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.
Embroidery Artist
Goldwork and Silk Shading Inspired by Nature is wonderful for anyone just starting out with the goldwork technique. But the information about silk shading is absolutely priceless as well.
The book starts off talking about equipment; including needles, fabrics, frames (how to dress a slate frame), and hoops and ring frames (including how to bind them).
Then it goes into how to transfer a pattern, tracing, prick and pounce and trace and tack.
Theres a small section about mounting your finished piece properly, by using either the herringbone technique or the lacing technique.
The second section of the book focusses on goldwork, explaining in detail exactly how its done. The order of work, the different types of metal threads, and the techniques, including the different stitches, are all discussed in detail. It then has a few projects that are entirely goldwork. They are stunning!
The third section is dedicated to silk shading. Again, going into all the details of how to work the technique. It breaks down the stitches very clearly. Then has a few projects, even going into stump work.
The fourth section demonstrates goldwork and silk shading combined. Again, explaining whats required to stitch a piece using both techniques, and breaking down the stitches.
Then Hazel takes you through projects that combine both techniques. Instructions are included to stitch samplers, small flowers and leaves, trees, berries and seed, fronds, and fungi, butterflies, dragonflies and even bats!
The last projects are much larger and more detailed, putting everything thats been learned throughout the book into practice. They are so beautiful. I especially love the Robin.
I highly recommend this book. If you can find a copy, you wont be disappointed.
