Blackwork Embroidery piece

This piece that is being documented below is the second piece of blackwork that I have worked on. I recently started branching out doing blackwork over the past 5 months. I have been doing mainly cross stitch for the most of my life since I was a kid when my Aunt taught me how to cross stitch.

9 Responses

  1. Madoc Arundel

    Good morning Lady Thalia. First, let me say that you have a beautiful piece of work here on display. I was taught embroidery and cross-stitch by my mother growing up, and early in my life completed a number of projects – none of which show the care and thought towards the finished product that I see in your finished piece.

    With regard to your choice of material, thank you for providing the explanation of your choice of alternate materials. It shows that you have an understanding of the actual materials while still making necessary choices for practical reasons.

    I appreciate your explanation of the evolution of the Holbein stitch. It shows a desire to go beyond simply copying a process by understanding the evolution of the process.

    I also appreciate you showing close-up photos so that I could view the detail on the work.

    Regarding your documentation, I would ask two things for future projects. First, when referencing period practices or extant pieces, provide a cite to allow your reader to view the source should they desire to know more. Second, do not limit yourself to websites. It is certainly understandable that online resources will be the ones primarily used in a ‘virtual’ presentation. I would add that you can use online repositories to find electronic versions of hardcopy sources that will expand your resource selection significantly. You did, in fact, do so with two of your references – the first being a reference to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the second being a google books reference. With the former, attaching the reference to any photos you use helps the reader. With the latter, you can use screenshots or pdf excerpts of the actual text to support your citation. When I do that, I cite the original source in the bibliography with the access website in parentheses in order to draw the reader to the primary/secondary source rather than to the specific website.

    Lastly, I like the fact that you used the V&A Museum as a source. On one of my previous research projects, I made extensive use of both universities and museums as the curators of extant pieces. If you contact the museums, they are generally happy to provide additional information and even photographs of items in their possession – there is probably a curator who is jumping for joy to be able to talk about “their” pieces in greater detail with someone interested in reproducing the item or the style.

    I look forward to seeing more of your work.

  2. Katja

    Beautiful, even, straight stitches and a lovely design. Well-written and clear documentation. Nice job!

  3. Queen Liadain

    Lovely work and well illustrated documentation. I enjoyed reading through and understanding your process. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!

    • Vanessa Hayes

      Thank you, your Majesty for nice feedback on my work and documentation. I am glad to be able to share my work for others to see!! It was my pleasure!!

    • Vanessa Hayes

      Thank you, your Majesty for nice feedback on my work and documentation. I am glad to be able to share my work for others to enjoy. It was my pleasure!!!