The key to color

Well, there’s an awful lot of long and short stitch that got done on that book cover, and there’s not much to say about the mechanics of it. I mean, it’s just the same simple stitch done a zillion times. It’s not the complexity of the stitching that gives this project its zing. Nope, it’s the color. And that’s the subject of this post - how to deal with color in an embroidery project that depicts a representational image.

Most people remember how to do shading with crayons or colored pencils even if they don’t use them regularly any more. When you want a brighter or more intense shade, you just press down a little harder. Too bad thread doesn’t work that way! It’s much more “digital” - every shade or tint of a color must be purchased as a separate color thread. That means that if you want to depict an object that is green in a realistic manner that conveys depth and shadow, you’re going to need to buy a bunch of different shades of green thread to do it. Here’s a photo of those leaves, now finished except for the center veins, close up:

There are five different colors of green thread used in those leaves. And some of those thread colors are slightly variegated so you get even more variety out of them. I use those 5 different shades of green to give the illusion that there is a light source to the upper left of the composition. You have to imagine shadows cast by overlapping elements like the flower or another leaf, and take into account shadows that form in valleys and keep those in mind when you are imagining the effect of your imaginary light source. I’ll post more on this topic later.

You may also notice that some of those threads are shinier than others. That’s because some thread colors I got in 100% wool, and other thread colors I got in a silk wool blend. There are yet more threads that are cotton floss, although not in the leaves, and cotton also has different properties of shine and blur. Those silk blend threads catch a shine more than the 100% wool threads. And they also blur less. I think this is particularly apparent in the flower:

At certain angles that shine can give the effect of lightening the shades of thread. But this happens only at certain angles. It’s generally not a problem, but it can appear to be a problem in a still photograph if you are using a flash.

In the above photo I use 3 different shades of cream/yellow in the flower petals. One is wool and the other two are silk/wool. Even though the silk/wool are darker shades, in the flash of the photo they shine more than the very light 100% wool cream thread and the stitches appear more defined. The shine is a product of the camera flash, but the stitch distinction is not. I don’t mind this distinctness of stitch at all, but if it bothered me the way to get firmer threads to smooth out and blur together is to stitch them more closely while maintaining the stagger, and (if possible) use thinner threads per stitch. At this point in the project I have just started over-stitching with a medium mauve color that provides the illusion of shadow (and therefore depth) on the flower petals. I will ultimately follow up with a darker shade of mauve to intensify the shadow effect.

So in a nutshell, the key to handling color for a representational piece is this: use many shades and tints of the same color to represent the illusion of an object illuminated by a light source. On a practical note it makes sense to limit the number of major colors used in a composition unless you don’t mind spending a small fortune on thread and amassing an enormous collection.