A few months after I started learning Japanese Embroidery, my friend Steph brought over her JE bits and pieces from New Zealand when she visited the UK during the 2012 Olympics. This included a couple of frames with designs in progress. One of these was her phase 2 piece, Kirigami, started in June 1997 at a class in Wellington. Steph had completed all the main motifs in the piece beautifully - the Chrysanthemum, Cherry Blossom, Plum Blossom and Pine. My favourite motif is the three-dimensional effect in the Plum blossom. It positively glows when the sun shines on it.
Her flax leaf effect in the Chrysanthemum is super-accurate. It's really easy to pick out the stars or cubes, depending on how you look at it.
All that was left to do was the single central braid for the cord and the staggered diagonal strings, so this was a great opportunity for me for me to learn those techniques. It was also an opportunity to try the finishing process on my own. It went OK but it was still pretty nerve-wracking.
