I thought I would put together a little blog on things to think about when commissioning a stole. What is the main colour to be? What do you want your stole to convey? Do you want to reference your spiritual…
Author: Elaine Bradshaw
Doves
The inspiration for this chasuble and its companion stole came from the dove window in St Peter’s Basilica as it spoke to my client in two ways, to her Anglo catholic style and the glass mosaic and its colour to…
Sing Joyfully
This commission was for a white Ordination stole with a pale colour scheme. My client was a musician and a singer who played the cello and sang in a choir and wanted her stole to reflect this. As a starting…
The Heraldic
It was important to this commission that it had a strong heraldic feel. I was asked to include a lion rampant, entwined in passion flowers, holding a pomegranate that is split open showing its seeds. A unicorn with head bowed…
New challenges
My latest commission has given me a couple of new challenges, musical notation and words. My client, a cellist and singer, was very keen that the musical notation was ‘correct’ in its appearance and not circles on sticks. I printed…
There’ll Be Bluebirds
This stole commission features a Celtic cross, created using three layers of silk stitched and then cut to reveal the colours underneath. The crosses were stitched first and then applied to the stole. The ‘bluebirds’ represent the connection to where…
The Road Not Taken
This is a red Ordination stole for a priest who is to be ordained in the Diocese of Coventry. The brief was to reflect the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, with an emphasis on a path through…
New Life
This commission was for a white Ordination stole for the summer 2021. The client had a number of ideas for their stole and after the ideas and initial designs were shared it was decided to have a design that reflected…
Gnarled Trees
This commission is for an Ordination taking place in the summer, all being well ! It is in ivory silk dupion with machine appliqued trees. The trunk is worked in my ‘cutting away’ technique and the leaves are free-machined in…
Portland Bill
This stole had a number of different elements to it, the first and most tricky being the brief !! I was asked if I could incorporate the Portland Bill lighthouse, the sea, a reference to Portland stone quarried in the…