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As the boat cruised along the Nile, I leant over the rails and looked down onto the water. The sun was reflected upon its surface transforming it into a shimmer of floating jewels. I shifted my gaze to the river bank. The women were kneeling on the hard clay, their backs bent over the Nile waters as they washed clothes. In the distance stood the obelisk, the monument of a Pharaoh. It rose from the earth ostentatiously displaying its carvings. It was a picture I wanted to capture; the splendour of Egypt in contrast with the poverty of the people.
This picture was further enhanced by a visit to the pyramids and the museum in Cairo. The walls of the tombs, with their faded colours, offered detailed scenes of Egyptian life bordered by hieroglyphics. The museum echoed this opulence, communicating in a language of gold. The jewellery of the Pharaohs, containing semi-precious stones inlaid with gold, displayed itself inside glass cabinets. Lapis lazuli, turquoise and topaz all lay encrusted together. The gold mask of Tutankhamen was instantly recognisable yet still breathtaking. This was an inspirational paradise, an embroiderer's dream.
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It was with this foremost in my mind that I returned from my holiday, supercharged, but quickly found that having too much design source was just as inhibiting as not having enough. I wanted to capture the sandstone architecture of Egypt together with the contrasting vibrancy of its rich jewels. A start was made by sponging papers in sandstone and other faded colours, then over-printing them in gold using lino cut designs. This formed linear Egyptian patterns, but the design looked too contrived, so small rectangular pieces of paper were torn to block out areas of the design, not being too precious about the underlying pattern. This gelled the isolated patterns together. Several backgrounds, in various colourways, were then sponged and printed with fabric paints. Progress was then made to using muslin backgrounds, adding textures with PVA and tissue sachets. Coloured gutta and acrylic paints were then added.
Working from this textural base, further layers with gold tissue fabrics were added. This gave a rich, lustrous, soft look, reminiscent of Egyptian jewellery. I now wanted to add contrast to this in a different medium, which would represent the hardness of Egyptian life and decided to extend my former work incorporating polymer clay into embroidery, as in 'Earth Jewels' (The World of Embroidery, January 1998) and experiment with a harder, more natural clay. Air drying clay proved to be the answer. Using small medallions of the clay, I found that this could be rolled out using a pencil and that a surface pattern could be added to it by pressing textured fabrics onto its surface. When dried, this left a clay piece which looked thick and heavy, whereas rolling it out more resulted in clay which cracked.After further experimentation, impatience took over and this led to an attempt to speed up the drying process by sandwiching the clay between two pieces of silicone paper, pressing with a very hot flat iron. It worked. Not only did it work but, in a chapter of happy accidents, the iron cracked the edges of the clay piece, giving it an aged look. Just what I was trying to achieve.The next problem was finding a way of colouring the clay pieces.
1. Acrylic paint was used, then fabric paint mixed together with PVA. In both cases, colour was applied, then gold. Both covered the clay successfully, but gave a pristine look. I was trying to achieve something more natural.
2. I tried dropping fabric dyes onto the surface of the pressed clay, then placing it again between the silicone paper before a second pressing. Most of the dye was driven to the cracked edges of the clay. The colour intensity of these cracked edges gave an interesting effect in comparison to the paler centre.
3. Metallic wax crayons were grated over the clay, and then pressed as before. This gave the appearance of a jewel. I then combined the techniques of the dye with the wax crayons to produce an 'aged' jewel.
4. Sewing holes were made with a needle around the edges of the clay before it had completely dried out after pressing. Experimental samples were carried out on how to incorporate the clay jewel with stitchery. Techniques used included goldwork, needlelace, wrapping, beading and incorporating metal shim.
The next step was to interpret the design into embroideries. A black cotton background was sponged and printed with linear designs. Then a pure silk background was dyed green and sponged with gold fabric paint. These were to be titled 'Egyptian Sources' and 'Nile Jewels' respectively. The techniques would be similar for both embroideries but, on completion, they would be in contrast to each other. Both would be worked through at the same time so that when hitting a 'block' with one, I could work on the other.
The backgrounds were mounted onto natural linen and stretched on a frame. Parts of them were blocked out with pleated gold tissue to represent the Nile. The tissue was attached with a stab stitch. The folds of the tissue were further enhanced with a touch of gold paint. Nestling into these folds were the clay pieces. They were attached using three different techniques:
a) stitching through the sewing holes to the back of the work,
b) suspending threads across the clay to give a crackled appearance,
c) wrapping crinkled wire and running it under and over the clay jewel.
Beads made from the design papers were then threaded onto the some of the wires.
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The combination of patterned backgrounds layered with metallic fabric, clay, wires and beads was then ornamented further with blocks of satin stitch imitating the beads and complementing the clay jewels. A series of straight stitches in gold threads further enhanced the embroideries. 'Egyptian Sources' depicted the patterns of Egypt, whereas the 'Nile Jewels' depicted the architecture and the waters.
Through these embroideries I had travelled once more to that inspirational place. It seemed sad that I had now finished. Yet, had I? That's another story.
This article is from The World of Embroidery, Volume 51 No.5, © Margaret Gamble.