Victorian Berlin Wool-work

Wow, I see I last showed you this piece of petit point way back in August, well, I finished it this week. It is cross stitched onto 58 count silk gauze with Pipers Floss silk. The chart is a photograph of an original Victorian chart from Raffaella Serena's book Berlin Work, Samplers & Embroidery of the Nineteenth Century.

So, which one did I stitch?

You didn't have to wait too long to find out ;-)

I framed it in a 140 year old photo frame from the Ambrotype period of  photographing. Because I was a bit worried that the brass coating of the frame would damage the petit point, I lined the inside with paper. I mounted the petit point with scrap-booking tape onto a piece of plastic and then stitched right through all the layers with my sewing machine. Yes, I do weird things with my trusty 26 year old Singer and it has never given me any problems.

The outer frame is rounded, hollow and made from a very thin piece of brass, it was dented in one place when I bought it. So in order to prevent that from happening again I used some half round molding to fill the frame with.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

In its place in the dining room, for the photo I held it in place with double-sided tape, I still need to figure out what I am going to do with the back before I add some chains with which I want to hang it on the brass rod. The antique shelf was also bought at Lucy's.

Oh, yes, if you read the history of the Ambrotype in the link I gave you and was maybe wondering about the original photograph in the frame. You can still see the image of a young Victorian girl on the glass when you put it against a dark background. I bought the frame in 2011 at Lucy's Doll House in Camden, Maine on the way to Guild School in Castine.

Have a wonderful week

Elga 

Wall Brackets and Dining Room

My base coat was finely dry enough for me to put the gold on, this is a lot easier to use than gold leaf, I bought it from Angela Jones about five years ago when she attended what turned out to be her last show in Johannesburg, it is the first time I used it, but I am really glad I bought it back then. The paint is fine gold dust mixed with an oil which I can't remember the name of, the gold settles to the bottom in time but a good stir is all that is needed to get it workable again.

I really like how they have turned out.

The tankards and goblet on the mantel are gold and silver bracelet charms that I bought at antique fairs. The silver coffee set on the table I also bought at an antique fair quite a few years ago, it came with a tray that has an inscription on it I think in Portuguese or Spanish, I have no idea how old it is. The HOM kit furniture will be replaced by hardwood furniture as I get the time to make them, chairs are on my list early in the new year. The two double doors will lead to a conservatory, the two copper pots still needs a plant in each. The curtains were made from silk fabric that I found in the wedding and evening dress fabric department of a huge fabric store close by. I think the chandelier needs a few crystals, what do you think????

The tall clock is the one I made in Castine earlier this year, I just need to put in the pendulum and then add the doors, the clock actually works, I used a normal wrist watch movement and replaced the hands with the ones that I got with the face. Since I am waiting for table saw blades and unable to work on the sewing tables , I think I must try and finish the clock next week before the new year starts. Most of the glass items are from GlassCraft in the UK. This room still needs quite a few pieces of furniture, pictures on the wall, etc at the moment I am treating my house as if each room was a room box and my goal for next year is to make as much of the dining room furniture as I possibly can, a table, six chairs, a sideboard and a small table for under the antique shelf.

Elga

Dining Room Wall Brackets

I decided to take off from working on my furniture commissions this weekend and work a bit on my sadly neglected dollhouse, the Stokesay vases are crying out to be displayed and not languish in a box for who knows how long. As I mentioned the other day my brackets are not deep enough for the vases, so yesterday I cut 2 pieces from 1/8" basswood and glued them with epoxy to the brakets. Before I glued the wood pieces on I drilled two holes in each for nails to go into the walls, I don't always like gluing things permanently and in this case my wallpaper is old real life flocked paper, so I wasn't sure that glue would really hold in the long term. The wood on the bracket on the right has already been shaped with files, knifes etc in this photo.

Next I drilled holes in the wall for the nails, now my nails weren't evenly spaced, so I cut a piece of cardboard to the height I wanted, marked my nail holes on it, drilled through the cardboard, positioned it and then drilled through the holes into the wall.

Looking good so far, I think.

Next I drilled a hole in the top for a dowel for the vase to sit securely on, I will use some blue tack or Press Stick as we call it here as well, don't want these vases to fall :-)

Testing, testing...... I like it so far!!!!!

I am planning on gilding them, so here they are with their first layer of paint, I used enamel, so now I have to wait until it is dry, then I will sand them and fill in any gaps.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!!
Elga