Tekabarune: Lower Bow

Tekabarune: Mallet (cont.)

The last bit I need to complete before working the sides of the boat is the Mallet handle. The original had a circle/hole in the center of the handle that touched the boat but not the top one. The top one's center was worked in fuzzy effect. I chose to make them match and do round and round couching, covering the entire handle. 

Still not sure which metallic ill work the body of the Mallet in. The white is still the padding thread and the one brown vein is a test for possible metallic. Ill decide once I finish the sides of the boat. 

Here is the piece to date: 

Tekabarune: Sheild

The Sheild in the foreground also needs to be worked before I can return to the ship. 

Alternating #5 Gold an Silver in round and round couching separated by Katayori. The couching thread is the same color as the outer Katayori band which gives it a wonderful sheen. 

I mixed a rainbow #1 metallic in the Katayori which gives it an extra flair, too. 

The original design calls for white flat silk which would be used as one of the Katayori but I've chosen not to use it. The white on the black ground fabric would be too stark. Instead, I've chosen a regal purple. 

Tekabarune: Waves

After finishing the top of the bow, I quickly realized that I need to do the waves and "bubbles" that sit on top of the the bottom of the bow or sides of the boat. 

Per the box chart, I'm using #5 Gold. The box chart also calls for # 5 Silver.  I've decided to stay away from the silver because I'm finding that it REALLY pops on the black and gold speckled ground fabric.  It's interesting that all the pictures I have found of this design is on light fabric (white, light gold, and light blue) - so these really fun thread choices are challenging. 

Above is a close up of waves and bubbles. The waves are two strands #5 gold couched. The bubbles are single strand #5 To and Fro. 

Below is how the design looks right now. The drum is seriously incomplete on purpose... I haven't decided what the metallic for the To and Fro on the body will be. The JEC "honey gold" just fades into the background. The white is Couching thread.  The one brown vein is where I covered the Couching thread with brown silk. 

The other two other areas that I have to work before I can do the body is the shield and handle on the drum. Back to stitching!

Tekabarune: The Bow

The drum poses particular challenges in choosing the colors of the metallic so I've decided to work the body I the ship first. 

Fortunately I have two pictures to reference: the original design picture and a picture in Audrey Francini's EGA one women show booklet. Unfortunately, both are on different color backgrounds. The original is on white and Audrey's on blue, while mine is on black. 

The design calls for working the ship with regular gold. I've chosen the black because gold pops on the black but I don't want the ship to be all bling. The ship is worked in #4 gold so I do have a choices.  I've chosen the darker of the brown golds. 

When I first started working it, I hose a couching stitch color that matched the metallic perfectly. I quickly decided that there wasn't enough contrast ambit didn't look boat like enough ( see picture above). My solution was to use black couching stitches. 

Final picture of the bow: