'Jewels of the Raj' - A one day class in Indian inspired mirror embroidery, Sunday 12th May in Rugby, UK.

You will learn to work shisha mirror stitches and combine them with other indian embroidery stitches to make your own indian inspired mirror embroidery.

There are still some places left so for more details and to book, visit the Heart of Embroidery website, or send me a message here, putting 'Jewels of the Raj' in the subject line

Hope to see you there!

This week, the white bits are filled in and Mary gets a face! The green border is filled in with the egg tempera as before. The green colour represents the green olive branch and separates the divine Icon from humanity.

This, believe it or not, is the colour of the face!

Icons are worked from dark to light, this colour will be the darkest tones of the face.

Lots of thin layers of paint are better than one thick layer. This has had 3 layers

The last white area to be covered is the braid. The darkest layer of this is an orange/brown colour. So now the whole board is covered! 

Usually you have to leave the good bit until the end but not in Icon writing! Got to do the guilding next (so it doesn't stick to the paint that follows)

Painting on the bole (a sticky paint mixture!) for the gold leaf to stick to

The gold leaf is applied over the dry bole which has been sanded lightly to make it smooth.

The first layer of Egg Tempera goes on. This is a mix of 4 pigments, egg, white wine vingear and water! It goes on unevenly (I guess we will find out why soon!). Icons are always worked from dark to light and there are four painting stages. This is the first, the painting of the background colours.

The green headress is painted next ithe same uneven way. 

Mary is ready for her face!

More interesting Icon facts:

Hands are always blessing, praying or pointing to God.

The red/brown of Mary's clothing represents humanity, the blue green of her headress, Divinity.

The border on an Icon separates the Divine from humanity (i.e. us!)

I started a 10 week Iconography painting course this year and thought I would share my progress with you!

The icon board front and back (I paid extra for a top notch one the idea being start as you mean to go on!) and the Icon we are going to paint (Mary by the way). The board is wood covered with layers of Gesso sanded down to a very smooth finish.

We fixed the design in place, brushed red brown pigment over the back and re-drew the deisgn onto the board much like a carbon paper transfer method only a lot more messy!

The lines were then painted over with Egg Tempera (more on this below!). We scribed lines into the gesso surface (on my beautiful new board? Surely not!) for reasons that will be explained later. The side edges of the board were painted with the tempera along with a 2mm line all the way around the top edge. It's ready for the next lesson!!

Egg Tempera:

Egg Tempera is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with, yes you guessed it, eggs! Egg yolk to be precise. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist. Egg tempera was a primary method of painting until after 1500 when it was superseded by the invention of oil paints. Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Last supper' was painted in tempera.

Some notes on Icon painting:

If you like structure in your classes this is the one for you!

Icons are not 'painted' they are 'drawn'.

Icons are an offering to God, so always use the best materials you can. 

Make sure you paint the Saints in the right colours wih the correct features so they can always be recognised (e.g. Mary always wears red/brown)

You always need to see two eyes (never paint a Saint in profile) and at least one ear

The eyes should look different (hurrah! Eyes are so hard to get the same...)

More next time the snow stops!

My embroidery business has grown over the last 12 months, and I would like to thank everyone for their support throughout the year. There are bigger and better things coming next year so I look forward to seeing you all then! You can look forward to:

More quality shop items including more goldwork materials and embroidery kits

More videos, free projects, newsletters, classes and magazine articles

Distance learning classes - learn to stitch from the comfort of your own home! New to Sarah Homfray, distance learning classes start in 2013 with beautiful designs to work, quality material packs and comprehensive instructions. More news on this soon!

Wishing you all Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays!!!

Robin in winter, Charcaol and pastel on paper. 2012