Lots of flowers!

This is what it is looking like at the moment.

There are six different flowers each a little bigger and a little lighter than the last one. I am going to be making another each of flowers two to four, which will give me nine in total. I think any more will spoil it. I can fill up some of the empty stems with fluffy heads. I also need to work on an opening bud and maybe make two or three of them. Then, if I have time, I might change the way I have done the buds. When I started this, September 16th seemed such a long way away. Now I only have 19 days left!!!!!

My 1st Flower

What you have all been waiting for - my 1st flower. The flowers on this clematis start off a gorgeous violet colour and gradually fades to a pale lavender before the petals finally fall off. The 1st flower is based on a newly opened flower.

I am using a technique called "Thread Painting". This is where you use two or more strands of thread/yarn together then change just one thread at a time to the new colour. This gives the effect of the colours shading from one to the next rather than an abrupt change.

I have used this technique a few times with gorgeous results. I am using DMC perle size 8, two strands at a time, in 208, 209, 210, 211 and white. This one uses just 208 and 209. I think the centre should be trimmed a little more though. The actual flower looks a lot neater.

Fluffy Heads

I have been taking loads of photos of my real clematis to try to get the crocheted one looking right. However, I do plan on using a LOT of "Artistic Licence". As I tell Mark when he complains I am not being accurate enough - "You are an engineer, I am an artist. So I can use artistic licence."

The centres of the flowers start off with a little cream in the middle of mostly plum. As the flower gets older the plum opens, revealing more cream.

When it eventually loses all of it petals, the fluffy head left is all cream. I made them with loop stitch, working round and round amigurumi style and keeping the loops to the outside. When it was finished, I trimmed them off and fluffed them up.

Leafing Through!

Or Through Leafing!!!! Either way, I have finished the leaves. All 270 of them! I have also made some fluffy heads and am now on the flowers. No pics of these yet though.