It doesn't matter that you are snowed in - you can curl up in front of the telly tonight and see the work of the Royal School of Needlework who were commissioned by English Heritage to create wall hangings and textiles for Dover Castle to evoke the appearance and atmosphere of the keep, or the Great Tower, on the occasion of a royal visit around 1184. And if you miss it tonight or you are not in the UK you might be able to see the web version: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od The four works have taken 1451 hours to complete by a team of 20 embroiderers over a period of just 3 months. The hand worked appliqué, with couching, stem, split and chain and ‘Bayeux’ stitches will use crewel wool, silk floss and gold threads, true to the style of the period with added embellishments of natural pearls for the rampant lion’s eyes, blue jewel-like stones on the horse’s trappings and gold stars on the azure canopy.
It was brilliant and I'm glad I watched it, thank you for the alert. It was a shame they didn't spend a little more time on the tapestries and the methods but it was good. Of course now I want to visit in the better weather, to see it in all its glory. Jane
ReplyDeleteYes, I was beginning to wonder after the programme was half way through why we hadn't seen anything. I was glad to see it but thought it was a missed opportunity to talk about the methods which would have been used to make such large stitched items......like you I can't wait to visit!
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