Sensu - Shippo Foundation (1)

Sensu - Shippo Foundation (1)

Japanese Embroidery / Phase 2-3

Hi everyone ,

I am enjoying my new Phase 2-3 a lot ! I have become a little bit tired of working on my bouquet because this Phase 1 is way harder than the other phase 1, and the learning curve is very important. As a beginner of embroidery, this big bouquet with a lot of techniques is challenging.

On the Sensu, the homework before April class is to do foundations of the 3 clouds on the fan. We learned the techniques in phase 1, so it should be pretty easy (that's what i thought at first).

What i need to work on first, is the blue cloud that will have shippo on top, the geometrical pattern of ellipses that create a circle with a diamond in the middle

Shippo Pattern

I broke this post in 2 parts because it would be too long ( I write too much I know. )

When doing foundation, our first teacher told us to put guidelines along the weft to make sure we have straight and parallel lines on all the covered area. I could not put them anymore since the fabric has a very visible weft, but I have a problem of distortion in my eyes, and I have difficulty to see straight lines. I prefer taking more time for preparation than realize half way that my lines are not parallel.

And then, we can start putting some color inside.... or twist a lot of thread before, i should say.

I have been told to prepare a lot of threads before, so all of them will have the same twist. A difference of twist will become noticeable on the foundation. Here we have 4-1T , 4 threads into 1 twisted.

After twisting a bunch of threads, time to fill in the space, staying inside the white couching.

(Yes, i have to skip a line after ending each thread. I got 10 people telling me this, i will never forget anymore !! )

Tada !
Around 8h30 of work on this cloud up to this point.

And yes, I used a complete spool for this foundation. Did i had too much twisted thread ? Absolutely not ! After finishing my last stitch, i had one twisted thread remaining !!! This is why we have to buy 2 spools of 502 blue !

The amount of silk used for this foundation is unbelievable. 4-1T uses 4 strands to produce one. Also, the longest line from this cloud is 11 cm. Even if i did very long threads, sometimes i couldn't put more than 3 lines before having to finish it. It was very frustrating as i felt i was going very slowly. This piece is not about being easy (because putting straight lines of twisted thread along the weft is very easy), but about patience. On the Phase 1 Bouquet, i only had one big foundation on the bag (much more smaller than what i just did). On the Phase 2-3 Sensu, i have to fill 3 clouds that will use almost all of my silk spool.

Now i get a better perspective about the crazy hours needed to do a big piece like the Phase 9 Sake Box, and why we have to buy so much silk spools !! Pfiou ! The road ahead is gonna be very long ! But sure i wont let this stop me. I am ready to put the time needed into this to achieve my goals (Even if it takes 15 years xD )

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Next step on the shippo cloud is holding lattice. It is the same technique as used on the valerian flowers of the phase 1 (which i didnt post pictures here... i am a bit behind with my progression on this blog... sorry !! )

On the next group meeting, i hope to receive the Ott light i ordered with Dima. The light in my appartment is not very good. I only have big lamp to work, and it uses special bulb that comes only in a yellow-ish colour. This is bad for working at night, especially when i need good light. Also, pictures appears yellow sometimes and i hate it ! I try to put some instagram filters but i would prefer to have the real color !