report from the studio

well, this afternoon has not been a tale of unalloyed bliss from the studio.  i think things will work out alright but i went from being underwhelmed to be frankly annoyed and on the verge of inflicting GBH with the business end of my Birkenstocks on the sewing machine.....

first things first- cocoon stripping silk paper.

take this

add this

and apply this

and you get something that looks unpromisingly like porridge skin. 

hopefully it will take some dye tomorrow and be much more enticing.  but at least that worked - i did end up with silk paper, however farinaceous its aspect.

but, in trying to turn this into reality my sewing machine and i locked horns and are on the point of parting brass rags. 

 using exactly the same materials and thread that i used to make the coral cross section the other day, i had constantly breaking thread, chewing holes in the solvy/paper, and general tantrumming on the part of the machine (and then me). changing the tension,  a new bobbin, much rethreading and retensioning made no difference - the thread kept knotting around the thread takeup lever and having to be cut away :(

 i ended up with something that i think can be salvaged - it's now rinsed and drying sulkily on the bench

i thought i would see if it was just a problem with paper and solvy but it misbehaved with muslin and silk as well.

 i'll do some handstitching on this tomorrow and give the machine some time to ponder its faults.  perhaps a new needle and different thread might cure its ills