Don’t you just love the warmth of yellow colour?!
To me this is like the colour of sunshine, and I simply love it.
Then again I have never met a bland colour in nature. They are full of different hues, which create the richness we love so much.
Today I would like to talk about my approach to ‘mixology‘ and creation of intricate colours with depth and highlights.
And to do this I will use one of my recent creations, the yellow jacket, as an example
I wanted to create a jacket with a rather subtle decor. So playing with colours was the obvious choice for me.
First I think of which wool to use.
I love working with blends, or at least combining two colours of wool. This time I took a blend Flower Seller from DHG collection, but check your suppliers and what they have to offer. You can also check whether your suppliers do custom blends and then order your bespoke choice for a project.
The blends are great, but they might give uneven and visible change from one colour to another, which at times is stronger than I wish to have.
To smooth this effect I love to add another layer on top of the wool: silk fabric or fibres or plant fibres. First of all it adds interest to the colour, which I was after in the yellow jacket project, and second, it provides that ‘protective‘ layer for merino, and reduces its tendency to gather in woollen balls.
With the yellow jacket I used hand-dyed silk hankies. I naturally dyed them with weld. The first batch had a deeper colour and the second was lighter. Combining those two allowed me to add extra interest to the colour and design of the jacket. It made the top of the jacket darker and the bottom a bit lighter.
I also decorated the bottom bit of the jacket with a material I recently fell in love with – Mohair hoop boucle range yarn in two colours, by World of Wool. Whether you add yarn at the layering or prefelt stage, this yarn gives brilliant results .
If you look at the yellow of the jacket you can see how its colours glitter and blend from one hue into another. That makes a simple and subtle decor so beautifully special and unique.
I hope you’ve found some ideas for yourself in this blog post.
If you liked my tips and would like to learn more about what I do, follow me on Instagram and Facebook @NadiaReinDesign and sign up for my newsletter, the place where you can get the best offers if a newsletter, sign in on my website www.NadiaReinDesign.com.
Article by Nadia Rein, Region 8