I optimistically bought "The Romance of Rahere and Other Poems" by Edward Hardingham, thinking it might at least give me atmosphere or something for my #OpusAnglicanum #Rahere, and it turned out to be a Civil War era romance about a girl named Rahere, in honour of the prior. She dies, leaving her young man distraught.
So, really, really not helpful!
#ArtistsLife #Research

I am beginning to pull together my bookshelf for the #MedievalMoversAndShakers.
I've been pleasantly surprised that #Aethelflaed has been fairly easy to find. So far, #Rahere is represented by a couple of pages in "London".
#OpusAnglicanum #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery #Research

🔊 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #JazzRecordRequests

Jason Rebello & Opus Anglicanum:
🎵 Adorna

#JasonRebello #OpusAnglicanum

I'm glad I decided to practice the basketweave pattern #UndersideCouching before starting to do it on #WilliamMarshall, because this is nowhere near neat enough!

#OpusAnglicanum #PracticeInProgress

I have a decision to make.
I will be buying a spool of Smooth Passing for the #UndersideCouching in #WilliamMarshall and it turns out that there are several shades of gold.
So, do I go dark and orangey or light and creamier?
Hmmm ...
#DecisionsDecisions #PlanningMyWork #DesignersDilemma #OpusAnglicanum #MoreToThinkAbout

Second practice panel. This is Smooth Passing No4, rather finer than the Jap in the first panel. It behaves better, but the fact that it's so fine is making me nervous about coverage.
Still, practice and all that. If I practise with something difficult, and use something easier, that will make everything go with a swing!
I'm also trialling working vertically, rather than across the body, and I'm preferring that, too.
#OpusAnglicanum #UndersideCouching #Goldwork #PracticeInProgress #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery #Experimenting

Completed first panel of practice for the underside couching.
I'm going to try again, with a different type of silver thread, to see whether it is easier or harder or produces a better result.
#OpusAnglicanum #UndersideCouching #Goldwork #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery #WilliamMarshall

I'm not sure whether this is improving yet or not!
However, if I continue to sit here for another hour, my back and fingers will suffer. A change of activity is indicated!

#OpusAnglicanum #UndersideCouching #Goldwork #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery #PracticeInProgress

So, an hour's work on this small bit of #UndersideCouching seems to be about five rows.

It's too early to say that I am getting better at it, but I am going to stick with it to finish this small panel, and to have a go at one of the basketweave panels, before I tackle the real thing.

#OpusAnglicanum #Goldwork #WilliamMarshall #Embroidery #HandEmbroidery

I've got all the silk #SplitStitch done on #WilliamMarshall.
I'm really pleased with it - I think the border has turned out just as I want, reminiscent of a medieval Book Of Hours, and the image of William tells just the story I had in mind.
#embroidery #HandEmbroidery
#OpusAnglicanum

During a pause in stitching #WilliamMarshall, I read an article on Rahere's church and the foundation of his hospital in London, and now I have an idea for a sequence of #OpusAnglicanum panels of #MedievalMoversAndShakers.

This is how an idea gets out of hand!

#DesignersLife

An angled view to see the effects of the different patterns of #SplitStitch on my #OpusAnglicanum #Embroidery celebrating #WilliamMarshall.
It is so intriguing to see the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in effect from a single type of stitch and thread.

🔊 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #ClassicalMixtape

Thomas Arne & Opus Anglicanum:
🎵 Ode on the death of Mr Shenstone

#ThomasArne #OpusAnglicanum

I've filled in the first of the crosses!
#WilliamMarshall #OpusAnglicanum #SplitStitch #SilkThread #HandEmbroidery #Embroidery

I've finished the sprigs in William's frame! Just the crosses to do, and then it's on to the #UndersideCouching!
#OpusAnglicanum #WilliamMarshall #WorkInProgress #SplitStitch #SilkThread

Progress on #WilliamMarshall today - most of the third corner sprig is now done. I do think it's going to work!
#OpusAnglicanum #SilkThread #SplitStitch #embroidery #HandEmbroidery

First corner sprigs completed! (I think). There may be a few tweaks when all four are done, and I don't yet know how, or whether, I'm going to fill in the crosses.

As true Opus Anglicanum goes, it's becoming much less so. So it's becoming more "me", I guess. I tend to improvise around a technique, rather than staying between the tramlines, as it were.

#HandEmbroidery #OpusAnglicanum #WilliamMarshall #SilkThread

In preparation for the next project using silk filament (an #OpusAnglicanum of William Marshall), I'm trying to remember to keep moisturising my hands.
The things I do for my art!