A number of years ago, I started taking some classes in Japanese Embroidery. I finished several pieces over the years and intend to work on more. It is a very structured technique and takes a lot of practice to achieve the look that you want. We were told by our teacher that "sixteen hundred years of tradition cannot be wrong". There is a way to do everything and that is how it should be done. Practically perfect is the expected result.
My first teacher spoke little English and so we learned what is called "stealing knowledge"; we observed her stitching and tried to duplicate it. She of course helped us, but with hands-on demonstration rather than explanation. We were told to stitch at least a half an hour everyday so that our hands and mind would perfect the muscle memory of how it should be done.
I, of course, am not perfect at it but the discipline of working to that standard has helped me with other embroidery techniques. I have taken classes from several teachers that trained at the Japanese Embroidery Center in Georgia.
I love the way that it looks and the feel of the silk thread as it slides through the fabric. Japanese culture uses objects like a certain flower or tree as a symbol to convey an idea. Some flowers are thought of symbols of winter or early spring. It is fun to "read" the deeper meaning of art if you understand what they mean. Western art has for the most part lost this concept, but if want to understand early Christian art you need to look for the special symbols that are included.
Japanese teaching is organized into steps. Step one is the beginning and each step introduces new techniques. If you finish the program you are on step ten. I have learned that there are different schools of Japanese Embroidery and each of them organizes things a little differently.
I got side-tracked with other projects but now seems a good time to get back to it again. This piece is the one that I am working on.
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