Toile imprimée pour broderie de perles (sans perles) – icône « Sainte Claire »

«St. Clara» shows the saint with lowered eyes and a monstrance in her hands. It is the only icon in the batch built on blue.

What the picture shows

The saint stands frontally, her head slightly bowed, her eyes lowered. A white-grey veil covers her head and shoulders, with a pale wimple beneath. The whole figure is wrapped in a wide blue mantle of deep folds, ranging from near-white to saturated blue. In both hands she holds a tall footed monstrance: its centre is worked in gold and terracotta beads, and a band of red-orange fabric shows below it — the one warm patch in the piece. The halo is assembled from rings of yellow and gold. The cream-olive background with its printed leaf scroll stays unbeaded: beading covers the figure, the veil, the monstrance, the halo, the side ornament, the corner rosettes and the cartouche below. The coverage is partial. The face and hands stay painted — no beads are laid over them, which is why the image keeps its painterly softness.

What you get

• Natural artist canvas with the full-colour pattern printed on it — no chart to follow on a screen
• Colour key for Czech Preciosa beads
• Beads, needles and thread are chosen separately

Specifications

• Finished size: 170×230 mm (6.7×9.06 in)
• Beads needed: approx. 4,948
• Bead colours: 16
• Base: natural artist canvas

The piece is vertical. Most of the sixteen colours go into the gradations of the blue mantle, so it pays to watch the shades closely.