Or Nué Class

Yesterday I took an Or Nué class by Brenda Kocher.  The ANG Main Line Stitchers Chapter hosted the event.  The day was somewhat gloomy - a perfect day for stitching.  We were all so excited to start on Brenda's Or Nué Star Lily design.

Or Nué means "nuance of gold" or "shaded gold".  In this technique, gold or silver threads are laid across the canvas and then held down with silk threads couched over the metallic.  The silk threads are couched in a pattern that forms a design.  At the ends, the metallic threads can either be "sunk" into the canvas, which is what we did in class, or turned on the surface.  There are some excellent references on the Internet, including Jane Zimmerman's Traditional Technique of Or Nué.  There is a magnificent collection of Or Nué embroideries in the Altar Room (Sala dell'Altare) in the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo) in Florence.  They were designed by Pollaiolo in the 15th Century and took 23 years to complete.  We were able to visit there two years ago and the embroideries are breathtaking!  Unfortunately, my attempts to photograph the embroideries were not successful.

Our efforts yesterday were very basic and gave us a first taste of the technique.  Brenda is a terrific teacher and the class was very enjoyable.  It was so much fun watching the design emerge as we couched the Kreinik #16 braid that we were using as the metallic.  Of course, we were all so absorbed in stitching that we had to be reminded to take a break every so often.

By the end of the class, I finished about half of the design of Or Nué Star Lily.  You can see that I have a number of needles going at once to avoid dragging threads across the back of the work.

Or Nué Star Lily
Progress as of May 18, 2013

And here is the what the design will look like when finished.

Or Nué Star Lily
Brenda E. Kocher Designs
Completed Piece

Since it's raining here today, I think I'll work on finishing this piece.

Until next time, happy stitching!