Christmas ornament

Well, Hello!!

It's been so long since I've done anything "medieval" that I haven't had anything to post to the blog. That doesn't mean I've not been reading all of your blogs and staying interested. Also I am still making stuff.

This year we decided to get a really little Christmas tree, only 3 feet tall. It is small enough that I was able to decorate it entirely with handmade (not all by me) ornaments. It's a little more sparsely decorated than I would like, though, so...

Here's a little trinket I made the other day, partially inspired by my desire to work some tiny brick stitch on 40 count linen (because it looks great, or because I am a masochist?). It is a single motif, using 2 strands of Eterna silk on 40 count linen, appliqued to a piece of white wool. The wool is lightly quilted. The edges of the motif are finished with couching. The edges of the ornament are finished with a 4 ply kumi himo braid woven with 4 strands of Eterna thread per ply. There is also a faceted crystal bead just above the tassel.

I bought the Eterna years ago but never used it for some reason; maybe because many of the colors looked like modern dyes? I had forgotten it was filament silk so I was pleased with the sheen. I was not pleased with the way the thread kept catching on my work roughened hands. Using a magnifier lamp made using the fine linen pretty easy, although the magnifier did also magnify previously unnoticed flaws in my manicure. That was rather distressing!

This was a fun little project, and great to have a finished object produced in under 24 hours.

New project with brick stitch

I am trying brick stitch in a different way than my usual - this is wool yarn (2 strands of Paternayan) on 14 count canvas. The color choices are modern, but then so is the project - my boyfriend's Christmas stocking. The stocking will have a variety of stitches, this is the only brick stitch (so far). Since I have a Christmas deadline expect to see the finished product by then. I like this wool embroidery so much I may do a cushion as my next project.

One last picture...

My cartoneria skeletons at night. They looked really good. I'll have to do more for next year...

cartoneria crown of lillies

In the previous post you can see this crown in the wet newspaper stage. I made it to perch on my head but after I finished it I realized that since it doesn't sit around my head I need a way to hold it in place on my head so it doesn't fall off. It is very firm, not flexible at all, although I could drill into it if needed. Ideas, anyone?

P.S. The pumpkin is approximately head sized so that's how it looks sitting on my head. Cool, as long as I don't move much.

Cartoneria factory

OK, Aelia, here you go - pictures of cartoneria! The complete process is not documented (maybe later) but here is enough to get an idea of the process. It's a pretty cheap project: old newspaper, grocery bags, bailing wire, flour and water cost practically nothing. The only supplies that cost any money were the acrylic paints and gesso.

First, make desired shapes out of crumpled newspaper and masking tape. If items will be strung together or have wire in them for support put them in at this stage. Trying to do it later is very difficult.

Next, make the paste. Here I put 3 tablespoons of flour into 2 cups water and stirred thoroughly, getting out all the lumps. Then I put the pot on high heat and cooked, stirring constantly, until the mixture began to bubble gently. I then poured it into a bowl and waited for it to cool off enough to handle with my fingers. The glue is most pleasant to work with when it is still warm, so it's best to make it right before use.



Wet torn newspaper, glued in four layers, is torn into smaller bits and applied to the newspaper and tape base. Here is a crown of lilies in progress:



and a pile of bones and a dragonfly:



After the newspaper dries, apply a layer of brown paper (grocery bags or cement bags work well). These are two stylized skulls and a rose:



After the brown paper dries a layer of gesso is applied. Then the items are painted. The gesso and acrylic paint I used was cheap stuff because I am making a lot of items. The low quality paint really makes a difference but that much good quality paint would be very expensive! I used an off-white color for the bones because plain white just didn't look right. The items in this picture are skeleton parts mostly and they're not all quite finished with painting.