'Anguissola' Beaded Necklace

 I recently had the opportunity to celebrate a dear friend (who is now my Apprentice Sister!)

I decided to make a necklace inspired by the girl on the left of this lovely portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola.

Portrait of Three Children with a Dog by Sofonisba Anguissola

Image from: https://www.wikiart.org/en/sofonisba-anguissola/three-children-with-dog-1590

The beads are semi-precious (I can't remember if they are quartz or agate) strung on gold tiger tail wire with gold beads and crimps and a gold heart pendant. The clasp is bar and loop style, as I find that much easier to put on and off.

The necklace I made has more rounded beads. The inspiration piece has oval shaped beads which look a little smaller. The pendant also looks a little different, but it is not a bad match.

Beaded Necklace in the Style of Lord Leicester's

 I recently made a necklace inspired by late period Elizabethan portraiture. 

This piece is made of agate and glass beads and is inspired by the necklace worn in this portrait of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester c. 1560 (Portrait attributed to Steven van der Meulen [active: 1543 - 1563/4] and held in the Wallace Collection).

Image from: Wallace Collection Online - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

The necklace has three strands of tiger tail which the white glass beads are strung on, and all three wires go through the black agate beads. The ends are finished with a silver hook and rod clasp. I made the necklace shorter than Lord Leicester's because it was made for a lady to wear unadorned and her style is less flamboyant than his.

Beading a Necklace

I have had a few health issues over the holiday break and have not been as productive as I would have liked. I have been working on very small and unexciting projects like mending.

One thing that I did get finished was the stringing of a pearl necklace. A dear friend made me a lovely pendant for my birthday, and I was very keen to wear it so I strung it up on tigertail wire straight away. Only to realise that I didn't have any silver crimps and needed to order more. Well, they finally arrived and so I could finish the necklace. 

Necklace with Agate Pendant and Beads

 A nice, quick project that I finished recently for a friend. I found this agate pendant at the thrift shop and strung it with some glass and natural gemstone beads on tiger wire.

Calontir Clothing Challenge - December Update

Once again, the month got away from me and I didn't achieve what I had planned. I didn't beat myself up about it too much because December is always a crazy month with festive preparations, and time seems to go extra fast in the lead up to Christmas.

I cut out my camicia panels and marked out a design for the sleeves. This motif is taken from Richard Shorleyker's 'A Scholehouse for the Needle' published in 1608 and 1624. Several pages from this English pattern book can be found reproduced on Pinterest and more information is available here https://trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/texts-films-customs-and-event/designs-and-design-books/schole-house-for-the-needle

Similar designs can be seen on extant Italian undergarments, as well as paintings from the region. My real problem was deciding on the colour of the embroidery; red, black and blue were very popular colours, and there are extant examples of gold, purple, pink and green as well as polychrome. In the end, I decided on classic black, and started working the motifs in split and double running stitch.

I experimented with a partlet made out of silver grey ribbons. I used an existing rectangular partlet as my guide. The inspiration portrait has diagonal ribbons or knotwork, and I already have a partlet like that in the works, so this one is set with the ribbon going horizontally and vertically. It is tedious work.

In amongst all the other projects, I painted some faux blackwork on masks for an event. It was predicted to be a warm day, and I didn't want to have to add a fourth layer to account for the embroidery holes, so I tried painting the designs. I did not have my good paint bushes at the time, so had to use a very poor quality craft brush that was much too big for the task. Considering that, I think they turned out alright. (The paint was acrylic mixed with fabric painting medium.)

I made some beaded necklaces for gifts and made a blue and white one for me, to wear with this outfit. It has 4g seed beads on tigertail wire.

I also got a small amount of sewing done on my underskirt.

Bead Necklaces

A quick project that I worked on last week was some beading. I made these necklaces out of glass and natural gemstone beads, and they will be given as gifts.

These are strung on tigertail.

More Bead Necklaces and a Caul Pin

I finished off a couple more bead necklaces last week. And I also scored a pearl pin for $5 from a second-hand market; perfect for the front band of a plain caul. Win!

Another Gift Box Necklace

Here is another necklace that I made to be given as Largesse. It is made of ceramic beads and glass beads strung on tiger tail with 4mm seed bead spacers.

Green Necklace for Gift Box

Over the next few months I will be focusing on my Pilgrimage journey. Two aspects of this are Franchise and Largesse. Here is a necklace that I made to be given as Largesse. The beads are natural gemstone and glass seed beads. I am not sure what the long faceted beads are made of.

Beaded Necklace

I was honoured to receive this A&S award in August and it has taken me some time to decide on how to string it on a necklace. These beads were given to me by my Mum, and I think they are subdued enough not to detract from the token.

(Although the colours don't really show up well in the photo, the glass beads are gold and blue.)