Lmst

Well, this didn't work. I tried spraying a little water on the gauze on one side before adding the acrylic ink, and it's made everything run much farther and faster than I would have hoped.

Time to think again!

#DreamsOfAmarna #PreparingToDisplay #experiments

The model, and a painting on gauze, showing the famous head of Nefertiti. Some of the painted image is crisp, but the part painted on damp gauze has run far and fast.

End of the day, and one frame is covered, the fillets in place and edges trimmed. The other one is still in the "testing" gauze. I was hoping to finish both today, but it's not a job to rush. The gauze has a bit of an independent mind, and I am very conscious that the frame is narrow and unsupported.

Still, quite good progress, I think!

#DreamsOfAmarna #PreparingToDisplay #ArtistsLife

Two frames with gauze stretched over them, one taut, finished and trimmed, the other very much not!

Sketch done by eye from a photo of the previous overlay - very much something I wouldn't have tried a few years ago. Acrylic marker on gauze - it would have been much easier with the gauze held taut.

I wonder whether this would be better for the overlays?

#DreamsOfAmarna #AssemblingMyPieces #PreparingToDisplay

Sketch of the head of Nefertiti, done mainly using hatching for shadows in gold marker pen on gauze.

I need to make, or have made, some strong, stiff, light frames for the gauze overlays. The current suggestion is to use some steel with an incomplete square cross section, and then find some way to attach the gauze.

Can anyone suggest solutions to either of these challenges?

I'm in the north west of the UK, near to Liverpool.

#MakingChallenge #PreparingToDisplay

I really think that this is going to work. It works better from further away, and I still need to work out how to mount the gauze and whether I need to tweak what I put on them.
But here is Nefertiti, hovering in imagination over the excavation of the city her husband built.

#HandEmbroidery
#DreamsOfAmarna
#ViewOfTheExcavation #CrockOfGoldHoard #HittiteAmulet #FaienceNecklace
#CrestForTheDig
#LotusFlowerFragment #TypedOnCamelback #AssemblingMyPieces #PreparingToDisplay

The main focus is a colour block panel in sandy and turquoise colours. The sandy block is an imagined excavation scene, while the turquoise blocks support a variety of embroidered images relating to excavation at Amarna in the 1920s. Over the top there is a layer of gauze on which is drawn a head of Nefertiti, who is therefore hovering like a ghost over the scene.

I'm trying to stitch the velvet to the vilene so I can cut off all the build up of fabric, and maybe succeed in making this idea work!
#DreamsOfAmarna #PreparingToDisplay #MountingMyWork #StumpworkViolets
#HandEmbroidery

Close up of brown velvet being stitched around a curved edge, using a doubled cotton thread.

Rejoice, rejoice!
Violets now cascading over the edge of the pot! There are a lot of stitches holding them down so that they cling and follow the shape, and I do think it works.

#DreamsOfAmarna #MakingProgress #ClumpOfViolets #StumpworkViolets #PreparingToDisplay

A small coiled pot made of cord is now topped with the stumpwork violets, clinging to the edge and cascading down one side.

I've spent the morning working on the violets, inserting them in their new fabric, and beginning to contrive the cascade. One of the leaves has winkled itself out of the fabric, so I'm pausing to regain calm and temper!

#DreamsOfAmarna #ClumpOfViolets #StumpworkViolets #Stumpwork #MountingMyWork #PreparingToDisplay
#HandEmbroidery

Close-up of some violets in stumpwork being attached to the coiled cord pot. Some of the base fabric is showing, which it shouldn't be!

Since the base fabric was so destroyed, I now have another piece of fabric covered in inktense and aloe vera gel. It will probably dry today, but I I'm taking no chances with my carefully made petals and leaves!
#DreamsOfAmarna #StumpworkViolets #HandEmbroidery #PreparingToDisplay #MountingMyWork

A small piece of fabric, covered in green intense and aloe vera gel. The colour isn't even, but it is nice and dark, which is what I want.

This is why the violets don't cascade. When I made the little mound for them to sit on, I made it too close in size to the size of the leaves. So I've a bit of undoing to do!
#DreamsOfAmarna #StumpworkViolets #MountingMyWork #PreparingToDisplay
#HandEmbroidery

The back of a small clump of stumpwork violets. You can barely see any of the leaves.

There are two really complicated shapes among the spots and the rest are rectangular(-ish), so I thought if I mounted the #FaienceNecklace as a circle, it would provide a good midway point, easing the transition.

Of course, I might be overthinking all this...!

#DreamsOfAmarna
#MountingMyWork #PreparingToDisplay

Close up of an embroidered piece inspired by the polychrome faience collars of ancient Egypt. The most prominent is a lotus flower. The embroidery is worked in silk, twisted by hand or used straight from the reel.

While the Amarna Royal Family settle into their new frame, I've got the View Of The Excavation mounted.
These two are still unsigned, but after an afternoon with the staple gun, I'm in no mood for stitching!

Inching ever closer to being able to plan that exhibition!

#DreamsOfAmarna #ViewOfTheExcavation #MountingMyWork #PreparingToDisplay #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery

Two sandy coloured embroidered panels mounted on stretchers and propped up on top of a bookcase. You can't see them very well, because there's a slash of strong sunlight across them.

Ok, so I've added the ribbon border. It will now need some jiggling to ease it into place before I attach it to the velvet stele.
But, progress!

#DreamsOfAmarna #AssemblingMyPieces #AmarnaRoyalFamily #PreparingToDisplay
#OrNué #Goldwork #Embroidery #HandEmbroidery

#PreparingToDisplay

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