Hi Betty, I've just left a long message. I thought I was adding it to your blog but it turns out it's on your design pic. I've been on this group about 18 months and still haven't figured it out :-o.

I've been to Jersey twice, it is very beautiful. If Guernsy is better it is a place I MUST visit one day :-)

Hi Betty,
If you are still interested in our last conversation, I have posted a couple of photos of Embroidery Sculpture on my page and also some larger close-ups on the Flickr site. My ID there is flaxleafemb. If you enlarge each photo to its maximum size by clicking 'all sizes', the stitches show up fairly well. They may demonstrate what I mean about the v-turning of the #10 Gold to and fro at the top of the waves. Hope this helps.
How are you progressing on your Conception piece and also Chrysanthemum Field?
Have also just noticed you posted a blog for the challenge. Sounds interesting and look forward to seeing more. Have you seen Christa's posts?
Check out my page if you want - I also made a blog post earlier today.
I think this will be fun.
By the way, I was watching a very old re-run of the Bergerac series the other day. I believe that was filmed in Guernsey? What a stunningly beautiful place to live! You lucky girl.
Cheers,
Iris

Hi Betty,
Lovely to hear from you.
#10 and #8 Gold and silver were quite difficult for me to work with because they are so very soft and I had to treat them quite differently from the thinner metallics. I found if I pulled the gold or my couching stitches too tightly, the gold would tend to crush and open up. I also had to make sure to keep turning my koma quite frequently to maintain the twist in the thread - I think probably because the twist is wider/longer and softly wound onto a cotton core, it unwound much quicker than the thinner threads.
Are you referring to the 3 very bottom waves in single thread diagonal to and fro?
If you are, this is the first bit I did when I started this piece and really struggled at at the beginning. The first few stitches I did had to come out as well because the angle just did not work. I was lucky I could hide the holes that were left in the nishijin fabric.
I remember that I took out a magnifier and looked at the photo that came with the design really closely.
I found the inner curve is held with one couching stitch on the turning, but I found the outer curve was held with two stitches to form a V shape - this allowed the gold to turn more gently and compensated for the extra distance of the outer curve.
Then it was much easier to get the diagonal angle to stay consistent over the padding along the curve of the wave. The first few stitches looked a bit awkward, but once a section of it was done, it looked okay.
My tutor has the new millenium text book (French-english one) and it goes through some of the stages of Embroidery Sculpture including these waves. From memory, I think there was a diagram that showed the V turning. The diagrams only show the first few stitches, but the photo shows that the same principle was applied all along the top of the curve.
Hope this helps and makes sense.
I have a class on Monday and can check it out for you if you wish.
Please feel free to ask if anything is unclear.
I just love that we can all problem solve together to help each other out.

How is Chrysanthemum Field going? I love that piece - the chrysanthemums just seem to come alive with the way the silk shines off them.
Sometimes I feel I have such a long way to go before I reach phase 10, but my time is getting short - I would love to be able to do it with the japanese instructors, but will never be able to afford to go to Japan or Atlanta. So my wish is to be ready if they run a class in 2011 when the world exhibition is here in Oz.
I hear that sometimes dreams can come true.
What do you think your next piece may be?

Have a great weekend.
Cheers for now, Iris

Hi Betty, thank you for your comment on Venerable Friends. I am very pleased with her, I really enjoyed stitching her. If you visit my blog you will see why I am definitely not pleased with myself at the moment.

CA

Hi Betty,
Hope you had a great stitching week. What a wonderful way to escape the world for a little while and to share it with friends. Chrysanthemum Field is beautiful - my instructor has done that piece and it looks fabulous when completed. I do not know how I would cope with all those chrysanthemums - they are very difficult to get the angles right. What fabric are you stitching them on?

The end result will be worth all the effort though. Happy stitching.
Cheers, Iris

Hi Betty, I saw on Iris' page that you are having your Stitchin this week. Hope you all have a lovely time. What a wonderful thing to do, get together and just stitch. I also like that you are working on the same design, so you get to talk through different ideas and see how different colourways work.

Have fun.

Hi Betty, Thanks for your interest in my Resonance. I know what you mean about the wish list getting larger and larger. It seems as though each time I finish a design, there are three more that I would like to do. And then there are all those other of my own designs milling around in my head. Never seems to be enough time to stitch though.
Your Hoitsu scroll pieces are really delicately stitched - I have always admired these.
I still have my phase 4 Embroidery Sculpture to finish and also Eternal Grace, before I start Camelias for phase 7. I see you have done Camelias - how did you find the realistic technique? What did you do for your other phases?
Cheers, Iris

Hello Betty,

Thank you for the comment on my goldwork roundel. It was a fun class and fun to stitch. The metal threads used are gold and copper - it is a nice combination.