Time to assemble the slip case itself. This is a sort of box that the book can slide in and out of, and so needs to fit the book quite snugly. After some careful measuring, I cut mount board to fit: These pieces will form the front and back, top and bottom, and the spine….
Here’s where we left things last time, supposedly with everything finished: It’s not right, though: compared to the palm tree, Mowgli just disappears. I just worked the figure in outline as it was too small and fiddly for goldwork, but it needs more than that. So, to make it stand out more, I’ve filled in…
I thought this was going to be fiddly, and it was! The branches themselves were straightforward enough, using lengths of pearl purl: The leaves were a little trickier. These are in wire check purl, which is smoother than the bright check purl of the trunk, but not as smooth as the pearl purl of the…
Onto the palm tree. Using short lengths of bright check wire (the same as for Mowgli’s hair), I added the trunk of the tree as a series of short sections: The zig-zag finish of the wire gives a nice rough effect to it which I like. I’ve also stitched through the design for the rest…
As it’s a bit complicated, I’ll be doing the central section a bit at a time, starting with the little figure of Mowgli, seated at the base of the tree. Here he is outlined in running stitches, ready to be stitched over: The figure is quite small and quite a fiddly shape, so I’ve decided…
The Red Bat is back from the picture framer, and here it is: It has a very plain wide black frame, and isn’t glazed. It’s also intended to stand, not hang on a wall. I think it looks smart!
The top section of the building is in two stages, but I forgot to take a photo of the first one – the outer edge in gold only – so here it is with both that and the inner detail couched with the same blue as the base: To finish it off, I added some…
The turrets on the top of the building are in two stages (or three, really, but the last one won’t happen until all the goldwork is done). The base of the turrets are in the same red as before, and here they are: The domes are in a new colour, a strong green, Madeira stranded…
The sides are in gold, without the colour, so I’m couching the gold thread with regular sewing thread, Gutermann no. 488: The outside of the sides: and the inside: It’s starting to get a bit of shape to it now.
Time for some goldwork. For the building motif that forms a frame for the main design in the centre, I’m couching imitation Japanese gold thread no. 8, using bright colours for the couching thread. Starting at the bottom, I’m using a nice bright blue – Madeira stranded cotton no. 1102 – for the couching: Here’s…