Fan on Black....

by Jinice is finished. Last post I completely forgot about the braid and tassels located on the bottom of the fan. Jinice devised an effective way to make 6 strands of floss and one strand of gold metallic to look like braid. Quite clever; luckily I had red cord and wrapped gold Krenik braid around it and couched it all down. The tassels are made out of the left over red floss with bead embellishment. The application of the braid and creation of the tassels actually took me several hours; it is relatively delicate work and my fingers are clumsy at best. But I am pleased with the effort.

I frogged the entire plaid type area on the right side and took more care with laying the threads and placing the stitches. I am so much happier with the outcome and have no regrets about the redo.

The gorgeous turquoise border around the whole piece was stitched in Silk & Ivory and I actually think S & I was a better choice than the suggested Medici (S & I was not on the market at the time this design was created). It worked up like a dream and was stitched over 18! I eyeballed it in the picture and thought it was about over 10, but as it turned out it was stitched over nearly twice that. I really like it and the texture and semi-sheen really add to the piece.  The Fan will be framed and I am thinking either silver leaf, gold leaf or black high gloss enamel. I haven't been to the framers so there's really no telling what I will ultimately choose.

Thanks for following along on this one. I hope I can find more Jinice designs that are still out there; I don't think I've stitched anything that flowed quite as smoothly as the Fan. There was just the right variety of thread and stitches to keep interest peaked.

Now back to the Red Kerchief.

Japanese Fan cont.

Once completing the small frame of stitching (one row of #16 Kreinik braid tent on either side of 1 row of Watercolor slanted over two) around the fan it was time to begin the lattice background.  Jinice's instructions were very good allowing for easy and methodical counting. The lattice work is done in #8 Kreinik braid in black HL (high luster) which connects well with the sheen of the bugle beads. In the photograph the beads appear to be black but they are actually black iris which is more or less an iridescent black.

The beads are sewn on with medium blue floss, two strands, and while unlike any other area of this canvas the blue thread runs across the back of the canvas barely showing through the unstitched background. This technique has toned down the stark black background, softening the relation between the brightness of the fan and the depth of the black canvas. I used Mill Hill bugles for this and ran short by about 1/2 package. (No I didn't drop them on the floor as suggested by DH.)

The final piecepart of this design is to stitch the outside frame using long (over 10) straight stitches in stranded wool, mitering the corners. Medici was prescribed, however despite recently reading that Medici is once again available, my LNS suggested using Silk & Ivory in a peacock blue. If this doesn't work out, I will go with a similar shade of Burmilana.

Once I finish all couching left undone to provide for the beading, I will "clean up" the stitched areas and then off to the framers. Yippee!

Thank you for taking your good stitching time to visit today!