Picking up on an old idea..

How it started - reading the enchanting "Nefertiti Lived Here", by #MaryChubb (thirty years ago).

How it's going - my book, "Dreams of Amarna", produced with the help of the Embroiderers Guild (this year).

Link to the Guild sales page: https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/embroidery/merchandise/details/dreams-of-amarna/

I only attempted one rendering of #faience - beads from a broad collar described early on in #NefertitiLivedHere, in a report inexpertly typed by the director then on site, the year before #MaryChubb joined the expedition to Egypt. As I've said, embroidery has such strong textural and visual personality that something like a direct rendition of a broad collar as you see in the watercolour would be terribly congested, visually confusing, and probably rather dull. The spiral of embroidered beads is lighter, more playful - more fun!

#DreamsOfAmarna #HandEmbroidery #FaienceNecklace #SilkThread #watercolour

This little fishie is a representation of a glass vessel in the form of a #NileTilapia, which was found in Egypt before #MaryChubb's time, and which she therefore probably knew. I discovered from one of Alexander Sooke's programmes about the history of art that modern glassworkers find it tricky to reproduce, so it seemed a perfect choice to represent the skill of the ancient Egyptians.

#DreamsOfAmarna #HandEmbroidery

This little fishie is a representation of a glass vessel in the form of a #NileTilapia, which was found in Egypt before #MaryChubb's time, and which she therefore probably knew. I discovered from one of Alexander Sooke's programmes about the history of art that modern glassworkers find it tricky to reproduce, so it seemed a perfect choice to represent the skill of the ancient Egyptians.

#DreamsOfAmarna #HandEmbroidery

It's astonishing, what huge enterprises can grow, entirely by accident, from the tiniest of starting points. #MaryChubb found a fragment of tile, which brought her two new professions, first as (the very first!) archaeological administrator, and later, writer.

I read her books, and embarked on a creative adventure which has lasted nearly three decades, and lead me into all sorts of new creative adventures afterwards...

#DreamsOfAmarna #HandEmbroidery #FlatSilk #Embroidery #Watercolours

One of the incidents that really struck a chord with me was when Mary Chubb was excavating a necklace, and thinking of the person who'd lost it all those thousands of years before, and of a necklace of daisies she'd had as a child, and lost. I made her a daisy necklace in response

I am more fortunate than she: this little necklace of plastic hearts on brass wire was given to me when I was about seven, and it is still charming.

#DreamsOfAmarna #MaryChubb #MemoryLane #Beadwork

Today has been A Day. I gave the manuscript for The Book to @ColinTheMathmo, asking for feedback and suggestions. I've spent today putting them into action. They've improved it considerably, but it's been a frustrating day, tied to the laptop.

I am trying to emphasize the contribution of the artisans, labourers and excavators to the story of Egyptology, something that Mary Chubb was also conscious of.

#DreamsOfAmarna #AmWriting #AmEditing
#MaryChubb #NefertitiLivedHere