couple of the purls slightly too long and therefore created slightly bubbles or 2) angled the purls in slightly too much creating a less smooth appearance.  I'm on the fence about redoing this as it is not a "final" piece more of a sample anyway, and it is not exactly to tragic status.  Honestly, I think I want to move on to get to some ideas I have from my trip.  I still have a final piece to turn in for my course too. 

Mastered: Cutwork

In my fury of trying to find my pearl purl from Williamsburg, I found some purple smooth purl I had bought a number of years ago (I think on my first trip to Durham!).  I thought it would be fun to experiment with adding it into the mix on the center cutwork areas of the lotus.  I had already planned to add in some bright check to add a bit of interest and play with the reflections.  The outside ones I decided to keep just solid gilt smooth purl.  I also thought it would be another good symmetry exercise for me.  Now, not only do I need to get the angles the same side to side but also the placement of the bright check and purple smooth purl pieces.  Ah, this should be fun!  I have a distinct feeling some 'reverse stitching" may be in my very near future!  I love a good challenge though! 

Mastered.com: Chipping Away

For the sections with the couched passing, I decided to edge it with over-stretched pearl purl with thread colors matching the shading bands instead of regular pearl purl outline.  I wanted to see if this would draw the purple of the couching out more.  I kept the center lotus section and the stem portion outlined in regular (non-stretched) pearl purl to stand out a bit.    

The center section of the lotus was supposed to be chipping.  I thought that it would be interesting to add french knots in the purples to experiment with shading the chipping section, especially as it is a fairly large section of chipping.  On to the cutwork!

Mastered.com: Goldwork Course with Hand & Lock

Always eager to learn more about embroidery, I was excited when I found Mastered.com and saw that there was a Goldwork Embroidery course taught by Hand & Lock.  I thought it would be a good challenge and experience for me over the summer.  I had signed-up for it back in the Spring, but with school and travel (and a little human running around), I just got to start it this past weekend. 

We were given the lotus design, which is proving to be a good challenge for me in that it is symmetrical and keeping designs symmetrical is a whole lot harder than people think or give credit.  With my interest in color interactions with metal threads, I also thought this would be a great opportunity to experiment with the colors I chose to use.  I wanted to use just gold when it came to the metals, so I decided to use purple fabric.  It is a double-faced silk satin that I had dyed back in grad school (it's not a really even dye job) that I have backed with plain weave cotton.  I have also chosen to use a light, medium, and dark purple thread along with my 488 gold Gutermann.  I have discovered that a dark aubergine purple in DMC cotton floss is not sold in any store around me, so the bottom dark purple is actually a Gutermann sewing thread too. 

You can see my pencil marks for where I plan to change the shading.  I thought I would keep it simpler with just banded shading but following the shape of the tip.