From the
Guildmaster of the Worshipful Company of BroiderersDocumentation and Presentation for Company Competitions and Ranking
From the
Guildmaster of the Worshipful Company of Broiderersby Mistress Bess Haddon.
Greetings to all members
of the Worshipful Company of Broderers of Lochac.
By the time you receive this, we should have completed the round of
competitions for AS XXXV, and will have a new champion to be announced at Rowany
Festival. The next round of Company
competitions will start at May Coronet, and I hope to see lots of you enter this
year. We have chosen the
competition categories in consultation with members of the Company to make them
as interesting and inspiring as possible.
The May Coronet
competition, ‘Something New’ has been chosen to encourage embroiderers to
try something they haven’t tried before, either a new technique, or a new
style of embroidery. I’m sure
that for many of you there is something that you’ve always wanted to have a go
at, so this is the competition to spur you to action.
Since the broadness of this competition makes it hard to write an article
on the style or technique, it seemed that this would be a good time to run a
general article on what the judges are looking for in terms of documentation and
presentation, both for the competitions and for the Company rankings.
This year we have had a
number of people submit items for ranking, and it became clear that we needed to
formalise the process for recording the rank, and providing feedback.
There is a new ranking form for this purpose, and a copy is attached to
the newsletter. You can submit your
work for ranking to me, either in person, or by mail with photographs and
documentation attached. Documentation
is essential for ranking, but you can provide either written or oral
documentation - it will help, however, if you can provide pictures of the period
pieces that you have based your work on.
Tristan de Poitiers has
attained apprentice level in both blackwork and chainstitch.
Mistress Alarice submitted
several pieces for ranking in November. She
has attained the overall rank of Journeyman, and has reached that standard in
German counted thread work, cross-stitch and couching, but the beautiful
blackwork cap which won the Midwinter competition has been ranked at Master
level. Mistress Keridwen, our
patron, has attained Master level for her couching, split stitch, beadwork and blackwork, and needs to submit only one more piece at
that level to become a Master Embroiderer.
Lord Bartolomeo has attained Master level for his Elizabethan slips, but
he still needs to submit documentation for his other pieces (yes, Bart, it’s a
hint!). Congratulations to all
those who have attained rank within the Company.
I know, too, that there
are several other people who have shown me work during the time that I have been
Guildmaster, but I don’t have clear records of it, in several cases because
they didn’t supply documentation. If this applies to you, please could you contact me, and
resubmit your piece with a ranking form and documentation, and I will give you a
firm rank.
It has been brought to
my attention that some of the information about ranking and how the guild works
has not been particularly accessible. This
is my fault, and mostly stems from the fact that I haven’t got my act together
with the charter. So this issue
will also contain the new improved version of the Company charter.
Please note that the charter is not set in concrete, and may be changed
by the Masters of the Company (at the moment, that’s just me and Mistress
Vittoria degli Fiori, but we hope that will change soon), and any member can put
forward a case for changing the charter. This
particularly applies to the styles and techniques of embroidery which we
consider period. The list is not
exclusive, and if you can provide the evidence and convince us that a style or
technique of embroidery was performed in Western Europe before 1600, we’ll be
happy to add it to the list.
The other point to make
about the charter is that in some ways it is still a ‘vision statement’, and
represents where we would like to be, rather than necessarily where we are now,
but we have come a long way towards achieving the goals we have set, and with
the enthusiasm of the members will surely continue to do so.
A final reminder that
Rowany Festival is not too far away (panic now, save time later), and it would
be nice to see Company members display their work in the Laurels’ Prize
Tourney. I am looking forward to
seeing what you’ve all been up to. There
will also be the annual Company meeting (at a time to be announced) and you are
all invited to come along, ask questions and put forward your points of view.
It would also be nice to have some classes taught by members of the
Company, so please contact me if you have any ideas for classes you would like
to attend, or like to teach.
Keep stitching!
From the Guild
Patron of the Worshipful Company of Broiderersby Mouse
Greetings everyone,
Well the last few months have been quite busy and rewarding for me. I managed to sew some lovely blackwork cuffs and do a spot of beading for Rowany Yule Feast. However now I’m dithering with a few small projects that aren’t quite holding my attention. It’s strange how we seem to need deadlines to get anything done.
Therefore I’m hoping that the competitions we sponsor are helping you to get projects started and, hopefully, finished. The next competition at May Coronet is for “something new”. If you are planning on sewing something you haven’t tried before in preparation for Festival, or 12th Night or May Coronet itself, then please enter it in the competition.
As I’ve said before, last year was a bit of a slow year for the WCoB, due to illness, the Olympics and a million other reasons. Please give the officers of the WCoB some feedback on how it it’s all been going. Even if it is just a simple “I’m reading the Newsletter and it’s interesting” or suggesting a competition on 14th Century Belgian embroidered pommanders (‘cause you are building one and are sure to win with it!), please let us know, because a little encouragement is always good to get.
Have fun with the sewing…
From the
Chronicler of the Worshipful Company of Broiderersby Bartolomeo
Greetings all.
Welcome to the first issue of the Guild Newsletter for the New Year. I hope you all had happy and safe holiday celebrations. Well, convention would have it that the New Year is the time for Resolutions, so of course I made the normal ones (eat less, exercise more, stop after just one pizza… yadda, yadda, yadda!) but this year I added ‘Do more needlework’ to the list.
May I also suggest that if any of you are still in the market for another Resolution, that ‘Write an article for the Guild Newsletter’ is a good one. Just a thought…
Documentation
and Presentation for Company Competitions and RankingsThis article aims to present the information you
will need if you want to enter competitions for the Worshipful Company of
Embroiderers, or if you want to submit your embroidery to be ranked.
It also aims to provide you with some tips to get you a higher score or
ranking, and to give you the inside story on what the judges are looking for.
Firstly, competitions and ranking are
quite similar, but not exactly the same in terms of what you are required to
produce. Firstly, you do not have
to submit a finished piece for a competition, but can submit a work in progress
(although the amount of work you have done will affect your score) and you do
not have to submit documentation with your competition entry (but again, you
will not score as highly if you don’t document your piece).
For ranking on the other hand, you will have to submit a finished piece,
accompanied by documentation. The
reason for the difference is that for ranking you are required to demonstrate
that you have mastered that particular style or technique and that you know the
historical background for it. The
ranking system is also based on the period practices of medieval guilds, and is
designed to help move embroiderers to a more professional level, where they
would be producing work for sale. The
competitions are designed more for members to have fun producing embroidery, and
to display their work so that they can get feedback on it.
In both the competitions and the ranking, the
judges and masters of the Company will be looking for similar things - pieces of
embroidery in medieval style and technique.
The ideal piece of embroidery would be one which is closely based on
period examples, but is not necessarily a copy - indeed the piece that would
score highest is one that is an original design on period lines, or something
that ‘could have been’.
To achieve this sort of piece, it is vitally
important that you think about the design before
you start the embroidery. ‘Backwards
documentation’, where you try to show how something you have already made is
like something made in period, is unlikely to be very successful.
It is much easier to think about the issues at the time you are designing
the piece. Here are some questions
you might find useful to ask yourself when you are planning your embroidery:
·
What is it for? Embroidery in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was nearly
always for a purpose (although sometimes we no longer know what the original
purpose was). The idea of doing
embroidery just to make a picture that you might frame and put on the wall is
pretty much a modern one. Period
embroidery was designed to be used - on costume, on bedding or household linens,
for wall hangings, for religious purposes, for heraldic decoration etc.
In such cases the purpose of the embroidery would have a major impact on
the sort of embroidery that was done. For
example, what materials were used, what the scale was, what the stitches were,
how much it is necessary to worry about the back of the embroidery etc. could
all be determined by what the piece was to be used for.
·
Are the materials appropriate for the style of
embroidery? Different sorts of
threads and ground fabrics are used for different styles of embroidery in the
Middle Ages. To produce a piece of
period style embroidery, you will need to get the materials right.
For example, it would not be appropriate to do a Bayeux Tapestry style of
embroidery on a velvet background, or apply Elizabeth slips to plain linen.
To get an understanding of the materials that were used in the style of
work that you would like to do, it is best to look at as many period examples as
you can. This will also help you to get a feel for the styles of
different types of embroidery. You
may sometimes need to make substitutions for materials on the basis of
availability and expense, but if you keep in mind the need for the substitute to
look as close to the original as possible, you will still be able to produce a
piece which is close to a period look and feel.
·
Is the design appropriate for the style of
embroidery? It is particularly
important to keep this question in mind when you are embroidering clothing.
Blackwork is a period style of embroidery, but it is only appropriate for
sixteenth century costume, and will look out of place on a 12th
century garment. Similarly, there
are many religious motifs in period embroideries, but almost all of these will
appear on religious items. A
crucifixion scene in beadwork may be period, but it would be inappropriate (not
to mention tasteless) on the front of a bodice.
·
Are the techniques appropriate for the style of
embroidery? A period design will
not look right if the stitches are not the ones that were used for that style of
embroidery. I have a book at home
which shows scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry rendered in counted-thread coloured
cross-stitch. It’s worth keeping
for amusement value, but it wouldn’t score highly in a WCOB competition!
The WCOB
competition form outlines the categories for which your embroidery will be
judged. They are:
·
Documentation. If no documentation is present, the work must score zero in
this category. The documentation
should provide the sources (books, original pieces, etc.) on which the piece was
based, and may also provide a discussion of them. The documentation should also provide information on the date
and place for the work (e.g. Elizabethan England), and on the materials used,
including any substitutions made and the reasons for them (e.g. ‘I have used
DMC cotton rather than the more period silk, because it was cheaper’).
·
Use of Sources. These points are for the way in which the embroiderer has
used the period pieces and documentation in making the piece.
If there is no documentation, this will need to rely on the knowledge
that the judges have of this particular style.
This category will cover the level of ‘authenticity’ of the piece and
points will be awarded for creative uses of sources in a period style.
·
Technique. These
points will be awarded for the execution of the embroidery - i.e. how well the
embroidery is done. The assessment
of technique will depend on the style of the piece, and will include a judgement
of how appropriate the technique is.
·
Use of Materials. These points will be given for the approapriate choice of
materials for the stye and purpose of the piece. This section will also take into account appropriateness of
colour, weight of thread and type of ground fabric, both as they relate to
period examples and to the overall style and consistency of the project.
·
Presentation. This category enables the judges to award points for style
Judges should also award more points to pieces which have a purpose, and
which are finished, or include a substantial amount of work (especially with
larger projects).
A similar range of considerations apply to ranking, although your work will not be awarded points, and the size and scope of your project will also be taken into account. For more information on how the ranking system works, see the Company’s charter.
Forthcoming
Competitions
Worshipful Company of Broiderers of Lochac Championship, A.S. XXXVI
May
Coronet, A.S. XXXVI
Something New – any item in a technique you haven’t tried before!
Underwear – an item of embroidered or beaded underwear (chemise, petticoat, coif etc), technique open.
Headwear – an embroidered or beaded item to be worn on the head (hat, headcloth, coif etc), technique open.
12th
Night Investiture, A.S. XXXVI
Other
Resources
West Kingdom Needlework Guild
Guild Mistress
Sabrina de la Bere (Robin Berry)
Email: rlberry@sprynet.com Guild Website http://users.drak.net/needlework
Historic
Needlework List
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e-mail.)
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