Goldwork and Silk Shading Inspired by Nature

Foreword 6
Introduction 7
Equipment 8
Needles 10
Fabrics 12
Frames 13
Transferring a design 18
Padding 20
Mounting your work 23

Goldwork 24
Rules for goldwork 25
Order of work 26
Metal threads 27
Basic goldwork techniques 31
Purl chippings 31
Shading with chippings 32
Fuzzy effect 32
Graded cutwork 33
Stem stitch formation 34
Purl loops 35
Couched threads 36
Twists 39
Handmade twists 40
MIlliary 41
Plunging threads 43
Pearl purl 44
Elizabethan twist 46
Kid 47
Broad, 11’s and whipped plate 48
PROJECT: Wild rose 50
PROJECT: Goldwork violet 52
Three-dimensional goldwork 55
PROJECT: Christmas rose 54

Silk shading 56
Rules for silk shading 57
Order of work 58
Silk shading threads 59
Silk shading techniques 60
Split stitch 60
Silk shading 61
PROJECT: Silk-shaded wild rose 66
PROJECT: Silk-shaded violet 68
Adding a three-dimensional element 70
PROJECT: Three-dimensional Christmas rose 70

Goldwork and silk shading combined 72
A few basic rules 72
Order of work 72
Complimentary stitches 74
PROJECT: Combined wild rose 78
PROJECT: Combined violet 80
Adding a three-dimensional element 82
PROJECT: Three-dimensional Christmas rose 82

FLOWERS 84
SAMPLER: Flowers 84
Taking a simple flower further in metal threads 94
Taking a simple flower further in stranded cotton 95
PROJECT: Gold and silkwork iris 96

TREES 99
SAMPLER: Trees 100
Small trees 104
PROJECT: Bonsai tree 106

Leaves, seeds and berries 108
SAMPLER: Leaves 108
PROJECT: One leaf, many ways 114
SAMPLER: Berry and seed 116
PROJECT: Acorns 124

Fronds and fungi 126
SAMPLER: Fronds 126
SAMPLER: Fungi 132

Butterflies, bats and
beasts 138
PROJECT: Three Butterflies 138
PROJECT: 3D Goldwork and silkwork butterfly 142
PROJECT: Three Bats 144
PROJECT: Bat 146
PROJECT: Bats 148
PROJECT: Three Dragonflies 150
PROJECT: Large Dragonfly 154

Seasonal projects 156
PROJECT: Clematis Early Semi-Double Dr Ruppel 156
PROJECT: Sumer Wildlife Garden 160
PROJECT: Autumn 164
PROJECT: Robin 168
Templates 172
Glossary 192

About Hazel Everett

Hazel Everett first became interested in embroidery whilst still at school, and her teacher suggested she might pursue a career in embroidery. Hazel went on to be an Apprentice at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN), and although she enjoyed learning about many different types of embroidery, she became most fascinated by goldwork. As an Apprentice she had the honour of embroidering a commission for the RSN workroom a new pulpit fall in real, 18-carat Japanese gold thread. As her career developed, fate played a part and she was offered a number of commissions involving goldwork, including a mitre for Cardinal Hume. Hazel went on to teach goldwork embroidery all over the UK and worked on numerous commissions, including ecclesiastical work, embroidering items for leading fashion designers and assisting with the reconstruction of the Coronation Robe of King George VI that was exhibited at Kensington Palace, London. In 2011, Hazel wrote her first book, Goldwork: Techniques, Projects and Pure Inspiration, published by Search Press, which became one of the foremost guides to goldwork published in the English language. Sadly, Hazel died in late 2018.

Customer Review

Definitive Work on Goldwork & Silk Shading.

Goldwork and silk shading together what a winning combination! Add in the fact that they are being used to depict the beauty of the natural world and you have a gorgeous book. Sadly this was the authors final work and has been finished with help from her friends.

This is the sequel to Hazels definitive work Goldwork: Techniques, Projects and Pure Inspiration and contains some material in common, mostly from the section on basic working methods and materials. If you are new to either type of embroidery, this book is a good place to start as you can discover what you need to purchase and what it is all for. See the myriad of metal threads available and learn how to dress a frame and a hoop, transfer patterns and how to use each type of thread. To put this knowledge to instant use there are quite a few projects to work through, all beautiful and impressively professional looking together with a list of materials and the all-important order of work.

Do note that this might be a good book for beginners to goldwork and silk shading, but it is not ideal as a primer for people who are new to any type of embroidery. These are some of the more advanced techniques and the book is squarely aimed at those with a thorough grounding in all the basics. For example, the instructions arent accompanied by photographs and the information on 3D work is fairly sketchy. There are some diagrams for embroidery stitches and quite a few samplers where you can practice depicting sets of popular flora and fauna. These include trees, leaves, fungi, flower shapes as well as dragonflies, butterflies and, making a nice change, bats which were a favourite of the author. There are more projects where you can practice goldwork and silk shading together to make beautiful studies of all the above, plus a section of four projects depicting the four seasons. I was pleased to see that silk shading does not have to be done using silk threads, and most of the pieces shown have been worked using the cheaper and more widely available cotton alternative. This is a beautiful and very useful book to treasure, one for the keeper shelf.

Amazon Customer Review

Glorious and delicate depictions of nature. I liked the layout of this book and the combination of silk shading and goldwork which lent a delicacy to the finished pieces. Diagrams, photos and instructions were clear and there were plenty of projects to follow resulting in realistic nature embroideries. This is an inspiring and informative book.