Lindisfarne Beasts: bird outline and tail

Happy holidays!  I hope you have a joyful and peaceful time, however and wherever you celebrate.

Just a quick update before I get back to my own preparations. Adding the colour to the birds is coming along nicely. I've done the outline strip, in Madeira 0511, for one bird:

Then his tail, in the same red:

The outline of the second bird:

And his tail too:

Now I need another bright colour for the necks and legs...

Lindisfarne Beasts: colouring in

Time to start adding some colour!  I want this to be quite bright and colourful, which before anyone points it out is quite anachronistic for the period, as bright pigments weren't available then.  My excuse is that this is my interpretation, not a scrupulous historical recreation.

So with that out of the way, I can make a start.  I haven't planned a colour scheme - unusual for me, as any regular readers will know (I always plan everything!) - but will just see how things go.  For no particular reason, I've started with the birds' bodies, and have picked a deep blue stranded cotton, Madeira 0913.

First one, worked in split stitch:

and then the other:

Hmm, what to do next?

Lindisfarne Beasts: second bird - and all the gold

Things are coming along well, and I've now finished all of the gold outlining (inner and outer lines) for the second bird.

Outer neck and head:

Leg and foot:

Body:

and tail:

Then the same again for the inner line.  First the neck and head:

The leg and foot (which looks even more squashed up than the first one.  It should be fine with the colour added - I hope!):

and the body, complete with feathers:

That's all of the gold done - next time, we can start to see some colour!

Lindisfarne Beasts: first bird outline

Adding the inner line for the bird gives it a lot more detail, though to start with it's much the same as for the dog.  First we have its neck:

The its leg and foot:

This was a bit fiddly and looks rather cluttered at the moment, but it should (I hope!) become clearer when the colour is added.

Finally, and making the most difference, there are the feathers:

Now onto the second bird.