Phase 2: Maple Leaves Segment Completed

Since I was done with all the geometric segments on my phase 2 fan, it was time to go back to working on the segments in between — which were a variety of flowers or leaves. I had completed one maple leaf already, early on in this piece:

So I decided to keep going with that segment. The first leaf was done with dark blue 4-->1 twisted silk, with cotton padding on the edges to give a more defined edge. This was the only leaf that got the cotton padding, but I stitched the foreground leaf below using the same color and twist of thread:

I had planned to do the other two leaves in flat silver — a blend of silver silk and silver metallic thread. However, the contrast of the silver silk thread was a little too stark for me, so I decided to use a more muted silver silk that was a bit warmer and had a hint of blueish tones in it (one of the colors I'd chosen for my bamboo leaves).

But it occurs to me that I never really demonstrated the process of stitching these maple leaves, so I took some step-by-step photos to show you. I used 1 1/2F silk thread in the muted silver combined with a single strand of #1 silver and started with the top center portion of the leaf (the "head" of the leaf):

As you can see, I began at the base on the concave, or wider, side (stitching "into the cave," as it's called) and stitched up to the edges of the leaf. The stitches at the base follow the vein line and are quite close together, while the stitches on the edge of the leaf are a little more separated, which allowed me to gradually change the angle of my stitches so I could go around the curve. Presumably this is why his stitch is called separated layer. I continued stitching this way until I got to the point:

Then I started heading back down the other side. But this time, I came up with the needle on the edge of the leaf. And for the first stitch, I hid the end under the stitch at the point:

This half-hidden stitch was to help me go around the curve. For the following stitches, I placed the needle further down, making increasingly long stitches, and left a one-point open space between the two halves of the head:

As I made each stitch during this process, I had to stroke the silk and metal threads carefully with my tekobari (a Japanese laying tool) to make sure they lay flat:

There were a lot fewer stitches on this side because it's much narrower, but here's the head of the leaf completed:

Next, it was time to move on to the "hands" of the leaf. This leaf actually has two sets of hands, but I started with one closest to the head. The curve of the vein line went in the opposite direction on this section, so I started on the left side this time:

Here's the first hand completed:

And then I continued down that left side, doing the other hand and finally the "foot," which is the bottom section:

The partially cut-off hand and foot were a little trickier to do since I didn't know exactly where the point of each one was, but I think they turned out pretty well. My one-point open spaces aren't perfect, but they're there and visible at least.

Once this side was done, I went back up to the top hand on the right and began working my way down that side:

Then I stitched the final foot and this leaf was done:

I really like how it turned out. I think the flat silk blended with the silver is lovely — it has such a nice sheen and sparkle. And the color is perfect. It's still silver looking, but it's a little more subtle than the true silver color would have been.

I then stitched the final maple leaf the exact same way:

Not too bad, I think, for my first four maple leaves. The silver ones are especially pretty. Hopefully you can see the subtle difference between the silver I used on the maple leaves and the silver I used on the pinks, two segments to the right. The silver on the pinks is the true silver and is a little more grey. I really like its contrast with the purple in that segment. But I think the silver I chose for the maple leaves was better for this segment because it's just a touch warmer.

And here is the completed fan so far:

I am absolutely loving it. I admit I had some hesitations about how well the blue and silver maple leaves (which kind of look like stars) would go with the purple segments to either side. But I really like how it turned out. It helps keep the fan from being too monochromatic. 

Next up, I will probably move on to the plum blossoms, as the ones touching the far right segment need to be done before I can do the silver work on the far right segment. Since my next lesson is in a little over a week, that will be my focus till then. But if I have time, I will do some bamboo leaves as well.