Apple tree fire screen - stem shading update

As I mentioned before, I wasn't at all happy about the shading, or lack of it, for the stems, and needed to do something to improve them.  Well, I think I have!  Or started to anyway - there's still a lot of stem to do.

Still, I'm happy with the approach.  I over-stitched the pale areas in a couple of stems at the top first with one strand of the middle shade, 2211, and then stitched over that with one strand of the darkest, 2213.

Here's the result:

I'm far happier with that, which is a relief.   I'll now go on and do the rest the same way.

Apple tree fire screen - all the stems filled in

Sorry for the long gap between posts: blame a combination of being busy at work and watching the World Cup.

Well I've (finally) completed the stems, and here they are:

I say 'completed', but the shading really isn't working at all and something needs to be done about that.  I have an idea what to do, but I'll have to try it and see if it works.  Let's hope so!

Apple tree fire screen - half the stems filled in

I've got half of the stems filled in in Madeira stranded cotton 2213, and I have to say it's not looking like I'd wanted it to.

Here's the loop at the top:

Hmmm... it's not right, is it.

Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I carried on:

No, definitely not right.  The palest shade looks too pale, far paler than it does in the packet, and the transitional shading between it and the darkest one is hardly noticeable at all.

Something is going to have to be done about this, but I don't want to start any remedial work on half of it, as it could end up looking unbalanced: better to complete the stems, and then sort them all out in one go, when I can see how the full piece is working.

Or that's the plan, anyway.  We'll see how it goes.

Apple tree fire screen - more shading on the stems

I've added a bit more shading, and have gone round the edge of all the stitching on the stems in one strand of 2211, the middle shade, and another of 2213, the darkest of the three:

Next time, I'll fill in the rest in 2213.

Apple tree fire screen - stitched stems

After my failed attempt to use Italian tubular mesh ribbon for the stems, I've reverted to regular stitching for them.  What a relief!

I'm using three shades of Madeira stranded cotton, 2208, 2211 and 2213:

I outlined the edge of the stems with the darkest of the three, 2213, in split stitch rather than stem stitch as I just like it better:

As the apples are highlighted as though with light coming from the right, the highlighting on the stems needs to work in the same way, so I drew on lines where the highlights should go (no photo, sorry).  Using two strands of the lightest shade of the three, 2208, I then added a couple of rows of split stitch in the 'highlight' areas:

For some reason it looks far lighter on the piece than it does in the packet!

To start to blend the shading in, I next went round the first set of stitches with another row, this time with one strand of 2208 and one of the middle shade, 2211:

More shading next time.

Apple tree fire screen - Italian tubular mesh wire ribbon

Sometimes, things just don't work, and this was one of those times.

If you've been following this project, you'll know that I'm using techniques described by costume embroiderer Michele Carragher.  As part of her fabulous work she uses something called Italian tubular wire mesh ribbon.  I have to admit I'd never heard of this before, and it seems to be mainly intended for jewellery-making, but in Ms Carragher's work it's used as a very effective substitute for 'classic' goldwork, so I was keen on giving it a go for the stems.

It comes in two widths, so I bought some of both, to be on the safe side, both in Antique Gold:

It really is exactly what it sounds like: a very fine mesh of gold wire, woven into a long tube.  I eagerly took it out of its packet, and realised I had no idea what to do with it next.  It also occurred to me that I probably ought to have done this, whatever it was, first, rather than trying to fit it round the leaves I'd already stitched.

And the widths were wrong: the wide one is too wide for the stems, and the narrow one too narrow.  Never mind - I folded the wide one in half, which was about right, and cut a length, and found my next problem: it frays.  A lot.

Pressing on, I stitched it down as best I could along the edges with a single strand of stranded cotton in the closest shade I could find.  This was the result:

It actually looks better in the photo than in real life, and it doesn't look that good in the photo.  It's too lumpy, somehow, and the ends are a mess.  It came straight off again.

I should say that this is not a criticism of the wire mesh ribbon, just that it wasn't suitable for what I had in mind.  I can think of a few things where it could look very effective indeed and I'm sure now I know a bit more about it, I'll use it again in something more appropriate.

That still leaves me with the stems, however.  I considered gold ribbon, but the design has a lot of curves and ribbon wouldn't be that easy to work round them without bunching, then goldwork, but I think that would be too heavy for the piece.

So, I've decided to stick with what's worked for the rest of it, and do the stems in long and short stitch, with some shading.  Let's hope that comes out a bit better!

Apple tree fire screen - leaves part III

The leaves are finished, and I must say that I'm very happy with them.  There wasn't much to do to finish them off, with just the central areas of the each leaf and a little detailing to do.

For the central area, I used one strand of Madeira 1411 (the medium shade) and one of 1412 (the darkest of the three).  Here are the leaves on the right:

And the ones on the left:

Not quite finished - the very last thing was to add a vein up the centre of each leaf in split stitch, with two strands of 1412:

It's a bit hard to see the difference in the photo, so here's a close up:

The stems next, and I want to try something different!