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26
Aug
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project – Embroidery & Calligraphy
Some of you may ask what embroidery has to do with calligraphy – but sometimes you can also find letters, words and whole texts/stories on tapestries,… following a typical style of its time… 
…and I decided to embroider “We have Dragons” – and that’s a kind of calligraphy – just with thread and needle instead of ink and embroidered…
Sounds difficult? maybe, but it is rather easy if you dare to try it (and have enough letters to get a feeling of the style you want to copy
First I took a look at the letters which were available for me and I was very happy because the Tristan tapestry has many of them…
I could find all letters besides the “W” but I just followed the style for the “V” and doubled it for the “W” (after taking a look at the available “M” and “N” and finding a style similarity with the “V”).
I also took a look at the spacing between the letters and the spacing between the words and what connected or separated them – that’s how I found the lovely + crosses + …because this crosses don’t appear as regular separators (sometimes a small ring was used, sometimes just emtpy space) I decided to ‘just’ use them for the start and the end as a additional decoration
…and not to forget this small extra tiny bits at the base or top of some letters… this small bits really are the additional spice of your embroidered calligraphy
Then I wrote down the words – ca. the height which I wanted to achieve in the end – on 3 small stripes of paper/ one word on each stripe and arranged them underneath the embroidery to get a feeling which distance between the letters and at the beginning and end could work well…
As soon as I found a nice distance between the words I connected the stripes with a glue stripe
Finally I pinned the stripe with the words, just leaving some space for the embroidery, to the fabric and started to copy the words with a pencil on the fabric – still playing a little bit with the space – and started embroidering…
While embroidering I made the decision to alter the distance and shape of some of the words – maybe some of you can see the difference between the paper stripe, the drawing with the pencil and the final embroidery – but small differences between the outlines at the fabric and the final embroidery are period 
For example the “A” , “R” and the “S” – I tried to copy the angles and the small extras as exact as possible
…and now I am working to fill the background with yellow wool…
I think that’s the first time that I embroider the “outlines” before I start working at the background – normally I fill the background first and then start with the outlines…
22
Aug
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – some project ideas :)
…my mind started working at this project again – imagination is the key and a good collection of photos of medieval purses helps also a little 
I found a painted picture with a trapezoidal purse with “Fransen” (fringes) at the bottom – see the Manesse Liederhandschrift ‘Herr Dietmar von Ast’, the purse on the right – and therefore I am thinking about to add some colored fringes at the bottom like the one found at the bottom of the book pouch on display at the Schloss Gottorf and which technique I described here: …my opinion on the stitches to create this trim… Raca’s 5cents
btw. with the help of Master Giano, who found the book “Webereien und Stickereien des Mittelalters”
– I could support my guess of this technique (page 116 – “Z 30. Fransen.”)
You can find this kind of colored fringes also as a border decoration for big Klosterstich wallhangings (Teppich: Die Wurzel Jesse, Kloster Lüne, dated 1503, vollendet 1505), Klosterstich “Banklaken” (Banklaken des heiligen Bartholomäus, Kloster Lüne, dated 1492), even for woven “Banklaken” (Pelikan-Banklaken, Kloster Lüne, 1500), cross-stitch “Fürleger” (Kloster Lüne, about 1500) …take a look into the small booklet Bildstickereien des Mittelalters in Kloster Lüne. Die bibliophilen Taschenbücher
a very small but also a great book!
I also think about adding a yellow border of yellow wool or silk and to embroider “Drachenwald” – above the embroidery section – and “We have Dragons” underneath the embroidery section… and also to add some small pearl embroidery at the border because I found a photo of a pouch with lovley small pearl (maybe glass bead) embroidery looking like small blossoms…
soooooo many ideas… soon you will see which of this ideas I will realise
18
Aug
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project – 98 hours :)
wooohooo – embroidery progress of 98 hours!!!
…as you can see I decided to use white and other colors for the outlines instead the black outlines of the original tapestry (and I also changed the color of some sections) …
…and yesterday I also changed the shape of the embroidered section because I decided to do a “round-top trapezoidal aumônière” – yeah, I had to add a small piece of fabric at the left side to make it possible, but I fell in love with this idea and it took me about 14 hours to add the embroidery on the left…
The round-top trapezoidal aumônières I found till now aren’t worked in Klosterstich but many of the lovely Klosterstich wallhangings were destroyed because they just cut them and used them for something different… For this project I just pretend that I cut a piece out of a Tristan wallhanging and rework it into a round-top trapezoidal aumônière for me…
…through the years I have seen so many pouches with many different kinds of embroidery or just using very nice patterned fabric, that I think that maybe, even if it wasn’t very common, there is a small chance that someone also used a small part of a wallhanging to turn it into a purse or pouch…
…a very nice bag for my 14th century garb project (and easier to make than a self supporting cotehardie…
12
Aug
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project – 75hours :)
…and finally some Klosterstich embroidery – I found some time to continue my ‘dragon fun project’
new status: ca. 75 hours
wool: Renaissance Dyeing
20
Jul
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project – 43hours :)
My last days were rather busy – visiting some friends for cake and coffee, BBQ with other friends, driving a MINI (car) for the first time,…
*lol* but I still managed to make some further progress – new status: ca. 43 hours
wool: Renaissance Dyeing
btw. I changed the color of two sections
11
Jul
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project .1 :)
…and again some progress concerning my lovely little dragon – the work of about 13.5 hours
I again use the lovely threads from ‘Renaissance Dyeing’ for this embroidery – it’s my favourite wool for Klosterstich – starting this fun project I realised that I unfortunately ran out of my favourite blue & red color but nevertheless I decided to use another very bright red wool from R.D. and to order my favourite blue and red color to complete my color range for further projects – Renaissance Dyeing handled my order very fast and my new blue and red hanks already arrived including some samples of other colors – thanks Andie!!! – and now I have enough blue wool for the background
You may ask why I am ordering 250 m hanks – the answer is quite easy – 25m are rather nice for special colors and rather small sections but I order basic colors like red, yellow, blue and white only in 250m hanks because I am sure that I will need them und use them up
…btw. this here are my Renaissance Dyeing threads – the ‘basic’ color range I am working with including the new order, but most of this threads are still “leftovers” of my Weiberlisten Wallhanging …and if you don’t find the color you are looking for at the Renaissance Dyeing website – just contact Andie, maybe she has some threads with special colors hidden in her ‘treasury chest’ like the special green wool for the grass hills of my Weiberlisten Wallhanging *sigh* yeah, that’s customer service
4
Jul
2010
Drachenwald – we have dragons ;) – Klosterstich / dragon fun project :)
Finally I decided that I need another embroidery ‘fun’ project after the embroidery for Anya’s Laurel Cloak – a ‘fun’ project which doesn’t involve any kind of pearls or beads or ‘gold thread’ to recover from the project and to get inspired for my next projects… I really need some new inspiration…
When I started my research for my ‘Weiberlisten’/'Malterer’ Wallhanging Project, the Tristan Wallhanging from the Kloster Wienhausen in Germany was the first wallhanging worked in Klosterstich which I found. I was very happy when I got the big size picture map which I ordered via the telephone directly at the cloister Wienhausen… and I immediately fell in love with this cute dragon – several times I wanted to copy this dragon and to embroider it but for some reasons I wasn’t pleased with my outlines and didn’t continue with the embroidery… until some days ago when I finally decided to embroider it…
…btw. that’s the progress of about 5hours…
…and if you would like to get to know more about the story of “Tristan and Isolde” follow the link to Wikipedia: “Tristan and Iseult”
23
Apr
2010
first item for my artfire shop… a needleroll – medieval rose – Klosterstich :)
Ok, finally I did it – my very first item on sale at artfire.com – “Racaire’s embroidery & needlework“
…completely embroidered and sewn by hand…
No logo applied – if you wish I can embroider a small “Racaire” logo at the inside for no extra cost…
pattern inspiration:
- border of the “Malterer-Teppich” / ”Weiberlistenteppich”, a German Wallhanging from the 14th century (about 1320/30) – you can find pictures of the original tapestry at Wikipedia (in German): http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltererteppich
embroidery:
- surface & sections: Klosterstich / cloister stitch (same technique like the 14th century “Malterer-Teppich” wallhanging – if you would like to learn more about this embroidery technique, you can find my class handout here: http://racaire.at/index/embroidery/handouts/Klosterstich_v1-00.pdf
- outlines: Stem Stitch
- border: ‘Finishing the seams of 14th/15th century pouches’ along the border of the embroidery
fabrics:
- underneath the embroidery is a cotton/linen blend
- the red fabric is wool (maybe Merino wool)
embroidery thread:
- lovely thin wool thread from Renaissance Dyeing, 100% Lambswool, hand dyed – http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/
cord:
- wool: wool thread from Renaissance Dyeing
- technique: “2. A Round Lace of 5 Loops” based on the instruction in the book: TAK V BOWES DEPARTED – A 15th Century Braiding Manual Examined
…worked in a non-smoking, cat-friendly environment
23
Apr
2010
another link – Swiss embroidery… :)
Today, searching for something completely different, I ran into the following website of Anne Wanner-JeanRichard (Dr.phil.) which contains some very interesting publications – unfortunately for my English readers, most of the publications are in German, but there are some pictures of embroidery on display in Switzerland that are very interesting…
website: ANNE WANNER’S Textiles in History
…have fun!
I especially like the pictures of the Swiss Klosterstich embroidery – lovely colored wool worked in Klosterstich on black woollen material – for example her publication about “Die Tobias-Stickereien im Textilmuseum St. Gallen”
22
Apr
2010
first item for my artfire shop … a needleroll … progress :)
(pictures of the progress now – pictures of the finished needleroll as soon as I figure out how to put my very first item on sale…)
Maybe some of you remember that I was thinking about an artfire or etsy shop (-> link to the posting) for my very own travel fund concerning holiday/SCA events and my very own book fund – you know, I am addicted to old books, very often have to buy them unseen on the internet, love to post about them and I also love to travel to events but unfortunately books and traveling affords money that I don’t really have at the moment, but I can do embroidery… – and therefore I decided to start an artfire shop – and I already set up my very first small online shop at artfire:
“Racaire’s embroidery & needlework“
Yeah! …it’s just a little bit empty at the moment …
Many thanks to my good friend Brooke and my boyfriend – they thought I should give it a try… and, ok, I did it…
…even a small shop needs items to be filled with and therefore I made a small needleroll:
pattern: border of the “Maltererteppich”/”Weiberlistenteppich” – some of you will recognise that the flower looks like a part of the border of my ‘Weiberlisten” wallhanging and yes, the border of the wallhanging is my inspiration for this embroidery
embroidery: Klosterstich for the surface of the sections, Stem Stitch for the outline, ‘Finishing the seams of 14th/15th century pouches’ along the border of the embroidery
fabrics: the fabric underneath the embroidery is a cotton/linen blend, the red fabric is wool (it should be Merino wool but I am not sure)
embroidery thread: wool thread from Renaissance Dyeing, 100% Lambswool, hand dyed. My wallhanging did not only inspire me, I also still have many wool thread left – therefore I embroidered this needleroll with the ‘leftover’ threads from my wallhanging project
cord: also wool thread from Renaissance Dyeing – “2. A Round Lace of 5 Loops” based on the instruction in the book: TAK V BOWES DEPARTED – A 15th Century Braiding Manual Examined
…worked in a non-smoking, cat-friendly environment
I am sure it will be difficult to calculate a reasonable price for my embroidered items, but I will try my best – I don’t expect that I will sell them because embroidery takes a rather long time and therefore the items won’t be cheap, but quality always has its price…
…I am also thinking about selling my items with a discount for SCA members (and at a special friencs price for friends, like I sometimes used to in the past)…
…ok, I give it a try, I don’t expect a lot but I am sure it’s a good idea to just try it…
28
Nov
2009
2nd Guild Badge finished :)
Finally I decided to do the outlines in red and blue – I think the badge looks more interesting this way
4
Nov
2009
1
Nov
2009
Guild Badge II – progress :)
Brooke likes my first guild badge very much and because she is moving to another kingdom (in the USA), I decided to take her offer and to trade my first guild badge with her – she has some lovely silk thread for me
…and before you ask – yes, even if she moves to another kingdom she stays a member of the Dragon’s Needle Embroidery Guild as long as she wants to be one and therefore she can wear the guild badge also in the next kingdom
…you know, some people leave Drachenwald, but they never leave our hearts and minds – I am very looking forward to see her at University
25
Aug
2009
Dragon’s Needle Embroidery Guild Badge – finished
Guild Badge finished
25
Aug
2009
Dragon’s Needle Embroidery Guild Badge – finished (back side)
…and because some of you like to see the back side of my embroidery…