I finished off this guy, a special commission, on Friday. I realised he looks bizarre here, with a bad hair day, but this is the first row of turkey rug stitch.

It’s not the first time I’ve used this stitch, technically stumpwork as it is a raised effect (although it’s used in a teeny patch here). I used it for the first time on my Death Cap Pendant and it is actually very simple to do, only tricky to do evenly in such a tiny area. I won’t go into how-to’s – I’m not that kinda blogger – but if you want to know how, I use this awesome website for excellent stitch tutorials.

This is all to achieve the fuzzy head – something my client particularly loved about moths. And the iconic death’s head is done in split stitch and teeny french knots.

Finally I overstitched the upper wings with couching and weaving to depict the different cell patterns and colours.

Mounted up in his wooden frame, which fits so perfectly it could have been made just for him, I see it is probably one of the most 3-dimensional pieces I have made, simply because of the amount of thread and detail worked into it. I’m also really pleased with it as the very first wooden brooch I have made, and the special antique brass pins I bought especially for it work perfectly. Definitely be including some more brooches in my next collection.