Candle Minaret

There are several purples and magentas in this piece and they are difficult to distinguish the various tones. So after much studying, I decided to continue with the same purple from the blue arch and headed to the Candle Minaret.

I also decided that to outline every detail would be too over-powering and made the decision to outline only the large elements in each building. If needed, a backstitch could always be incorporated as an outline.

I started with the easiest area first: the band of gold and purple at the top of the diamonds. The purple was done in 4-ply Splendor using a laying tool for an upright gobelin. The yellow was done the same stitch using Flair.

The green diamonds were a focal point of the minaret and I thought they could use some bling. I also wanted to emphasize length in the stitch. After a couple of experiments, I decided to do a couched gobelin. The base thread was a Silk Serica #4036 and the couching thread was the Kreinik Fine Braid #8 #015. The pattern used is shown on the right. This created a dotted effect and also made the green more olive toned.

For the purple half-diamonds, a brick stitch was chosen since it makes a nice fill pattern for this shape. Splendor S1145, which also appeared in the blue arch, in a 4-ply over 4 threads was used.

The candle was a lot of fun to stitch. A plaited gobelin, 2 threads high x 1 thread wide, created a sense of movement. Adding metallic threads really made it glow!

Here is the stitch guide: