Details
Jane Lemon has used here cosiderable experience in metal embroidery techniques to update her classic reference work on the subject. This is a new edition of her book, first published in 1987, and now beautifully illustrated with over 200 colour photographs.
Arranged in A to Z format, the book contains five sections. The first lists articles, old and new, on which metal thread embroidery can be found. The second section is devoted to tools, giving full details of specialist requirements.
The third section is a guide to materials, including threads, fabrics and embellishments, and the fourth is an exploration of metal thread embroidery techniques, illustrated with clear diagrams, step by step explanations and photographs of finished work.
The final section is a useful gazetteer of places around the world where you can see the best examples of metal thread embroidery, from small towm museums to world famous cathedrals.
This is a welcome update of a classic work which will inform and inspire both experienced metal thread embroiderers and newcomers to this fascinating subject.
I have reprinted the introduction to the new edition under the 'Contents'
Hard cover, 203 pages.
Price: $49.95 ($45.41)
Contents:
A First Sampler
Articles on which Metal Thread Embroidery may be found.
Tools
Materials
Techniques
Places to visit
Appendix / further reading
Introduction
Metal thread work is the most exciting technique to the embroiderer, and the skill needed to achieve all the possibilities with the best effect takes years of regular practice. It is the steady, practised rhythm of the expert that shows through in equally spaced couching stitches and an even tension on the laid threads. In the past, five or even seven years of full-time work was the usual term of apprenticeship, so we must accept that practice makes perfect!
Unfortunately, technique alone does not make an exquisite piece. It is essential to understand the materials that one is working with, since the movement of the threads in different directions and the placing of the varied textures all build up the play of light on this tonal work, accentuating the beauty of the metal.
Care should be taken, as in any embroidery, that too many methods are not included in one piece. This is perfectly acceptable, and in fact useful, for a sampler, but not for a finished article.
This book is written with the aim of helping the student of the technique, at any level. The alphabetical arrangement is intended to make the information easily available, with each kind of treatment gathered together for comparison and understanding. So that more experienced readers will not have to check through unwanted information, the book is divided into sections. 'Articles on which metal thread embroidery may be found', 'Tools', 'Materials', 'Techniques' as well as places to visit. It is hoped that a history of the subject may also be studied through the sections and the photographs.
In the 'Techniques' section certain design terms and periods of different styles have been included. So often is it presumed that these are known, and yet they are rarely listed together. Where a reader is cross-referenced to another section, it is shown in capitals (e.g. TOOLS: Embroidery frame); if there is no reference to a section, but only a word (in italics), then that word is in the same section. It is the author's hope that the book will show the possibilities of this most beautiful technique, whether the reader is a student, a researcher, or merely enjoys the pleasure of seeing beautiful things.
