Not always red.

It is true, of course, that many examples of void work embroidery are red (including the two I've already discussed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, here and here).  In fact, red is such a predominant color for "Assisi" work that some manuals will specifically say that it is always red.

Not so.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has on display a fantastic piece in blue and yellow. Yup, blue and yellow. Blue outlines and defines the figures and yellow fills the ground.  It's a lovely large piece and I visit it every time I'm up there.   It is this piece (accession number 51.61.2).  Trust me.  The photo on their website is black and white, but the piece is in blue and yellow silk on linen

Every time I visit the piece I find something different to enjoy.  The fat little putti, the lovely leaves, the stems, the fringe on the bottom and one edge.

One visit my husband found me bouncing, just a little bit -- kind of rocking up on my toes and coming back down.  I had just realized that I could identify at least three different "hands" or embroiderers' work in the piece.  It is a large piece (53 1/2 inches long),  and this suggests that it was done in a workshop.

So, if you have a chance to go to the Met, go to Gallery 503 and visit my favorite piece.

Why, yes, I have taken many pictures.  Here are a couple:

Taken at an angle next to the case, showing some of the length

The bottom left corner, showing the lovely fringe

A section of the leaf design, look at those darling animals

Working and teaching

Saturday was the SCA event Mudthaw.  This year I participated as part of the "Artisans' Row" -- a gathering of artisans working on projects and teaching about their arts. I was set up with my Bayeux Tapestry inspired piece.  I only had one student for learning embroidery, but many people stopped by to talk about both my piece and the Bayeux Tapestry in general.

I discussed different aspects with different people, but there were some common points:

• My piece is the same approximate height as the original, per information in most of the descriptive books about the Bayeux Tapestry;
• my motifs are the same approximate size as those on the original, thanks to the fact that the David Wilson book provides information about their reproduction percentage (photocopy motifs in that book at 185% for approximate actual size;
• the woman in my design is actually larger than the woman she is taken from...all three women in the original Bayeux Tapestry are smaller than the men around them.  I am modern enough that that was not going to happen.

Here I am working on the piece.  Because of all the talk time (which was great), I didn't get a lot of stitching done, but some did get done.  (Later I also worked on my double running basket cover and did get a fair amount of that done, I expect it to be in the "done" column soon). 

The return of Medici

Several years ago, DMC disappointed us all by announcing they would no longer be producing Medici crewl weight thread.  This is the wool thread that many people (of which I am one) use for Bayeux style laid and couched work.  I quickly laid in a large supply of the colors I am using for my Bayeux inspired piece (first discussed in this post). 

Recently I learned that another company is making Medici thread.  According to the folks at Threadneedle Street, the thread comes from the same source that DMC used, is being spun at the same mill DMC used and is dyed using DMC's dye formulas. Threadneedle has a full page about the Medici, here.  Most of the original DMC colors are being made again, although some have been discontinued and some new ones have been added. The page lists all the colors and indicates which ones are no longer being made and which are new -- by color number only. Sadly, color charts are not available at this time and the photo they have up of 13 new colors is not in number order, and the colors are not necessarily accurate. 

Of course, I had to order some.  I called on Friday afternoon (for me, it was morning for them in Washington State) and spoke with Denise Davis.  I could have ordered on their secure ordering system, but I wanted to talk about the new colors a little bit.  I ordered one each of the colors I am using in my Bayeux piece, and then asked her to send me three of the new colors.  Based on the photo that is on their website I asked for the yellow, the medium blue and the lavender.

The threads arrived today.  (See, I knew there was a reason I didn't post yesterday).  Below are some comparison shots of the duplicated colors.  The three new ones are a bit different from the colors on their website, and I have not yet photographed them; they are lovely as well, though.

I think the colors are very close, with what difference there is being less than one might find in dye lot differences.  A couple are spot on and a couple are just that "little bit" different. That does not worry me, though.  As long as I don't mix skeins in one motif I don't the miniscule difference will matter.  Certainly having threads be slightly different is within the realm of possibility for period work -- I doubt that all of any one color used on the Bayeux Tapestry was dyed at the same time!

And now, for some pictures:

First, a shot of five of the colors.  The original on the left and the new on the right of each pair.












The next four shots are of each pair, in the same order, left to right.  Original on the bottom, new on the top.

 

Finally, some close ups.  



There are five pre cut strands in each 25 meter skein (approx. 27.3 yards)

Here, a comparison -- the new on top and the original below.

Finally, through a magnifier.  Again, new on top, original below. 

I'll do some stitching with some of the new this weekend and report back on my impressions, but so far, I think I'm going to be very happy.