Goldwork in progress proper

Here's the viola in the hoop and a start made on the stitching. The photo isn't clear (as is to be expected when having to take it in artificial lighting, it doesn't seem to be get very light today), but you might be able to see that I've done the foreground outline in gold twist thread and the outline of the back of the instrument in Kreinik #7 Japan thread in copper. The small bit on the left went rather bad, so I'll be taking that out and re-doing it. I've also just noticed that an angle in the copper outlining on the right hand side doesn't match the gold. Grrrr! Perfectionist, me? Not that you'd notice - if you were blind!!!!=)

I plan to do around the scroll, fingerboard and tailpiece in the pearl purl that came with the kit and was originally meant to go in these places, just putting the scroll detail in in finer Jap thread. The f holes I'll do in Jap thread too and the chinrest I'll probably fill in with Jap thread, kind of in or nue style, but I'm not sure about this yet. I could even be persuaded to do this in kid leather, but I may leave it almost to last. The big issue is how to get the bridge higher than the pearl purl will be so that the strings will look right and not go upwards when they get to the edge of the fingerboard. Sometimes it's easier not to feel such a commitment to getting the details right!=)LOL!

It's absolutely slinging it down here in Taipei and the Gov't issued a cold weather warning on Sunday as temperatures dropped to just under 5C overnight in the very north of the island. That may not be cold for those who have -20C to deal with in the winter, but this is a sub-tropical island with the southern third fully tropical and there is no heating installed in the vast majority of buildings. I just read that about 10000 fish died in Changhua county thanks to the cold! Our two heaters are doing sterling work and we're OK and even getting our washing dried, but it's a bit boring having to waste the whole week's holiday stuck indoors! Nothing much to do but read, study, stitch, watch DVDs and listen to music. We've just braved the rain to get some groceries in, but the local supermarket is v low on fresh produce given that it's still officially New Year's holidays. Thankfully, I stocked up well before the break.=) So, plenty of chance to get on with my embroidery, but I doubt I'll do anymore on this viola today. I'm really dopey at the mo, would prefer to work on the mouse for a bit and, frankly, I forget how monotonous goldwork can be!!!