A black purl leaf - how sumptuous!

Never having used black purl metal thread before, I wasn't sure how it would look on the metal thread cap I'm embroidering. Gold purl is one of my favourites but I haven't used much coloured metal thread ever, so it's a journey of discovery! This black purl comes from Golden Hinde in the UK and I love it!Purl thread is a very fine piece of wire that's flattened and then spun into a hollow core 'thread' that's attached to the fabric with a waxed silk or cotton thread. A needle is threaded with waxed thread and inserted up through the fabric at one end of where the small piece of purl is to lie on the fabric. The  needle is then inserted into the centre of the hollow purl thread, run through the purl so the needle comes out the opposite end, then down through the fabric and - voila! - the piece of purl is attached securely to the fabric.I've cut each length of purl into very short pieces and then attached them randomly onto the fabric, a bit like laying down mosaic tiles, to fill the shape of the leaf.The overstretched pearl purl that outlines the leaf keeps the tiny piece of black purl securely within the shape and gives the leaf a pretty golden outline. Inside, I couched down pearl purl for the veins of the leaf with black thread, rather than the customary gold thread.However, when the leaf was filled with the black purl the black couching thread wasn't apparent, so I won't do that for the matching leaf! What I hadn't expected, and like so much about the look of the black smooth purl is how velvety it looks! It's just sumptuous!I now have all four leaves finished and just have to stitch their partners on the opposite side of the design. There's a long way to go before I"m finished but the rest is planned so it will go quite quickly - as soon as I have time!