Combination shading

At the end of my last post I questioned whether I could combine the two different types of colour shading techniques (breaking up the stitch and two colours in the needle) with shading by thickness. To test it I sewed two random lines of running stitch in different colours; the red line to indicate where there should be a transition from dark to light and the black line dividing green from blue.

Unfortunately because I didn't have much space left on my bit of experiment fabric by this point it had to be a bit cramped so the actual shading, which was the point of the whole exercise, had to be done very quickly. It looks more like blurring than real shading, the edges between colours and shades are simply prevented from being harsh lines rather than being gradual transitions. The over all effect is interesting though.

I'm not sure what I could use it for but I think I will find a purpose somehow. From a distance the impact is stronger than it appears here and is very striking. The only difficulty that emerged in terms of the combination of two techniques was where the red and black lines crossed over, shading between two types of shading method was tricky but I think it can be done. Whether it would be as easy with two colours that do not compliment each other as well as these two do is another matter though.

This completes the current set of colour experiments as I have run out of space, here is the full set:

I will now be moving on to my first proper design, the blackwork bellydancer I showed preliminary ideas for a couple of weeks ago.