Goldwork book earns a bronze medal

INVERMAY’S Alison Cole has won a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher Awards in New York, for her fifth self-published book, The Goldwork Masterclass: Adventures in Metal Thread Embroidery.

Entered into the Home & Garden category, the book was published in August of 2019 and is essentially a written version of a two-year Embroiderers Guild masterclass Cole taught to beginners upwards.

“I specialise in goldwork from around the world. I created the book so the course could reach more people than what it can face-to-face,” she said.

“The style I teach is mostly European. Most of the threads that I use are English, some are Japanese, French and German. This book touches on French, Turkish, and Indian styles… a little bit of everything.”

Cole is grateful for the award at a time of broader negativity.

“It’s nice to have something positive to post on Facebook and shout from the rooftops. It’s exciting and gets my name out there a bit more.

“It would have been nice to win a gold medal for a goldwork book, but I’m very happy with a bronze,” she laughed.

Metal thread embroidery has gained momentum throughout Cole’s career.

“When I started 20 years ago, there was virtually nobody teaching it, and the only people who did it were doing church vestments, restorations, or professionally doing military work.

“It was hard to get threads, but these days, I’m out here importing them, bringing them out and making it easy for people,” she said.