In part 4 of the Opus Anglicanum stitch along, we will be stitching in the spirals of the right cheek and chin, outline most of the face, and fill in around one eye.
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, I will continue 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.  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.  About twice this size would be ideal (2″ across or larger).  The eyes are also smaller proportionally than is ideal for Opus Anglicanum style embroidery.  I didn’t realize the eyes in the design were too small for this style of embroidery until I had finished the area around one of the eyes.  If you have not yet started on the eye, I suggest making the eye significantly larger.  It will make it much easier to embroider, and will result in a finished figure that is more true to extant Opus Anglicanum pieces.
Since the face is turned 3/4 view, only part of the cheek is visible to the viewer. That means the center of the cheek is very close to the edge of the visible part of the face.Make a tight spiral with tiny stitches, just like you did on the other cheek, making full circles until the stitches are abutted to the face outline.When there is no longer enough room for the spiral to continue along the side of the face, plunge the line of stitches and start again on the upper part of the cheek, just like you did for the forehead spiral.Continue in that manner, bringing your stitches past the nose as long as there is enough room for more stitches next to the nose outline.Continue making the spiral, now skipping the cheek, and skipping the nose.Continue the spiral until it is nearly adjacent to the eye and mouth, or is adjacent to one or both of them.The oval spiral for the chin is very similar to the oval spiral for the forehead. Start with a single line of stitches that defines the basic shape of the oval, and then create another line of stitches starting just below that will define the spiral shape by widening out slightly above and below, and pulling in tight at the narrow ends.
I want a gentle shape to her face, so I want a gentle transition from the chin to the jaw to everything else.  That is why I chose a long oval shape.  If I was making a face with very angular features or a pronounced chin, I would make a much smaller oval, or maybe even a round spiral, to emphasize the shape.  If I wanted to make a double or cleft chin, I would make two smaller spirals that abutted each other and then were surrounded by a larger oval spiral.
Continue stitching around the oval, making smaller stitches around the tight ends, and widening out along the longer sides to create a fully rounded shape.Continue spiraling around the oval until your line of stitches just barely fits between the oval and the outline of the jaw.When your line of stitches is touching the outline of the face, instead of continuing around the spiral again, follow the line of the face up towards the cheek. It is time to start outlining the face and defining some of the other contours.Start your next line of stitches at the terminal end of the nose outline.Now we are defining the eyebrow. Continue the line of stitches up to the eyebrow, and then follow the lower side of the eyebrow, stitching as close to the black stitches as possible. You want to squeeze in the black stitches so they will be a more delicate line.I stopped the eyebrow outline stitches at the end of the eyebrow, but it would also be perfectly reasonable to continue the line down towards the outside of the cheek before starting the next row. Start this row of stitches at the hair, next to where you stopped your forehead stitches.Keep this line of stitches close to the forehead stitches until it touches the end of the eyebrow, and then sweep it down towards the outside of the cheek spiral. This is defining the three-dimensional transition of shape from the forehead, around the temple, and across the top of the cheekbone.Instead of hugging the spiral, hug the outline of the face as closely as possible and continue down the cheek towards the jawline.Stitch along the jaw and as deep under the spiral of the chin as you can before plunging your needle.Start your next line as deep against the spiral and nose outline as you can. We are going to define the other eyebrow.Make a line of stitches as close to the nose outline and eyebrow as you can, ending at the side of the face.Start again up at the edge of the forehead, at the hairline. We are now going to fill in the face between that contour line and the hair.Fill in with lines of stitches, all moving from top to bottom, and following the contour line set up from forehead to cheek.I want the cheek spiral to be a little larger than it is currently, so I started at the outside of the cheek.I only needed to go around the spiral one more time to completely fill the space between the spiral and the outline of the face. Go around as many times as you need to in order to fill that space.Start the next line of stitches as deep between the cheek spiral and cheek outline as you can. We are going to define the transition from cheek to eye.Hug close to the spiral until you are stitching upward, and then head for the side of the nose to define the forward edge of the cheek.Continue the line of stitches upward, hugging the bottom of the nose and then the forward edge of the eye. Stitch as close to the upper side of the eye as possible.When you reach the outer edge of the eye, continue stitching a line towards the corner of the cheek.Now we are going to finish outlining the eye. Start your next stitch as close in as you can between the lower eyelid and line of stitches you just created.Hug the bottom of the eye as closely as you can all the way to the other corner.Now hug the prior line of stitches down towards the corner of the cheek.Now we are going to fill in the eyelid. Start your stitches as deep into the inside corner of the eyelid as you can for every row of stitches, arch them around the eye, and end as deep into the other corner as you can.Now we are going to fill in the lower eyelid and upper cheek. Start your stitches as close against the cheek spiral as you can.Head up towards the corner of the eye, but make a very tiny stitch at the end in preparation for a very sharp turn.Make a very sharp turn and continue stitching along the bottom of the eye, continuing as far as you can.Repeat that pattern of stitches, up, turn, follow the eye, as many times as you need to before the empty space is completely filled. Each turn should be slightly more gentle than the prior.At this point in the stitch-along, your face should look similar to this.
In Part 5Â we should be able to finish filling in the face.
