!st Place, Japanese Embroidery
Popular Choice
The Betsy Robb Award

I decided to challenge myself by creating a circular design on this lovely dark purple Obi silk.

The Clematis flowers were stitched first using Japanese flat silk. The silver fan was stitched partially on top to create a feeling of an open lace fan with the flowers behind. Each section of the silver fan has a different design: on the inside are cherry blossoms then pine tree shapes, birds and butterflies, maple leaves, fish and lastly fireflies on the outer section.

The Gold fan utilizes a very bright copper/gold in the foreground, progressing to a white/gold as the fan disappears.

The outer fan completes the circular motion, each section being stitched in various geometric patterns.

To create the effect that each of the three fans are made of lace, I chose primarily open embroidery stitches to allow the ground fabric to show through.