Garden Path - Jacket - Part X

Further Rose Development

I'm still working on rose samples, but I think I'm ready to start the real work sometime this weekend.

These roses are hand appliqued silk dupioni - not all the flowers for this project are cut with the wood burning tool like the hollyhock. Some of the flower shapes do not translate well into the other medium, so I've decided to do a mixture of both techniques for this project.

As you can see from the photo below, this second rose isn't terribly well finished either. It doesn't need to be. It is only a sample and not on the real project yet. These samples are mainly a test for color and size contrast and for embellishment technique - beads, pencils or pens. Yes, I played with a lot of things here, and I think a combination of pens will give a nicely shaded rose. The thread painting is a no - too much thread in too small of a space.

I'm very happy with the second rose. I think I might go for a slightly larger size one, as I have many sizes of the original drawing. The pieces will be a little easier to work with since it takes 14 pieces to make a large rose, and 6 for a smaller but, not counting leaves or anything green. I also have a new barely opened bud drawn just for this project (remember these are cousins to the AB roses) which is mostly green with a just a sliver of pink.

As you can see from my drawing below, there must be a system to keep track of pieces and now, how much elevation each piece gets.

Here's how it works: each ring of petals has a designation, the outer row is X, the next inner row is A and the next is B. The numbers indicate what order the petals are appliqued - these overlap the next petal so this isn't as critical with this flower. The red letters indicate how much relief each piece will have or how much stuffing each gets. F is for flat, LR is for low relief, MR for medium, etc. This elevations might change a bit as I'm working with it, but I kind of have an idea of what I want to see. Like everything, this system is a little strange, but it works.

*Maybe* tonight I'll get some stems and leaves cut, but I doubt it. I have to get a craft project ready for my daughter's last day of school party tomorrow.

Last, I got a comment regarding the Prismacolor pencils from Valerie. In case you didn't see it, I'm going to post it, because it has some excellent information in it.

"Summerset, the binder in Prismacolor pencils is wax, which is why it can be "heat set" for your fabrics, or so I assume. There are also several other brands out there, primarily by Derwent. One is called "Artists" and the other is called "Studio". Both may give you what Prismacolor can't. Or not; neither is as soft as Prismacolors. I've never tried either for fabric but have a mighty collection of colored pencils. I found this info from the "Colored Pencil Soulution Book". Some other brands such as Polychromos use oil as a binder and may work too, since heat may help it sink in too."

Parting Shot: Still Knitting. I'm still working on the sweater and have started the sleeves. Maybe I'll get some time to work on this tonight, too. Yeah right.