Just Because I Had It

 As part of the Blackwork course I am doing, we are being encouraged to play with textile multi-media. I started painting on some linen and using Shiva Oil Sticks but more on that later - if it works at all. I had heard that someone has done some blackwork onto felting. Hmm, how is that done? Turns out you make the felt then place some linen over it and do the blackwork through it all. Then you pull out the linen. Not having any felt to hand, and not feeling like making any, I looked around. 

Lo and behold, I had some silk paper, with Angelina Fibre in it, lying around. Why not try?? 

So I found a small piece of linen - didn't want to do a big piece in case it was a disaster. 

It is the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria's 60th anniversary this year and the theme was, surprise, surprise, Diamonds. I found some images online and thought I would try them on graph paper. The designs didn't work well in that format, the angles were not right. 

Feeling a bit impatient, I then decided to just draw the diamond shape onto the fabric using a water soluble pen. The pen has a relatively thick nib (thick for blackwork, anyway). So I had to guess where some of the spaces ended. I also didn't do it all that carefully, so the shape isn't exactly symmetrical. 

I then placed the linen over the silk paper and started sewing. As I did a small design, the spaces were small, I had to choose small patterns. I varied the thickness of the threads to give a bit of difference. I also left some spaces empty - not only to hasten things but for aesthetic reasons too. But it did hasten things. 

When I pulled out the linen, some of the sewing caught in it because I had gone through it when sewing. Most of the sewing was ok but a few stitches did pull. Pulling out the threads also distorted some of the sewing so it doesn't look particularly like blackwork. Ah well, it was just an experiment. I am not unhappy with it, I just don't know what I would do with this sort of thing. This piece is going into my folder. 

Maybe I should call it a rough diamond.