Lately I'd been losing my interest in Hiogi. I still very much want to learn Japanese embroidery, but I'm not as in love with the piece itself. I'm happy to say my interest is back. Small wins are great motivators.
For this month's session, I shifted my attention to the cords. Here's what they looked like the last time I touched them.
I concentrated on the top cord in dark purple as it needed to be done to work on the cord behind it, and decided to continue onto the tassel.
(click on the post to see the animation below)
I forgot how much I enjoyed stitching the cord in class. The tassel took a bit more thinking as the light and dark purple are blended together. It's not completed yet. I still have to put in some short stitches over the blended area to hide where the two colors share a hole, there are also Japanese knots and some vertical lines to add to define the shape of the head and body of the tassel. It will take another session or two.
Enthusiasm is running high, I'm hoping to work on the blended area on Friday (Hurrah for half days!), and maybe do the other steps on the weekend. We'll see! Once that's done I think I will shift to the handle of the fan as it's on top of the cords. It's made up of couched gold, so I will probably work on it more often than usual. I don't have a goldwork piece in my rotation and kind of miss it.
You're right about small wins. And it's always harder to keep working on a piece if you aren't completely in love with it. Better times ahead!
ReplyDeleteI love it! It’s coming along beautifully! I’m so happy to see your progress on this piece. It really inspires me.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's good to take a little break and come back later.
ReplyDeleteThe purples in the cord are gorgeous, there's so much texture in there, I can see why you enjoy it so much.
It's so good to see you back on this again! Can't wait to see the tassel done.
ReplyDelete