Couched Leaf in Burden Stitch

Alternative Title for the Post – "How to Get a Lot of Practise Plunging Threads".
This is based on an idea from Goldwork A-Z by Country Bumpkin. – Filling Patterns, Burden Stitch Method One, pages 72 to 73, Shading Method 2.
(Figure 10)
I used a thick Jap thread as the thread to be couched, and a full thread of Madeira stranded metallic thread colour 4012 (silver).
I did experiment with a single strand, and a double strand but decided to use the full thread. (A-Z actually recommend using silk, which is the more normal thread used in couching)
This means that the diameter of the Jap and the Madeira are approximately the same.
The effect is gives is rather like I’ve done chipwork because of the silver on top of the gold.

I placed the laid threads further apart as I reached the apex of the leaf, for textural interest.
Having to plunge both ends of each laid thread wasn’t hard, but it was a bit fiddly and boring. That’s the thing about much of goldwork – it isn’t necessarily as fun to do as surface embroidery, but the results are worth it.
If I did it again I’d use a more tightly wound thread than the Madeira – there was a lot of tugging and petting necessary to get all of the strands sitting neatly over the laid thread and over into the ground.
I gave the leaf a vein in Super Purl Pearl, and outlined it in No. 1 Pearl Purl – which helped bring out the gold.
I like it.