I liked the peacock feather from yesterday, but it seemed a little drab. After all, peacocks are brilliantly colored, are they not? So I got out one of the pirns of fine gold thread left over from the wedding-coat fabric, and wove two more feathers. And here, in full, is the evolution of the peacock feather design:
You can see that it starts out blobby (a little like a Dr. Seuss green space alien, if Dr. Seuss had created anything like that), then the feathery bits appear, and by the time you get to the fourth one down the basic design is in place. After that I changed out some of the colors (when my embroidery thread arrived), and finally the last two have glitter.
Here is a photo of the 4 most recent iterations:
I went back and forth for awhile on whether I thought the glitz was pretty or just gaudy, but after seeing it in many different types of lighting, I like the glitz a lot. And the thread, being very fine, only stiffens the “hand” a little bit, still well within the parameters for a shawl.
Oh, and here’s the back side:
Lillian was right: it will need to be lined.
I have now gotten the Cibacron F “pure” color samples back from Ginny, which means I can now get started on dyeing the Cibacron F color wheel. However, I am still working on the Lanaset color wheel and the Lanaset color reproduction, not to mention making 10 fruitcakes this weekend, so I am not quite sure what I will tackle next. Cibacron F may have to wait for during the week, though I’d hate to defer it. Dawn is coming later and later, making it harder and harder to get a complete dyebath in before work. And Cibacron F takes half an hour longer than Lanaset! so I may try to get some Cibacron F in this weekend, and save the Lanaset for working during the week. I know from experience that I can get a Lanaset dyebath done in the mornings.
Anyway, I have selected the color I want to try matching. It is Colourmart 60/2 silk, color “camel”, 2.5Y 7/3 in the Munsell system, and looks kinda like this (usual caveats about monitor colors, etc. being “off”):
I have dyed the first four test samples and will be looking at them later today or early tomorrow.
You picked a challenging color. I spend weeks one summer trying to match a beige. The triple beam was not accurate enough for me to get the color I needed. It went too yellow, then too rose, then too green. I was using natural unbleached tussah and the shade difference in the yarns would through it off. Best of luck and don’t get discouraged. You are more careful and accurate than I was or am.
Teresa