ribbonsmyth

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Dyeing Results

Yardage of Rayon tape dyed with a variety of RibbonSmyth's Rainbow Dyes
The sheen of this ribbon cannot be caught with a camera. Some of the ribbon offers a mottle appearance which adds to the vintage aspect.

I had left yardage of rayon tape outdoors to dry overnight. During the night we had a storm and some of the ribbon did qet wet although they were hanging beneath a tree. On some of the yardage, the dye would migrate to one place on the ribbon. I liked the effect.

Hand-Dyed Lace

This pic shows a few yards of rayon lace that was dyed with three colors using our RibbonSmyth Rainbow Dyes. I used Antique Gold, Victorian Rose and Pansy and probably added some Topaz to the Victorian Rose. I do not keep formulas but do test what is loaded on my brush on a white paper towel or foam paper plate before I touch the lace. Wet the lace first but the lace should only be damp. Use a one inch foam brush loaded with dye and swipe different areas of the lace until all the lace has been dyed. Do not move the lace. Allow it to air-dry, then heat set with an iron. I dyed this lace outside on top of a shower curtain. Probably spent a couple of minutes dyeing this batch. This is old vintage lace probably purchased at an estate sale years ago. I think now it will trim a denim jacket.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Falling Leaves at Nutkin

This is a small landscape that is still in the process of being embellished. I was inspired to create the landscape using the RibbonSmyth "Earth" Fiber Sampler.

For a year, I taught ribbon workshops every five weeks in a wonderful shop in Surrey. While in the UK, I would stay at the shop owner's manor house named "Nutkin". It is a fabulous home and reminds me of the vintage image I used in the landscape. The landscape was built with pieces of burned doupioni silk basted to a muslin base. The image was fused to the silk pieces. Pieces of shredded spark orandy was layered over the sky-line.

The tree is created with couched fibers and RibbonRuffles leaves are scattered among the branches.

Gold metallic Ric Rac, RibbonRuffles, Fluff and Rococo lace are couched over the layers. A two inch silk doupioni border was attached to the landscape. The couched tree trunk fibers trail into the border. Burned silk leaves were attached to the border and small twigs from our "Shrieking Tree" were attached among the burned leaves. There is a layer of FiberFusion beneath the Fluff and a small antique gold frog resides next to the trunk.

Difficult to see, but there is a small gold sparrow sitting in one of the branches and a tiny antique gold dragonfly is nested among burned silk leaves.

Now to continue the embellishing! The piece is approximately 10 1/2"x 12 1/2".

Falling Leaves at Nutkin

This is a bit of detail in the landscape illustrating the use of RibbonRuffles and Rococo lace in the Earth Colorway. Gold metallic braid and ric rac ambles across the torn and burned silk doupioni pieces that are layered for the landscape. Torn pieces of Cluny ivory lace were attached above the RibbonRuffles. The detail of the tree trunk was created with couched threads.

Victoria Initial Ring Bearer Pillow

This initial was stitched on a purchased pillow using the Bride's colors of teal and winter ivory stitched with the rubber stamp initial "C".

The pillow was nestled in the center of the altar and the rings rested in the center of the inital.

A matching wedding album cover made a great wedding ensemble.

The pillow was twice the length as featured in the photograph. I opened the pillow on one end, removed the pillow form and tassel trim. Measured the pillow for a length that would balance the initial, and with a rotary cutter, trimmed away the excess fabric. Then the initial was stamped to the pillow and stitched. Then I reconfigured the pillow form, inserted it into the cushion and stitched the pillow closed. Finished the pillow by reattaching the tassel trim.