Phase 3: Second Tassel Complete

At last, my second tassel is complete! (And there was much rejoicing!)

I won't provide a ton of detail about this process because I've already documented the process in my First Tassel Complete post. But I will provide pictures and some basic explanations so you can see the progression.

I first blended the light and dark gold area a little more using short-stitch holding (half dark and half light gold blended into 1-->1T):

Then I put in some guidelines and did more short-stitch holding to hold down the long, dark gold stitches around the base of the tassel. I used 1-->2T in dark gold:

Then I removed my temporary guidelines, and this is the result:

I think it helped blend things nicely. The next step was creating the smooth karayori thread (4-->1TT) in dark gold (to contrast with the light gold foundation) and then couching it down along the outside edges of the tassel at 2.5mm intervals:

After I finished the outside edges, I couched down my center lines first:

I did a better job at getting these two lines centered on this tassel than I did on my first tassel; I was happy about that since I was just eyeballing it. Then I stitched two more lines on either side of these two center ones:

I think I spaced these out pretty well. I was very happy with the tassel up to this point. The next step was couching down the gentle curve across the top part of the eight vertical lines:

That went well, too. But as is often the case in Japanese embroidery, there was a little twist. This time, the twist came while couching down my vertical lines: I accidentally stabbed my thumb with the very sharp, very large #10T needle I was using for the thick karayori thread. And it bled. On my cord! To my great horror, a large, crimson drop of blood fell on the base of the cord, covering the three bottom stitches.

Now, because I had been using smooth karayori thread, which has to be stitched with while it's damp, I had a cold, wet cloth right there on my tomo-dai. So I immediately began dabbing the spot (Note: never use warm or hot water on any red stain — it will set the stain). While I did get the blood out, the silk threads became kind of dingy and worn looking. I think I might have rubbed a bit too much in my zeal to remove the bloodstain. You can see those three threads just don't have the same glossy sheen as the rest of the cord:

I couldn't live with that, not after working on this piece for 10 months, so I removed those stitches.

And I stitched them again. You can see they're much shinier, like the surrounding areas:

Fortunately, the blood fell on a spot that was easy to replace. There are many other places in this piece that would have been far more problematic. But with that crisis averted, it was time to finish off the tassel by adding the knots, in light gold to contrast with the dark gold foundation. As with the first tassel, I used 4-->1T for the knots at the outer edge and 3-->1T for the knots within the tassel:

I did far fewer knots on this tassel, and I liked the look of it much better. Here's the entire left cord section so you can see it all together:

I was so much happier with the gold tassel that I decided to go back to the teal tassel and make it a bit more consistent. This is what it looked like originally:

I think it just had too many knots. So I went through and carefully removed some of the knots to let more of the foundation show through:

Fortunately, I had added knots in phases, using a new thread for each phase, and I was able to remove the last phase of knots, which were all connected on the same thread, and achieve more space in an even way. And I'm really pleased with it! It doesn't feel so cluttered. It's more subtle, more elegant, and more cohesive with the gold tassel. And I actually think it looks more ruffly with fewer knots.

So my tassels are officially done! And obviously I'm thrilled about that. But what this really means is ... I'm done with everything except the goldwork and the borders! I'm soooo close! And I can hardly wait to start the goldwork blade of the fan, which I will be stitching in the most vibrant #4 copper color, couched down with a beautiful, dark teal couching silk.

But first, I am going to Florida to see my dad again. And also to see the Florida keys. Two birds, one stone. 😂 Since I'll be packing and getting ready for the trip, I probably won't stitch again until the weekend after next. But I'm really looking forward to it. And hopefully I'll have some more updates for you soon after.