Casket Update

My next step toward making more doll-sized 17th century embroidered caskets is to finish the inside of my first one so that I can make sure all my measurements work.

I ordered miniature marbled paper from Jemma Lewis in England. I requested a mainly pink design, specifically a medium warm pink. I had collected silk and silk velvet in a medium coral pink, so I wanted the paper to coordinate.

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The paper came a few weeks ago and it is absolutely beautiful. The paper itself is very thin, but sturdy.

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But it’s rather mauvish, leaning towards purple, not a warm pink. I guess the trans-oceanic communication needs work.

I’ve decided that when I order more paper that I’ll take the time to send her snippets of the fabrics I plan to use so there will be no english/English issues.

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I did find a mauve tissue silk taffeta  in my stash that works well with the paper and I will use that for the wee casket.

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The silk velvet is another issue. I don’t need much of it, but the bright coral pink definitely wouldn’t work. So I tried to dye it with blue Koolaid. It looks a little weird, but I’m going to use it.

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The fronts of the drawers will be covered in the mauve silk, bordered by silver braid.

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In the antique caskets, the top edges of the drawers were usually covered with a silver-stamped paper border. Since my casket is too tiny for this, I used a Krylon, acid-free, Silver Leafing Pen to “paint” the edges.

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I’m pretty thrilled with how nice the paper looks with the silver edging. I cut it with an X-Acto knife and pressed it in place with my trusty Martha Stewart bone folder.

To measure and mark the paper (on the back side) for cutting, I used a metric metal ruler. Then, out of curiosity I checked online to see if clear quilting rulers came in metric.

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They do! These will make it much easier to measure and cut the paper. I can see the markings and won’t need to pencil in the lines. I can just cut them.

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In the 17th century, the paper, silk and embroidery was attached to the casket with wheat paste (or maybe animal glue). I chose to use acid-free YES paste, which was recommended by one of the students in my CoC class and it works great.

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It’s thick so it doesn’t damage the paper, but it’s easy to spread evenly.

If I was into scrapbooking, all this stuff would be old hat, but I’m a rookie in the modern world of cut and paste.

I like it.

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There is some progress on the stitching on my trinket box.

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I’m rather fond of how this drizzle stitch grass is looking.

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And I’ve finally finished the embroidery for the smock for my Bru’s fairy costume. I’m almost done sewing the smock together. Hopefully, it’ll be done so that I can show her wearing it tomorrow. I’ll try.

Comments

Casket Update — 2 Comments

  1. Everything looks wonderful. Can’t wait to see the casket and the doll smock finished!