Colour Surprise

I bought this carded alpaca fibre at last year's Bendigo show. I didn't have any particular purpose in mind for it. And I haven't done much with it in the ensuing 15 months or so. It came to light on the weekend when I was pulling out various bits and pieces in preparation for the spinning workshop. I left it on the table.

Yesterday I was feeling rather aimless and decided to spend a few hours spinning alpaca, just because it was there. I was surprised to find that despite being carded commercially, there was a distinct colour change as I worked my way through the fibre. You can see the first colour in the roll of fibre on the left of the pic. The first 50 grams or so were this light silver-grey colour. The remaining fibre is at the top and right of the pic. It's definitely a darker brown. What you can't really see is the gradual shift between the two shades. After getting over my surprise, I'll have to decide how to use the colour change. And I have yet to see what colour will come through the remaining hundred grams or so. I'm tempted to make the most of the contrast, rather than try to disguise it. For now, I'm just going to keep spinning and see what happens.

Still

I took this photo from the pier at Williamstown on Friday evening last week. As the evening light fell on the water, I was disappointed not to have my camera with me, but reassured myself that there would be other evenings and the water wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. There didn't seem to be much point taking the sort of shot I wanted with my phone camera. Despite my attempts at calm self-talk I found it hard to settle to the reality of no photos. I ended up taking out my phone and just having a go. This little red boat in particular caught my eye. I'd like to play with the colour gradations from the sky through to the shadowy water. That won't be today. My weekend chores are still undone and they're not going to go away until I put some energy into them. Perhaps I can hold this quiet scene in my mind as an anchor point through the day.

Colour Complexity

It's late winter in Victoria--nearly spring. The wattles are in full bloom. Driving in the country on the weekend, I had to resist the temptation to stop every few metres to admire another clump of flowers. I did stop, just once: What had me intrigued--apart from the sheer beauty--was the variations in yellows. The Landscape range of dyes, which I like to use for wool, call their cool yellow wattle. It's a yellow that leans towards the green. You could also call it a citrus yellow. And looking at this picture now I would agree, but in the sunshine, against the black trunks and incredibly green grass of the Yarra Valley, the wattles looked golden and warm. Now, my other trouble with yellow is that it's rather hard to use. I don't know a lot of people who look good in yellow, which is a pity because it's such a bright and warm colour, with so much energy. I guess I'll have to be contented with the pics and just a touch for contrast here and there.

Citrus Gradation

I can see a pattern developing here.

I've just finished another skein of silk ribbon for my friend D: This one is gradations of "citrus" orange, with a touch of "rust" at one end.

I'd done a batch of dyeing with skeins of wool and there was "just a bit of colour left in the pot". I couldn't let that bit of colour go to waste, so I skeined off a dozen or so metres of silk ribbon. The silk is so greedy for colour that it grabs anything that's left in the water--perfect. I dangled about 2/3 of the skein in the pot and hooked the end over one of the pot's handles; heat, add vinegar and leave it overnight. Now I had scarcely any colour in the pot and a short white section of ribbon. Still relying on the silk's capacity to absorb colour, I dropped the rest of the skein in the pot, reheated and again left it overnight. The result was a subtle gradation of orange across the skein: good, but I thought I could do better; so I rearranged the skein--using a metal S-hook this time to control the length--added a bit of the "rust" colour and went through the routine again. You can see the result in the pic. I'm pleased with it, but guess what? Yep, I've now got " just a bit of colour left in the pot"! Is it time to skein off some more silk ribbon?