I only just got Lindisfarne Stones finished in time, and it’s now been handed over for the exhibition in Durham Cathedral, but I took a few photos of it before it went. Next to the gold, the pale carved stone looks almost luminous: And the gold stitching sparkles in the light: I’m very much looking…
With all the stitched sections finished, it’s time to put it all together. I cut pieces of mount board, to form the ‘box’: The top of the box needs to have a hole cut in it to frame the carved stone; to do this, I first traced the shape and stuck it to one of…
As promised, here are some better photos of the shell piece, Nautilus I. Showing the navy silk interior: And from the side: Today is a big day – later on, St Cuthbert’s Banner will be dedicated at Durham Cathedral. I’ll let you know how it goes!
With all nine sections of the shell ready, it was time to stitch them together to make the final piece. If I’d got my maths right, the thin end of one section should fit into the wide end of the section before it. Starting with the smallest ones first, I used a curved needle to…
So far, the sections that will comprise the shell are flat, and don’t look shell-like at all. Each one needs to be curved round, into a 3D shape. As a reminder, here’s a single, flat, section: As it was stiffened with a heavy Vilene it will curve quite nicely without bending. I formed it into…
The shell sections are actually quite stiff, as they’re two layers of fabric, a layer of felt, heavy machine stitching and a lot of beads, but still not stiff enough – they need to be mounted on something. The finished sections need to curve, so card is no use as it’ll just bend, so hunting…
In between scrubbing the kitchen after the builders, I’ve been stitching a few beads on here and there, and have now added the beads to all the sections of the shell form. There were a lot more than you’d think – a lot more than I thought, at least! Here’s the final section, with all…
I’m making rather slow progress on my new project, mostly because I’m not putting anything like as much work into it as I did the Banner. It’s rather nice having a few evenings off! I am making some progress though, as you’ll see. In my attempt to do something as unlike the Banner as possible,…
Now I’d proved to my own staisfaction that this ‘shell’ idea should work, I cut out the same shapes in felt (though missing out the biggest one this time): For each one, I sandwiched it between a layer of cotton lawn, which will form the back and won’t be seen, and a light blue silk…
(Just a quick reminder – there are still a few days left to run on the competition, so if you haven’t already done so, get your answer in now to win a St Cuthbet’s Banner flower!) As I got close to finishing the Banner, several people asked me the same question: what would I be…