Work continues like a dream unabated on the ‘Absinthe Dreams’ series of patterns......

......however the nightmares arising from trying to take some decent photos have been occupying more time and effort than anyone could dream of!

The main problem is caused by the reflective qualities of silk and the confusion that its flare and glare causes to the camera. 

My original idea and plan was to recreate the design of imitation silk fabric found depicted on a piece of paper, thought to date from 18th century. (See ‘Absinthe Moonbeams’ in the Curios section of the Gallery)

The creation of the lace using three colours in silk Floss; Ice, Mint and White was simple enough.  The lace was then to be mounted on a piece of dupion silk to closely match the Mint silk thread, in imitation of the paper design.  That indeed is the effect of the silk lace on the silk and so, time to take the photographs......that is when the nightmares began.

Whatever the lighting conditions have been, whatever adjustment the settings have had, the camera lens has wanted to loose the subtleties of the pale green/blue opalescent characteristics of the threads and their closely matched silk background in preference to grey. Worse still, the moire effect picked up, which can sometimes be an attractive feature, simply caused the background to look more like petrol on a muddy puddle.  Not quite what I had in mind.

Hence the reason why the background of ivory duchess satin is featured in the photograph.   It may not be true to my original concept, but at least the subtle colourings of the lace are visible and it doesn’t look like a bowl of congealed gruel! Enjoy......

Eventually, the lace will be mounted on its mint silk background for perusal in the flesh, but for photographs, the ivory duchesse will reign supreme.