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This project has been in the 'unfinished project' box for more than 10 years. At that time, I had been asked by a client to prepare a simplified drawing of one of Helen Stevens' beautiful embroidery pieces. My client had already done a fair amount of needlepainting with DMC cotton floss but was now ready to experiment with fine flat silks. I had the full selection of Pipers Silk floss from Chinnery's, U.K., the preferred silk of Helen Stevens, so it was fairly easy to put the project together with similar colours as those shown in the colour plate of her beautiful book: The Timeless Art of Embroidery.
As I often did, I prepared a similar project for myself and while my client worked, I also embroidered in an attempt to anticipate and resolve some of the technical challenges she would likely face.
And then time got away from us both. I don't know if she ever finished her project. I was determined to not let the work that I had already accomplished go to waste. So I picked up from where I had left off, with just the white rose and a leaf stitched, and during the rainy days of mid-July, I set to finish.
I was reminded of the stunning precision the Pipers' silk gives in terms of colour and line. There is no margin of error with this thread, and I had to get into gear and stay with the work for a long time so as not to lose the rhythm of my needle and thread.
I have already picked out a bird study from another of Helen Stevens' books. I am anxious to begin.
I had set myself a target of Christmas to finish both the Phoenix and this piece. I had started this one so many months ago, set it aside, came back to it, set it aside again and then finally completed it last week.
There was so much detail and I had chosen to work with Piper's 90 denier silk floss, a thread so fine that to cover a square inch takes at least 50 or 60 movements of the needle. Most of my work takes an inordinate amount of patience, but this project called on everything I had. Now that I look on the overall effect, I am happy I persisted.
With this now off my work table, I can start another design that has been calling for my attention. I had drawn it at the same time as the Phoenix, another design from the 2005 catalogue from the Japanese Embroidery Centre in Dunwoody, Georgia (www.japaneseembroidery.com).
I plan to work on white linen this time, once again with Piper's silks, but in apricot hues and bronze golds. This piece is entitled 'In Full Bloom'. It will be an exercise in precision since the dimensions are small and the interpretation intricate.
