Apprentice Gift

I took on my second apprentice this weekend at Solstice Court in the Barony of Loch Salann. HL Cathryn Anne of Newbury is a lovely lady with some wonderful embroidery skills. I'm incredibly honored to be able to work with her.

In honor of this event, I made and gifted her with a hand-bound book, so that she may journal about her artistic endeavors, document what she wants to, and hopefully indicate areas that she enjoyed and things she'd do differently for the next project. So much of what she does ends up given away due to her generous nature, so I want her to keep track of what she's doing.

I crafted the covers with chipboard covered in goat skin, that has been stamped and dyed to look like snake skin. This is not a period practice as far as I know (leatherwork is not an area of study for me...yet), but the end result is lovely and frankly, I liked it (though it proves to be incredibly difficult to photograph). The bindings are done in coptic stitch out of green waxed cotton. The end papers are also green. Green is the color oft used to signify an apprentice/laurel relationship, so this was why I chose this color.