British Museum 5thDecember

On the way back from Paris I took a detour via the British Museum which is not too far from St. Pancras station. I had a ticket booked for the Scythian exhibition at 12:30 but because Eurostar was on time I had time to have a quick look at the Ancient Greek gallery.

There were some fine Minoan pieces with beautiful patterns which I thought might be useful in my embroidery.

I love the patterns on this geometric vase.

When I look at the Elgin marbles I am always fascinated how relatively thin marble was carved to give the impression of depth.

At 12:30 I made my way to the Scythian exhibition. The artefacts were on loan mainly from the Hermitage Museum in
 St. Petersburg. 
The Scythians were nomadic tribes and masters of mounted warfare who flourished between 900 and 200BC. Their encounters with the Greeks, Persians and Assyrians were written into history.

Discoveries of ancient tombs have unearthed a wealth of Scythian treasures Amazingly preserved in the permafrost, clothes, spectacular gold jewellery - even mummified warriors and horses tell us a story of a rich civilisation which eventually stretched from its homeland in Siberia as far as the Black Sea and even to the edge of China.

Gold work

Leather shoe

Embroidery

Part of a felt wall hanging- The Pazyryk horseman

Felt swan

I have always wanted to have a go at felting the Pazyryk horseman and I think I will add this to my list of future projects!

Embroidered Pot

I have been working on my pot inspired by the ancient Minoan pottery. The background was constructed of strips of cloth based on the colours of Crete.

 Stitch patterns were machined to blend the colours together. To knock the colours back  I rollered beige paint thinly over the top.

Choosing a spiral stamp reminding me of one of the Minoan patterns I printed randomly across the background first in an orangey- brown and then gold.

Gold thread was couched over the gold-printed spirals to provide depth to the background. Cretan stitch was  embroidered  to increase texture and Linear B writing was added to the background. I have finished the pot at last. Please see below!