Completed Double Casket Carcass dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of Jane Austen's passing

My original plan on this date, the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's passing, was completion of the entire casket exterior...... I'm still pleasantly pleased to be at a point where the casket carcass is complete and ready to mount the embroidered panels in the next year. Below is a front view of the double casket covered with Holbart archival paper......the current plan is to mount the doors/hardware once the embroidered side and door front panels are in place.

The double casket configuration has two hinged lidded compartments. When the top compartment tray is removed the space underneath is large enough to store a vintage mother of pearl toilet set and matching letter opener. The lower compartment is riddled with hidden storage drawers behind faux removable walls. Two silk velvet pincushion pillows boast Satsuma buttons from my button collection. Two front cubbies are lined in silk velvet and edged in metallic bobbin lace in fact almost everything is edged in gold metallic bobbin lace, you can never have enough lace!

Also stowed are mother of pearl thread spools, a netted miser purse, gaming chips, an ivory tambour hook, parasol needle keep a Sherri Jones (Patrick's Woods) design and a vintage velvet cornucopia shaped pin keep.....I've probably forgotten something!

In the front view above, the drawer fronts symbolize Jane Austen's canon, Sense and Sensibility (S&S), Pride and Prejudice (P&P) and Mansfield Park (M&P). The long bottom drawer is a pattern, of my own design, symbolizing an ink bottle and quill pen. All drawer fronts were completed in a wrapped flat silk thread technique on 4-ply card stock typical of 17th century caskets. This project is a marriage of sorts between the 17th century when caskets were a popular school girl pastime (although it's thought some may have been professional/commercially available from bookbinders where caskets were a portion of their business), the turn of the 19th century (Jane Austen's time period) and current 21st century. I chose color palates for the drawer fronts from first edition book spines, below are photo's of  Emma and Pride and Prejudice taken during the 2016 JASNA AGM Library tour of Goucher College.

Above, the silk velvet panel can be removed revealing a set of three more 'secret' drawers representing, Emma, Northanger Abbey (N A) and Persuasion (P). Inside the drawers are small odd 'trinkets'. A crystal perfume bottle and mint tin from Mt. Vernon within S&S and M&P respectively. P&P has mother of pearl gaming chips and a wonderful set of 3" Elizabeth and Darcy wood dolls I commissioned from Eric Horne in the UK. Eric is known for his handmade historically accurate wood dolls.... I was surprised to find I was the first to ask for Elizabeth and Darcy dolls! Although immodestly attired note they are fully jointed.......

And the last picture is of my 'clean' slate frame...... a teaser. Rough outlines are of 11 panels which include the casket top, sides of the upper hinged lids and the interior of the front doors. All should be complete later this year. The second mounting of my frame will be the lower back, side panels and exterior doors, which are scheduled for 2018....

Finished Tricia's Inspirational Floral Glove Needlecase and it's connection to Bath

In preparation for techniques I plan to use for the Jane Austen inspired casket, I have been revisiting online classes Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen has offered in the span of over a decade.... I am always amazed at the care and details involved in her online classes. One example is the Floral Glove Needlecase which I just completed in the past month. The class was offered in 2010, saved in my stash and I savored every minute I spent recently in its review and completion.

Dr. Nguyen's classes include a background of the historical inspiration for the study, in this case they are gauntlets....the purchased licenses allow students to see actual pieces at the V & A, the Met in NY, MFA in Boston and the Holburne in Bath... Added features, for example, a portion of our kit fee was used to purchase storage boxes to ease in accessing the Holburnes extensive collection of gloves and gauntlets. I learned that professionally embroidered gloves were symbolic exchanged wedding gifts to women who displayed them in their portraits. In contrast are matching sets of hood and gauntlet utilized in falconry, etc.

I have been fortunate to have visited Bath three times and each experience has been spent with a few hours at both the Fashion Museum and the Holburne to get my eye candy fix.....

Below is my Floral Glove Needlecase, an exploration of techniques in silk thread shading, couching goldwork threads, applying spangles/paillettes, ruching silk ribbon, and an experience with gilt lizardine and purls.....all historically accurate techniques in the short lived fashion statement utilized by Glovers...

A view of the work in progress and a close up of the assembly...

 The needlecase interior...... complete with an interior ultrasuede pocket designed to hold a pair of scissors, felt for needles, and three silk lined pockets for gaming chips, lucet and a bodkin...Needless to say the quality of Dr. Nguyen's classes and kits are to die for....

An exhausting day of sightseeing and exploring Bath can be ended with a refreshing ale at a local pub or a stop to the Canary Gin Bar to experience a JA inspired gin cocktail...

Now back to my JA inspired casket to utilize what I have reviewed...

Reading Deirdre Le Faye's 'JA Letters' and Claire Tomalin's 'JA, a Life' in my reading group increased the enjoyment of the 2013 and 2016 JASNA tours....

Last year, 2016 one of my reading groups decided to begin reading Deirdre Le Faye's compilation of 'Jane Austen's Letters' along with Claire Tomalin's 'Jane Austen, A Life'. Happening soon after my second JA JASNA tour in 2016 it was wonderfully insightful and perfectly timed. The 2013 tour covered Pride & Prejudice, and was very much like the tours planned for this summer. Last summer's tour was themed Emma with a bit of Persuasion sprinkled in, complete with a trip to 'the cob'. As members are probably making last minute plans for this summers tours, dedicated to the 200 anniversary of JA's passing. I can honestly say.... you are in for a treat, enjoy every minute, listen and soak it all in....Consider an extra day or three in London, last summer I finally made it to Twinings Tea. Where, if you are having trouble deciding on the enormous selection, they have a 'tea' bar and will brew selections for you on site,. The entrance to this narrowly situated Regency Era entryway is the same as Jane would have known, pictured below....

Inside situated at the far wall are display cases which amuse visitors with a little tea history....

I easily went through all my British currency before returning to the US, 70 pounds worth!!! Then had my luggage searched when I returned to Philly Int'l Airport because, I believe, they doubted anyone would return with that much tea....really! You can walk past one of Henry's homes still standing in London where Jane stayed, pictured below.

When in Winchester at the Cathedral visit the store, They have a section dedicated to JA, I couldn't resist the character ornaments. I also purchased ink with the JA logo for my casket..

Bath has many diversions....Lunch or Dinner at the assembly rooms. This time around I made certain to pack my swimsuit and visited the baths. They have two very entertaining pools. One pool with a fairly strong current which if you are not careful can sweep you into other patrons.  A second on the rooftop where you can enjoy a bit of sun. There is also a steam room with individual aroma therapy rooms depending on your inclination. My next visit I think I may try a facial and/or a massage, and go entirely Roman....Also spend a few hours at the Holburne Museum, which has a delightful lunch counter situated in an enclosed atrium. I had a delicious watermelon and feta salad with a dill dressing refreshing on a warm summer day.... I have begun framing chocolates from my trips, just to be a bit different. Below is one from the Roman Baths and another from a trip to South Africa...

Reading both books together helped to mentally visualize locations from the trips. On the 2016 tour we stopped at a few locations Jane would have been familiar with on her trips traveling in her later years from Chawton to London and Godmersham. Along with churches she would have known either from relatives or neighbors who were rectors...Below a view of Anna LeFroy's grave, Jane's niece, with the entryway of the Parish at Ashe.....

View's of the Wheat n' Sheaf in Basingstoke.....

Henry's Bank in Alton....

A way stop in Guilford which Jane was familiar with....

A short term home of Jane's in Worthing now a Pizza Express, our group stopped for dessert which may have been a bit overwhelming for them, but a nice respite for us ...

and just for fun the entry of a jokester in Lyme....

So many wonderful memories.....

Finished My Flat Top Casket Carcass

This morning I finished my flat top casket carcass.  Just need to attach the hardware and decide how to handle the feet.... Yeah me!!!  I chose to complete the flat top casket configuration before the JA double casket simply due to the slightly simpler form.  This casket will be covered with 'whitework', the effect will reveal the purple silk beneath.  Stitching will begin after the JA casket is finished, hopefully late next year...Whitework is a very untraditional form of finishing, but consider the profuse media used to cover caskets centuries in the past e.g. beadwork, stumpwork, tent stitch executed on linen, wrapped card and satin stitch over a silk satin foundation, this design will fit the bill wonderfully...Well... here it is..

The flat top casket interior is finished in the same purple silk and has abundant space, which is taken up by drawers in the double casket configuration. This is precisely why one casket is not enough.... ha ha.  Note, the silver embossed edging matches the hardware and the purple Holbart archival paper does too!!!

This is a view of the bottom of the casket and tray insert.  I was determined to cover the tray with matching silk velvet.  Luckily there was enough clearance between the flat top casket base and tray to accommodate this which was so exciting to discover....Thank you, Tricia and Richard...Love it!!!

Now, let's take a peek inside....Still deciding on ribbons, but the shells will all be pincushions, their colors match magically... Far left, there is a velvet lined cubby which is the perfect size for my JA ink bottle.  Next is a second cubby filled with needles and thread winders, lidded by a velvet pillow.  Note the mother-of-pearl bee button.... and a second pincushion pillow which when removed.....

A secret compartment is revealed beneath....So much fun, now on to finishing the JA double casket...

My Buffalo gals, the Millers amazing woodwork accessories and Jackie's Ode...

I began this post after I finished my pre-stitching, before I actually attended Jackie Du Plessis's 'Ode' finishing class, in Buffalo, NY last October of 2016. My Ode is to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of JA's death this year, 1817-2017. Ode is a 'miniature writing desk' box (made by Miller Carpentry Creations) filled with hand embroidered finished smalls pictured below. Note, all the design's shown in this post are copyrighted. Any questions or interest in a project should conclude by contact with the accredited teacher, to determine the 'where and what', of her teaching schedule...Some classes may no longer be available but these talented ladies will be very obliging...

Ode is opened with a fob. I modified Jackie's key design to duplicate the key to St. Nicholas church. The box floor is a miniature sampler, mostly over one thread, no not JA's sampler...but similar in style to English band samplers.

A fabric band of linen edged with Hedebo scallops holds tiny bottles, who in turn hold tiny mother-of-pearl finishing buttons. Mine has included an ink bottle from the Winchester Cathedral gift shop, along with it's matching JA inspired pen and pencil. Note the plaque on the lid in the picture above. It is inscribed with a JA quote from one of her prayers, along with a thread spool holder, housewife, pin keep, sweet bag and needlebook to store inside the box. I tucked in other treasures such as a deck of JA playing cards. It's a very tight fit!....Very fun!!.. I also changed Jackie's housewife a bit with the addition of my dedication and 'signature' below the alphabets depicted in the top most picture...I hope both Jackie and JA approve...

Jackie's class has prompted the following discussion on finishing....Finishing can take on quite a few different meanings to different groups of embroiderer's. To someone such as myself, I enjoy historically inspired embroidered items. After I complete a reproduction sampler, I do not commission a framer. I finish my edges in hemstitching (like early 16-17th century samplers) mount it on a linen covered foam core board and stick it in a frame, myself...The example below is a reproduction sampler from The Scarlet Letter. Note the neatly finished edges around the perimeter, also the background filling stem stitch of the center 'boxer' band. In addition the bands of queen stitch, montenegrin, rice, bullion and satin filling stitches all added to the interest of this sampler originally completed by Rachel Jarrett at the age of eleven. What is even more interesting is that she completed it in 1768, and the band designs were actually popular motifs a century earlier. Rachel's sampler is actually a reproduction sampler in it's own right! I pace myself by working each band over a month or two period. Too long at work on 36 and finer linen causes eye strain. The magnification and lighting investments of some embroiderer's is beyond the scope of this blog...ha ha...

Next, I want to discuss a few of my favorite teachers and finishing classes. Realize, before I consider investing in a class, it needs to be worth my time, money and foremost intellectually stimulating. An example is an Elizabethan sampler class of Nan Tyson Euler. Arbella is a fictitious sampler inspired by the Jane Bostocke sampler (the oldest known 'signed' sampler to date 1598, V & A). Arbella has interesting stitching techniques with Holbein and goldwork but what was worth the two day drive and hotel stay???.... I learned, along with a discussion on ciphers, a tack/lock stitch which anchors the thread used in tiny singular stitch/knot's. I have experience with this stitch in crewelwork but the concept of a different use was eye opening...That tack/lock stitch is invaluable for reversible embroidery work!

Let me describe other classes with wonderful teachers I have taken over the years. More than a decade ago I finished Merry Cox's 'French Bonbon Box', pictured below. This was my first experience with French seams and techniques which employed both linen and card stock in finishing this silk drawstring bag.

Next, Betsy Morgan and her wonderful twisted cord and tassel finishing classes. My 'Four Season's Pin Cube' and 'Edinburgh Sweet Bag' are below. I also attended Betsy's 'Toy Chest Etui' class in 2010, (poop, that's a long time ago). An embroidered etui chest inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch painted motif''s, the sub-title is, 'A big girl's box of toys', and it flipping is.... I have to finish this while I'm still in PA....

Then...Sherri Jones, from my home state of Michigan and her skillfully designed classes, with more of a Victorian flare. Below is the 'Ring of Roses', a bag constructed of rings covered with a silk thread Hedebo technique. Also, pictured below, a Tulip Tray, Hare Box, and Blue Ribbon Sewing Box (woodwork by Miller Carpentry Creations). All are great finishing classes, in techniques I can utilize for my caskets. Sherri also has a 'Button Lover's Brag Book', which became an Ebay crazed pastime for me, I may post that too, once finish!

Barbara Jackson, who has graciously passed on techniques in Crewel embroidery obtained from the Royal School of Needlework in preparation/mounting of embroidery work, combining wool and silks and over all very traditional and professionally appealing designs. Crewel work and punched needle will be my techniques of choice as my eyes age....

Catherine Theron offered a 'huswife/wallet' finishing class with a very traditional Irish stitch design I completed this for my son's High School graduation. Yes real men do sew...!!...

        


Marcia Brown Smith has written finishing techniques for Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen's projects over the years but has had great examples of box finishing of her own right. Two of her classes are shown below...

CA Wells taught the first finishing class I ever attended the Acorn Etui. Also pictured below, a Sampler Storage Roll and Sailor's Valentine (JA casket motif???). CA's classes are very entertaining.. She will usually keep you interested by story telling or twisting cord, by hand... I was completely engrossed and deeply concerned to keep up in class, but somehow, tangled my threads on my cardigan buttons and fell behind.. I made a complete mess and distinctly remember the day because of it....

Catherine Jordan, who along with her dyeing and fiber classes has fearlessly crossed the creativity line by combining paint in her embroidery projects. I have two embroidered maps and accessories which utilize this technique. Rae Iverson is a master in etui designs...as I finish her kit's I will post. I have a set of Williamsburg etui's of 'The Needlework shop' and 'Bruton Parish' I am determined to complete before the Williamsburg AGM in 2019...and a Shaker box with a matching herb garden housewife...all so wonderful...add to the masterful written kit texts, quality materials and Rae's accompanying well informed historically inspired lectures they are the icing on the cake!!

Enough contained in this post, which has inspired me to return stitching...