DSS #110 Silk
grandmaR
Registered Users Posts: 2,116 Major grins
There's been so much controversy over these requests for help that I thought I might as well participate in that too.
When the topic "Smooth as Silk" was proposed, my FIRST thought was that silk isn't in reality, very smooth. I have a dress that my mother made for herself in the 1920s that is made of real silk. It isn't smooth. This is an inside seam which has frayed a little.
The best picture I could get of this was this one that shows some of the sheen.
That it is beige doesn't really help.
So then I thought that maybe I could get some fabric that was really shiny and seemed smooth and put something rough with it to show the contrast. I found a formal dress that my mother and I made for me in the 1960s, and I put a couple of necklaces on it that are too rough for me to wear because they irritate my skin
That wasn't quite right either so I tried pearls
That was better I thought. But I was still hung up on the idea of something rough textured, so I tried it with this earring
At that point I realized that almost any fabric photographed close up like that is going to show the weave and won't be that smooth. But this particular fabric has two types of weave - the red is done like a ribbon between the stripes of white. I think that is as smooth as I will get. Maybe just a photo of the fabric without anything
I still kind of like the texture of my mother's dress though. What do you think?
When the topic "Smooth as Silk" was proposed, my FIRST thought was that silk isn't in reality, very smooth. I have a dress that my mother made for herself in the 1920s that is made of real silk. It isn't smooth. This is an inside seam which has frayed a little.
The best picture I could get of this was this one that shows some of the sheen.
That it is beige doesn't really help.
So then I thought that maybe I could get some fabric that was really shiny and seemed smooth and put something rough with it to show the contrast. I found a formal dress that my mother and I made for me in the 1960s, and I put a couple of necklaces on it that are too rough for me to wear because they irritate my skin
That wasn't quite right either so I tried pearls
That was better I thought. But I was still hung up on the idea of something rough textured, so I tried it with this earring
At that point I realized that almost any fabric photographed close up like that is going to show the weave and won't be that smooth. But this particular fabric has two types of weave - the red is done like a ribbon between the stripes of white. I think that is as smooth as I will get. Maybe just a photo of the fabric without anything
I still kind of like the texture of my mother's dress though. What do you think?
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Comments
I think the pearls works the best. I like the way the strand of pearls pulls the eye through the frame. The crystal that precedes it is a bit too chaotic in its placement. The starfish is nice, but the lighting doesn't quite work for me.
The last one is such a narrow DOF. It might work better with a bit broader range or with the prime focal point in the lower left 3rd.
On a side note, it is easier to comment if you include numbers for each photo.
When I first saw the topic, I thought of the red and white fabric - the dress was made in the 50s - we bought the material and the pattern and made it as a Christmas season formal gown. It was unusual to use that type of pattern in a formal dress but it worked quite well. I might try to put the dress on a mannequin and do it that way. I do like the pearls better. I still think a contrast with a rough fabric would be good, but haven't been able to figure out what fabric other than a wool bathrobe.
My Smugmug Photos
Anyway -
This is the back
#1
The dress is strapless and the bodice has crossed fabric over the bosoms, and a scarf that goes from the front of one side of the bodice around the neck. It has a very full skirt under which I usually wore a hoop.
This shows the scarf draped around - I had it partly on and was taking my photo in the mirror so you can see the camera strap
#2
This shows the front of the bodice with the scarf on one side
#3
#4 - full length from the side
My father had a thing about cleavage which all of us females in the family had. No shadow of cleavage was allowed to show. So any clothing which might have showed some cleavage had to be covered. That meant in a lot of cases something like this ruffle on the top of the bodice which wasn't in the original design
#5
#6 folds of fabric closer up
#7 sitting down
It was a struggle and I don't think I gave you a really good idea of what the fabric did for the dress. I actually had another dress from this pattern for the summer (this was for Christmas) and that one had parallelograms of black, white and hot pink.
This is a photo my dad took of me in 1954 (at the time that dress was made) sitting on a live steer in Ormond Beach - I was 16, and I am wearing what is probably the same pearls as are shown previously - they are Pop-its
have you thought about just doing a study of the pearls? They are smooth and shiny.......
My Smugmug Photos
www.rteest42.com
www.aliaslaceygreen.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/rteest42
Here are some more tries
I'm tending toward the close-up but I like the full length from the back too