Phase 2: Bamboo Leaves Segment Completed

I completed the bamboo leaves segment of my fan yesterday. It's rather thrilling to have eight segments done. I won't describe the process of stitching bamboo leaves in detail because I blogged about it before in this post. But I will tell you a bit about my color and texture choices.

I started with the top bamboo leaf and used 3-->1 twisted silk in a warm, blue-ish silver (the same color I used for two of the maple leaves), stitching in separated layer (also like the maple leaves):

My one-point open spaces aren't perfectly equal across all the leaves, but I think that will just take time and practice. Within each leaf, they're pretty even, which is progress, so I'm happy enough with them. I also really like the texture of the twisted silk on these leaves. It gives them a bit more depth. So for the next set of leaves just below, I again used 3-->1T, but this time, I went with a soft blue that was just two shades darker in the same color family:

There's something so serene about this blue — it speaks to me. 😂 (It's the same blue I used for the leaves on my pinks.) So for the last bamboo leaf, I used this blue again, but this time, I did two strands of flat silk to get a different texture:

The flat silk reflects the light differently, so not only did I get a different texture with this method, but I ended up with some subtle variations in color. You can see it in this next photo of all three of the leaves:

The two lower leaves almost look like two different colors because of the way the light reflects off the twisted and flat silk. This segment is softer and more subtle than some of the others, but it feels just right. With the the two segments on either side being rather busy, it's nice to have this more sparse segment in between to rest the eyes. Here's everything I've completed so far:

Not gonna lie, it makes my heart throb. 😍 The colors have turned out so well. I wasn't always sure about my colors along the way, but seeing it now, they just somehow fit together. I did make some changes from my original color plan — mostly adding variety within segments — but they were small and used all the same colors I'd originally chosen for the piece as a whole.

And on Saturday, I'll learn how to do the last segment on the right and the cords swirling around the fan. I can't wait to see it come together!