RSN Certificate, Jacobean crewelwork, day 1

Je suis de retour après une semaine à la Royal School of needlework , où j’ai commencé mon premier module (broderie Crewel) pour le Certificat. Dans les prochaines semaine je publierai une série d’articles pour vous donner mes impressions et ce que j’ai vécu durant cette semaine à la RSN.

I’m back from my week at the Royal School of needlework, for the Certificate. In the coming weeks I will publish a series of articles to give you my impressions and what I experienced during this week at the RSN.

Mon premier cours à la Royal school of needlework était un dimanche. Je suis arrivée vers 9h45. Je me suis rendu à la réception où j’ai pu retirer mon pass d’entrée. J’ai ensuite attendu que l’on vienne me chercher pour me conduire aux appartement où se trouve l’école. Lorsqu’elle est arrivée, je l’ai docilement suivi et commencé à regarder à droite et à gauche. En effet, nous sommes très vite rentré dans le château et passé à côté de nombreuses pièces comme les cuisines, le cellier… J’étais comme une touriste et n’ai donc pas tellement fait attention au chemin et où se trouvait exactement l’entrée pour la RSN. Grossière erreur !! Car ensuite il m’a été difficile de retrouver mon chemin, spécialement à 17h le soir, alors que la nuit tombait et que le château était plongé dans la pénombre, sans personnes dans les couloirs. J’avais l’impression de pouvoir sentir les fantômes des femmes décédées d’Henri VIII !

My first day was a Sunday. I arrived around 9.45 am. I went the the reception (on the left of the castle), where a woman gave me my pass. The pass is available for 3 years. Because it was my first time at the RSN I had to wait for somebody to pick me up. When she arrived I follow her and was looking everywhere as a tourist because we directly enter in the castle and pass near many rooms : the kitchen with the nice smell of fire, the chapel… So I didn’t really care of the way, and which gate it was to enter in the RSN appartment. Big mistake ! Because when you go out for lunch it’s difficult to find you way, and the worth is at 5pm when everything is in the darkness ! At this time it was like I can feel the phantoms of all Henry’s dead wife !

How is organised a day of course ?

The course start at 10am.
At 11am there is a tea break. I thought it was really a short time of work specially the tutors have to met every students to give them work or advices. So after the first day, just keep something to do during this waiting time. The break is nice because you can meet the other students and the tutors, talk with everybody.
At 1pm it’s lunch time until 2pm. You can eat in the tea room. There is no microwaves, but kettles. I ate all the time in the tea room and chatted with other students. You can also go outside to eat. During lunchtime you can go to the little RSN shop where you have 10% discount or walk in the castle and the gardens. I did this when the weather was nice.
The course finish at 4pm, but you can stay until 5pm to work. During this time the tutors clean the room, but the most of the time I was alone in the classroom after 4.30pm

What have I done on my first day ?

I show my design I worked on at home. The tutor love it and was happy with it, so it was a big relief because I worked a lot on it. So I start to trace the design on tracing paper, then I pricked it. It was already lunch time.

After lunchtime I mount my slate frame. Then I pounced the design on the fabric and paint it.