Studio Update

A few days ago I dove into seed (scatter) stitching on my rose piece.  I'm using a variegated thread that transitions between olive, tan, light brown, and a mossy blue, along with a light pink thread.  The stitches are tiny - 1/4 inch or less - and made with only one strand of floss.


Up close the colors move about but from a distance, I feared it looked like my rose had been invaded by ants.


I asked some trusted friends for their critique and they all encouraged me to continue, believing that if I continue up to and beyond the bottom petals (and maybe all around the flower), the texture and colors will help my rose pop.  I'm encouraged enough by their sage and thoughtful advice to keep going.  I'll post another picture when I can.

I've also done a teeny bit of eco-dyeing with onion skins.  I love the colors!  The first pass was a bit splotchy so I placed fresh onions skins on the cloths and re-wrapped them in the opposite direction. Viola!  Look at the lovely cloth hanging out to dry.


The fabric on the left has yellow splotches I find quite appealing but that happened by accident.  I was washing my hands and wasn't quite careful enough; some of the liquid soap got onto the cloth.  The cloth turned to yellow wherever it came in contact with the liquid soap.  Not the suds, only the freshly pumped soap.  I'm going to keep this in mind to see if the same type of reaction will occur on other dyed cloths with other dye materials.

Comments

Norma Schlager said…
I do like the seed stitching and think that even more will look better. The colors in your eco dyeing seem to coordinate with the rose. Maybe they could be combined somehow.