Photographing the silk work

Looking through one of my silk quilts from the back side.

This year I've been doing more fabric art and quilting with

silk organza

because its transparency opens up a whole new dimension. Because you can see through the layers, you can multiply the color and shadow possibilities. Also, its airiness (when you omit the batting) lets a silk piece float and ripple if hung near an open window. Even photographing the work -- above and below -- is a new adventure. Instead of my usual technique of pinning the finished piece flat against a design wall for its portrait, I take the silk outside and let it play with the light and wind.


Visiting son Keith helps with photographs.



Look at those big, brown eyes! That's Ben Bailey from next door.

Once Keith got ahold of the camera, he was off to explore its closeup possibilities. He snapped the photo of our neighbors' dog, above, who came over to investigate the activity. This is the dog whose birthday party was chronicled a few blog posts ago. Then he zoomed in on the center an orchid on the kitchen counter, below. I think it looks like a bat.

Here is more silk patchwork (I painted the fabric -- it started out white) rolled up, pinned, and ready to go through the sewing machine.

The piece above has white batting underneath the organza, which softens the colors. You can see how overlapping the organza pieces allows for more color complexity ... orange over blue in the lower left yields gray ... blue over blue at the bottom gives a more intense blue ... orange overlapping blue yields lavender.

The details above and below are silk organza quilts that do not have batting, so they're floatier. On the one below I've attached scraps with safety pins while I decide if I like the placement. While the piece is hanging on a design board, I pin, stand back and look, sometimes take a photo, rearrange, look some more, go downstairs for some chocolate, look some more ... the longer I debate, the more chocolate I can have.

Have a colorful day!