In part 3 of my Opus Anglicanum Stitch-Along, we will be filling in the forehead and nose, creating the round of the cheek, and filling in the eyes.
Faces in Opus Anglicanum style embroidery are usually one of the most nuanced and detailed parts.  The placement of the spirals and curves are meant to help provide shape and dimension, despite the fact that it’s all in a single color of floss (with the possible exception of the cheeks, which are sometimes a pink spiral).  This also means that no two faces are stitched in exactly the same manner, because the shapes of the faces, and thus their contours, are different.  In this and the next part or two, I will show you what I did on this particular face to create contour and depth, and do my best to explain why so you will be able to decide for yourself how to contour your next Opus Anglicanum face.
This particular face (about 1″ across) is about the smallest that it can be while still working in this style of embroidery. Â Some details, like the eyes in particular, would be much easier to do on a larger piece, and all of the details would have more depth if worked larger. Â About twice this size would be ideal (2″ across or larger).
The center of the forehead is usually an oval spiral, to give the feeling of roundness and fullness at that location.
In hindsight, I should have stopped the spiral at the stage in the above photo, so that I could more easily have the stitches from the nose extend up over the eyebrows. Â This would have helped to avoid the rather harsh browline that can be seen further down. Â If you choose to stop here, wait to fill in the rest of the forehead until after you have stitched the nose, and extended one or two lines of stitches up over the tops of the eyebrows.
The stitches filling the nose area are usually vertical along the length of the nose, with a curve at the bottom. Â Sometimes the stitches form a “U” shape, with either side extending into the eyebrow area. Â This follows the natural form of the human nose, which stands out from the face and flows into the brow.
You might notice that the eyes are filled in now, but I haven’t shown how to do that. Â I filled in the eyes when I ran out of peach thread and my needle was free. Â The eyes can be filled in at any time before the area around the eyes is filled. Â I will show filling in the eyes last on today’s stitch-along. Â Feel free to skip ahead when you finish a length of thread, or do it at the point it appears in today’s installment.
If you want rosy cheeks on your piece, switch out for a pale pink floss and create the spiral as described here.
If you are filling in the cheek with pink, you’ll likely want to stop your spiral when it is about this size, or maybe a half-circle larger. Â Then switch out to peach and continue the spiral.
I’m not terribly happy with how my eyes looked when I was finished, so hopefully yours will come out a little nicer.