The first chapter discusses in clear details the equipment needed to undertake these beautiful craft projects. The successive chapters cover the use of different sized needles, the fabrics and frames which will be required for gold work, how to transfer a design, and include illustrations of padding your project to provide area and depth to your finished piece of work.

I love the stunning dragonfly illustration on the appliqué page on 22. Mounting your work is clearly explained in easy details and the goldwork is explained with some beautiful illustrations along with order of work details. Metal threads and their categories of use are discussed with helpful notes.

Goldwork techniques such as purl chippings are beautifully illustrated and stem stitch information is discussed. The section on Handmade twists is informative, and is discussed along with Pearl purl, Elizabeth twist, Broad and whipped plate. I love the embroidered butterfly in this section. The goldwork wild rose, is beautiful and the colours of the goldwork violet is stunning.

The three-dimensional goldwork is outstanding, especially the Christmas rose. Silk shading threads are usefully explained on page 59, along with silk shading techniques on page 60. Silk shading and the beautiful tulip flower and gold and silk work iris is brought to life in this part of the book. Flowers and the author’s stunning use of them in her work is also discussed.

Trees and their use in embroidery is then discussed, with leaves, seeds and berries being shown in intricate and detailed images to enhance your craft projects. One leaf is portrayed in many ways. Fronds and fungi help bring textures and shades to embroidery pieces and are illustrated beautifully.

Butterflies, bats and dragonflies,  which are the author’s favourite are clearly defined. I love the bat and can’t wait to work on this project. Seasonal projects inspired by summer, autumn and winter are brought to life by the author.

The book starts off talking about equipment; including needles, fabrics, frames (how to dress a slate frame), and hoops and ring frames (including how to bind them).

Then it goes into how to transfer a pattern, tracing, prick and pounce and trace and tack.

There’s a small section about mounting your finished piece properly, by using either the herringbone technique or the lacing technique.

The second section of the book focusses on goldwork, explaining in detail exactly how it’s done. The order of work, the different types of metal threads, and the techniques, including the different stitches, are all discussed in detail. It then has a few projects that are entirely goldwork. They are stunning!

The third section is dedicated to silk shading. Again, going into all the details of how to work the technique. It breaks down the stitches very clearly. Then has a few projects, even going into stump work.

The fourth section demonstrates goldwork and silk shading combined. Again, explaining what’s required to stitch a piece using both techniques, and breaking down the stitches.

Then Hazel takes you through projects that combine both techniques. Instructions are included to stitch samplers, small flowers and leaves, trees, berries and seed, fronds, and fungi, butterflies, dragonflies and even bats!

The last projects are much larger and more detailed, putting everything that’s been learned throughout the book into practice. They are so beautiful. I especially love the Robin.

I highly recommend this book. If you can find a copy, you won’t be disappointed.

Goldwork and silk shading together – what a winning combination! Add in the fact that they are being used to depict the beauty of the natural world and you have a gorgeous book. Sadly this was the author’s final work and has been finished with help from her friends.

This is the sequel to Hazel’s definitive work Goldwork: Techniques, Projects and Pure Inspiration and contains some material in common, mostly from the section on basic working methods and materials. If you are new to either type of embroidery, this book is a good place to start as you can discover what you need to purchase and what it is all for. See the myriad of metal threads available and learn how to dress a frame and a hoop, transfer patterns and how to use each type of thread. To put this knowledge to instant use there are quite a few projects to work through, all beautiful and impressively professional looking together with a list of materials and the all-important order of work.

Do note that this might be a good book for beginners to goldwork and silk shading, but it is not ideal as a primer for people who are new to any type of embroidery. These are some of the more advanced techniques and the book is squarely aimed at those with a thorough grounding in all the basics. For example, the instructions aren’t accompanied by photographs and the information on 3D work is fairly sketchy. There are some diagrams for embroidery stitches and quite a few samplers where you can practice depicting sets of popular flora and fauna. These include trees, leaves, fungi, flower shapes as well as dragonflies, butterflies and, making a nice change, bats which were a favourite of the author. There are more projects where you can practice goldwork and silk shading together to make beautiful studies of all the above, plus a section of four projects depicting the four seasons. I was pleased to see that silk shading does not have to be done using silk threads, and most of the pieces shown have been worked using the cheaper and more widely available cotton alternative. This is a beautiful and very useful book to treasure, one for the keeper shelf.