Poem: "New Rules Every Season"
Nov. 28th, 2023 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the June 6, 2023 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman. It also fills the "Praise or Humiliation" square in my 6-1-23 card for the Kinky and Unusual Situations Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv, Marionettes, and Finn Family threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "A Great Deal of Energy and Determination" so read that first or this won't make much sense.
"New Rules Every Season"
[Thursday, September 29, 2016]
It wasn't often that Halley
reached out to Shiv; they
tended to dance around
each other at family events.
This invitation sounded different,
though, and it piqued Shiv's interest.
Halley wanted to introduce him to
some fashion designer and get
input on the colors that they were
playing around with for spring,
inspired by the old Irish colors.
So Shiv met up with the teleporter
they sent, and arrived in the courtyard
of a sprawling yellow brick building.
Halley met him there, alongside
a distinguished Italian gentleman.
"Shiv, this is Nonno Gabbana, who
designs fantastic clothes," said Halley.
"Nonno Gabbana, this is my cousin Shiv
that you wanted to meet, he's an artist."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance,"
Nonno Gabbana said, offering a hand.
"Nice place you got," Shiv said as
they shook hands. He kinda wanted
to paint it, but wasn't sure if he could
quite capture the sun on the bricks.
"Thank you," said Nonno Gabbana.
"It does make a good backdrop."
So that's why the place looked
vaguely familiar -- Shiv had
probably seen it on television.
"Wait until you see the workshops,"
Halley said, trotting along beside
them as they headed indoors.
There were rooms full of
fabric swatches and books
and tables to lay things out on.
Looking at all the people in there,
Shiv muttered, "I am so underdressed."
He wore one of his best suits, gray
with opalescent embroidery on the lapels,
over a silk shirt whose color hovered
somewhere between pink and lavender.
"Nonsense, you look perfectly fine,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "The gray goes
quite well with your coloring, and it's
not that often I see a young man
with the heart to wear orchid."
"Really?" Shiv said, startled.
"But you're ... fancy, and I'm not."
"I don't give empty compliments,
especially with regard to clothes,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Italians
know that what matters is style,
not fashion. Italian style does not
have social or age boundaries."
"He really doesn't, Shiv," said Halley.
"I asked you here because I thought
he would like your style, the way that
you see colors. Guess it worked."
"Uh huh," Shiv said, scrunching
his shoulders. Praise made him
feel more anxious than flattered.
"So you had colors to show me?"
"Yes, over here," Nonno Gabbana said,
leading them to a table covered with books
and swatches. "These are some ideas,
along with what other people are considering."
One page had possible Pantone colors, with
handwritten notes about which ones were
probably too bright for Spring 2017.
"I like all the blues," Shiv said. "I could
do without that ridiculous pink, though."
"We're certainly scrapping Flame and
Pink Yarrow," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Probably Primrose Yellow, and we
have ideas for replacing Island Paradise."
Shiv hated to lose that lovely turquoise, but
considered the remaining colors. He discarded
other too-bright possibilities, then touched on
several remaining. "Two blues, two greens,
two light browns," he said, using his fingers
to point out the color chips on the page.
"Yes, those are among our favorites
for keeping from the Pantone possibilities,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "They would all
work well with our other selections."
"They're really just recycling colors
that already exist," Shiv pointed out.
"Fashion takes its inspiration from society
and everyday life, which is similar for everyone,"
said Nonno Gabbana, "and this is perhaps
the reason why certain elements recur."
"We started with a neutral color, bronze,"
said Halley. "That gave us a base that
would go with a lot of other things."
"That is like the ugliest color in
the world," Shiv said, staring at
the color chip. "I'm pretty sure it
actually won a contest for that."
"It is not!" Halley protested.
"Bronze isn't unpopular."
"Is too," Shiv said. "That
right there is babyshit brown."
"Well I like it," Halley said mulishly.
"Children," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Perhaps examples would help."
"Yeah, we got some for bronze,"
Halley said, opening a swatch book.
"The silk and the chenille aren't bad,"
Shiv admitted. "What's with the calico?"
"We're aiming for at least one each
of solids and patterns for every color,"
said Halley. "That makes it easier
to mix and match the garments."
"Oh yeah," Shiv said. "I remember
that lesson from Shrewd Dude. You
can pick any color from a print and
match that using a solid piece.
It works in quiltmaking too."
Then Halley turned the page,
and Shiv's jaw dropped. "Woah,
what is that?" he wondered.
"Sculpted leather," said Halley.
"We want to make accessory sets
in several colors. This is a favorite."
"It's beautiful," Shiv murmured. It was
bronze, a lighter shade than the chip
but clearly related, with shimmery hints
of pale green, blue, and yellow in it.
"It looks just like dragonhide."
"Feel free to request samples,"
Nonno Gabbana said. "Everyone
who helps develop the line gets
to claim what they want from it."
"Yeah okay," Shiv said instantly. He
didn't have a lot of warm-toned clothes,
mostly khakis and such, but the dragonhide
would work perfectly to mesh those with
the cool-toned clothes he usually wore.
"Maybe boots and a belt or something?"
"We'll be doing boots, belts, and probably
other things like bags," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Then what do you need me for?" Shiv said.
"Whittling down," Halley said. "Here, look,
we collected a ton of images that have
bronze in them, that we could use for
printing scarves. This is as short as
we've gotten the set down to so far."
There were pages and pages of images
in the binder. Shiv counted. Three pages,
and twelve images per page, so thirty-six.
"You do not need thirty-six scarves," he said.
"No," said Nonno Gabbana. "At least one
per fashion color, but neutrals may have more,
plus a few extras from our contributing artists."
Shiv looked at the pages again. One had
closeups of science stuff, almost abstract;
the second was nature, plants or animals;
and the third was machinery or architecture.
"Three pages, three pictures, three scarves,"
he suggested. "One from each of the sets."
"Ah, that's a good idea," Nonno Gabbana said,
waving a hand at the book. "Which of these
would you suggest using, then, and why?"
Shiv used his hand to cover up images,
trying to weed out the worse ones, and
Nonno Gabbana handed him a stack
of cards to use for hiding the rejects.
"Keep the meteorite slice," he said.
"It almost echoes the dragonhide."
"Why that one?" Halley wondered.
"I mean meteorites are cool, but
the color spread is a little weird. I
admit I kept it for the space theme."
"Look at the colors," Shiv said. "It
has the bronze, yeah, but it also has
olive and yellow, and the background
is real close to that Hazelnut chip."
Nonno Gabbana slid the Hazelnut
next to the meteorite image. "True,"
he said, smiling. "Next picture?"
Shiv quickly ruled out most of
the plants and animals as things
you could buy anywhere, looking
instead for something unique.
"The moth," he said. "Background
is black, you can't go wrong with that.
The wings are mostly pigeon colors --
the bronze, other browns and grays --
plus olive across the top edges.
But there are these yellow streaks
and pink patches to liven it up."
"You missed the pinks that we
dropped," Halley said, looking at
Nonno Gabbana. "With this for
a scarf, you could justify offering
a pink blouse and a yellow one."
"Those would make nice accents,"
Nonno Gabbana said, jotting notes.
Shiv had a harder time cutting down
the last page. Italian architecture was
so beautiful, as was the Celtic stuff.
He found himself drawn back to
a beached ship, though. It wasn't
conventionally pretty, but it had
so much texture in the rusting metal
and the stark shadows of the sand.
"This color's hard to find but really
useful, coffee-black," he said, pointing
at the side of the ship. "Then it's got
the bronze on the deck, warm and
cool grays in the sky --" He followed
the Milky Way with a fingertip. "-- and
where they meet, it's like a yellowy-gray."
"Liathbhuí!" Halley exclaimed. "There,
on the horizon, fore and aft of the ship."
"Yeah, that's the word," Shiv said.
"I just forgot the Irish name for it."
"I see it too," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Well spotted, Shiv, we'll use this."
The three images looked nothing
alike, but hopefully would appeal
to different customers as scarves.
"So that's the bronze," Halley said.
"The first of the Irish colors we
picked was irfind, very white."
"Whiter than white," Shiv said.
"So like a pure white, or glossy."
"Yeah, the first two fabrics we
found are silk and linen, both
with a shiny look," said Halley.
"For a pattern, we plan to use
a floral brocade, rather than
a print," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Not a bad idea," Shiv said as he
tilted the swatch to catch the light.
"It's hard to find things with variation
that still look white," Halley said.
"Have you tried holographic fabric?"
said Shiv. "It doesn't last long, but
fashion stuff isn't always meant to last."
"I'll need to get another swatch book,"
Nonno Gabbana said as he headed
for the bookcases along the walls.
"Grab some texture too, lace or
knit or something," Shiv hollered,
making people stare at him. "What?
You don't got any velvet or anything."
"We tried that, they don't look
white enough," Halley explained.
"Well, think of something, because
what you have is too flat," Shiv said.
Nonno Gabbana returned with
an armload of swatch books. "You
are scandalizing my interns by bossing
me around like that," he said with a smirk.
"Do continue, I can't stand a pedestal."
"Sure, help me sort out what's where,"
Shiv said. "Also I got no idea what
you can even work with, what kind
of cloth you'd want for this project."
"Something with nice drape, I think,"
Nonno Gabbana said, looking at
Shiv to see if he understood. "We
have a soft silk and a robust linen."
"So like skirt weight or curtains,"
Shiv said as he leafed through
the offered swatch book.
"These are too heavy,"
Halley said, shutting one.
"And these are too light."
"Nowhere near white enough,"
Shiv said of the rainbow set.
"Perhaps one of these?"
Nonno Gabbana said,
tilting the book he held.
These fabrics looked like
a faintly freckled, glossy white
until the light caught just so
and refracted the colors.
"I like this one," Halley said,
pointing to one with tiny pinpoints
of pale blue, green, yellow, and pink.
"It looks like opal," Shiv said, "you know,
the cheap kind with barely any fire in it,
but the stone has that milky sheen."
Nonno Gabbana ran a knowing hand
over the fabric, feeling its weight and
watching how the light moved and
danced over the surface as it draped.
"Yes, I can work with this," he said.
"Now, you wanted more texture?"
That was even harder to find
than a good holographic fabric.
Halley was right. All the velvet
and velour and corduroy looked
too yellow, or grayish, or plain dingy.
The lace was just as bad, because
so much of it was eggshell or antique
or ivory or some other off-white tint.
Then Shiv found an unusual length of
lace shaped like thick waves held together
by finer threads. It wasn't quite shiny -- cotton
rather than silk -- but it was a bright icy white
that he would have called semi-gloss in paint.
"It's pretty, but it's too stiff," Halley said,
running a hand over the sample.
"For average customers, yes. I could
use this on cuffs, collar, perhaps a sash,
no more," said Nonno Gabbana. "But for
a fashion model, I could make a whole dress!"
"Yeah, if you wanted her to walk down
the runway practically naked," Shiv said.
"Fashion is much about illusion,"
Nonno Gabbana said smoothly.
"It's merely a matter of hiding white
or nude-toned undergarments beneath
the shifting layers of the lace dress."
Deft fingers folded the sample
back on itself, creating a crisscross
of thick white strands and pale shadows.
"Oh wow," said Halley. "The model will
look like she's wearing clouds, or waves!"
"Precisely," said Nonno Gabbana. He
produced a sketch set from somewhere
and drew a lady rising from the waves
in a dress that looked like seafoam.
Shiv could no way draw like that,
a picture meant for someone
to make into a real thing.
It piqued his interest, though,
because he could see the anatomy
even though Nonno Gabbana had
drawn the model impossibly
tall and thin and willowy.
The shoulders and hips
were right, all the joints too.
"That looks so cool," said Halley.
"I wonder if we could do something
swishy with the dendropolycarbonate."
Shiv remembered Halley saying
something about a new plastic
made from leaves, that China
wasn't allowed to buy any of.
"What's that got to do with
all this?" he wondered.
"We're going to use it for
necht," Halley explained.
"Clear isn't a color," Shiv said.
"It's close enough," Halley said.
"So, we're trying to come up with
ideas for things to make with it."
"Got swatches?" Shiv said.
"I thought it was for cars."
"I did finally get the mix right
for car windows," Halley said,
waving a hand, "but I made
flexible versions too. I didn't
think Nonno Gabbana would
want to work with synthetics --"
"Tch. Just because I prefer
natural fibers doesn't mean
that I never use synthetics,"
the designer scolded gently.
"Besides, I love the challenge
of being the first person who
gets to create with this material."
"Ah, you just want to stick it
to China too," Shiv snickered.
"Of course I want to do that,"
Nonno Gabbana replied. "I am
beyond appalled with them."
"You and everyone else who
isn't a total nutjob," Shiv said.
"So let's see, rain gear is obvious."
"Yeah, we have some sketches
for that," Halley said. "I already
made smooth and raindrop sheets,
but we need a way to connect it
with other colors in the lineup."
"So print 'em on it like they
do on kiddie raincoats, or put
ribbons or something," Shiv said.
"That could work," Halley said.
"I can probably do colors. I got
the holographic film to work."
"Oh yeah? What did you
do with that?" Shiv asked.
Halley showed him a swatch.
"Mermaid scales," thon said.
"Leg sock for wheelchair users,"
Shiv said promptly. "It would
keep the rain off, and you know
how some of them like to style
themselves as mermaids
even if they really aren't."
Halley laughed. "Yeah,
I've seen that before, and
the mermaid soups don't
seem to mind it, either."
Thon turned a page in
the swatch book, and there
were the sheer samples
of dendropolycarbonate.
One was barely visible,
so cobweb-fine that Shiv
could see his hand through it.
Instead of a film, this had been
made into floss and then woven
into a delicate gossamer veil.
"Totally wedding dress material,"
Shiv said. "Girls will go nuts
for something this fancy."
It glistened in the light,
colorless yet shining.
The other swatch was
more substantial -- still
transparent from the front,
but when the light caught it,
the folds shimmered with veils
of pale green and lavender.
It reminded Shiv of pictures
he'd seen about auroras, how
the colors danced in the sky.
"That's the one to use for
your swishy dress," he said.
"Do like --" He scrunched
the material into folds, but
as soon as he let go, it
snapped itself flat again.
"Huh, no crease memory."
"We can experiment with
setting methods, and if that
doesn't work out, use sewing
to shape it," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Be fun to see what you come up with,"
Shiv said. Maybe if he had an actual girl
and dress in front of him, he could draw it,
since he couldn't pull it straight out of
his head like Nonno Gabbana.
Then something else occurred
to him. "Hey, Halley, did you
put huath in this lineup?"
The name literally meant
'terrible-colored' and it was
Halley's favorite color, sort of
a brownish-purplish-gray.
"Yeah, we found some,"
Halley said. "Here it is."
The first swatch was woven,
ever so slightly heathered,
and looked pretty good.
The silk was more of
a soft, grayish plum.
The prints were unusual,
one a speckled array of
dark gray, brown, and plum
that looked almost like stone
while the other one was
a mottled purplish-brown
with bright white feathers.
"Be pretty if you could put
a shine on the white part,"
Shiv mused. "Make it irfind."
"The white's just the base fabric,"
said Halley. "It's done with resist."
"We could paint over the white
in a few strategic places, though,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Plenty of
fabrics have metallic touches."
"Like lightning in a storm, or
how some feathers catch
the light," Shiv said.
"I like that," said Halley.
"It sounds beautiful."
"I think that you need
more variegated stuff,"
said Shiv. "Especially
with a complex color like
huath, breaking it down some
will help it mesh better with
the other colors around it."
"There's this splash-dyed leather
we're considering," Halley said,
showing him another swatch.
The white leather had ridges
that made a ragged grid, splashed
with gray, almost-purple, and oxblood.
"You know, this stuff reminds me
of the family tie-dye parties,"
Shiv mused. "If you could
find a dark dye that separates
well, that would be fantastic."
"Let me check the companies
we buy from," Halley said.
"They may have samples,
or a chemical breakdown
of the pigments in dyes."
"I'll investigate our suppliers,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
Before long, they found
a black dye that separated
into shades of brown and gray,
with hints of pink and faint blue.
"Yeah, that'll work," said Shiv. "We
could also look for variegated yarn."
Halley perked up. "Like some of what
you've sent me?" thon said. "I love
the clothes that you've knitted up."
"Either a single variegated yarn,
or something like a crazyball,"
Shiv said. "I love crazyballs,
you never know what you're
going to get until it's done."
"Do you have a source for
those?" Nonno Gabbana said
as he leaned forward, intrigued.
"I have admired Halley's knitwear,
but I did not know it was your work."
"Well, some I made, some I just bought,"
Shiv said. "I like knitting and crochet,
though, they're relaxing crafts. I've
got a friend, Colette, who spins up
stuff for me. She has every kind
of blending tool on the market."
Halley grinned. "I heard about you
making art batts for the spinners."
"Yeah, turns out most fibercrafters
like spinning better than blending, but
I love choosing fibers to go together,
and all the fun mix-ins like dyed locks,"
said Shiv. "It almost makes me popular."
"You are popular," said Halley. "You're
just not used to it, so it's hard to recognize.
Look on their blogs or websites and you'll
see them talking up what you've done."
"Perhaps you could make a few things
for me?" said Nonno Gabbana. "If you
aren't up to mass production, then
a pattern or design would suffice."
"Uh yeah, I can probably do ...
something like that," Shiv said.
"Maybe a mix of shiny and matte
fibers to pick up the other colors."
"That would help a lot," said Halley.
"Another color where we're really
focused on the sheen is usgdha,"
"You'd have to," Shiv said.
"That one's 'resinous,' right?"
"That's right," said Halley.
"So we want things that
kind of look like amber,
the luster as well as
the range of colors."
Thon opened a book
to show off swatches.
"We found more shot silk,
this one has yellow and orange
on warp and weft," Halley said.
"It looks almost like fire, the way
it moves in the light," said Shiv.
"Hmm, I could probably do
something with a flame motif,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
"We found a couple of
really fun prints for this,"
said Halley. "This floral one
has all the colors of amber
from yellow to almost brown,
and even a few greenish bits."
"That'll make pretty blouses
or skirts," Shiv said, nodding.
"This other one is speckled,"
Halley said. "If you look closely,
it has yellow, orange, brown,
black, blue, green, and clear."
Shiv ran a hand over the swatch,
but it was smooth to the touch.
"I wonder if you could duplicate
this print with beadwork," he said.
"Maybe for the front of a dress?
I've seen dresses like that."
"That'd take a ton of work,"
Halley said. "Plastic beads
look almost like amber, though,
so that's worth a thought."
"Not all beads have to get
sewn on," said Nonno Gabbana.
"The tiniest ones have no holes
and are fixed with glue. I'll see
if I can source something suitable."
"Amber," Shiv said thoughtfully,
looking at the samples for usgdha.
"There was that yellowy-gray earlier,
maybe we could do more with that,
and it would go well with this."
"Liathbhuí," Halley said again.
"We want to include that, and
maybe buíghorm which is
more like yellow-blue, but
it's so hard to find a source
for impossible colors."
"We have a color chart,
some gradients that might
work for spray-dyeing, and
a couple of shot-silk samples,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I've
sketched a few garments, but
there's just not much out there."
Shiv looked at the pictures of
the potential garment designs.
There was a yellow-gray blouse
with gold paisley at the top and
gray dapples at the bottom,
blending a little in the middle.
There was a gorgeous wrap skirt
with abstract swirls that faded
from yellow to yellow-blue
to yellow going around it.
Still, it was hard to get
the balance just so with
conventional methods,
allowing both colors
to show equally well.
"This reminds me of
something I made while
fiddling with creme pastels,"
Shiv said, using his phone
to show them a picture of
the canvas swirled with
clouds in shades of gray,
blue, yellow, and green.
"Beautiful," Halley said, then
looked at Nonno Gabbana.
"Could we use this somehow?"
"We could make printed fabric,
but I doubt that would capture
the depth," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Maybe gel dyes?" said Halley.
"We've used those before, but it's
a lot of work for a small piece of cloth."
"Creme pastels work on Microfyne,"
said Shiv. "Yeah, it's a lot of work,
but the results can be gorgeous.
They haven't figured out how
to automate it yet, not fully."
"At least it would give us
a good blend," said Halley.
"What you really need is
yarncake," said Shiv. "It's
an extra long gradient yarn
wrapped like a flat ball so you
can make ombré projects."
"That sounds promising,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Can
you show me some examples?"
"Sure, I've got a yellow-gray
and a yellow-blue that I've been
fooling around with for Halley,"
said Shiv. "Here, I swatched
the yellow-gray so you can see
how it makes these bands."
He called up an image on
his smartphone. "Toward
the bottom, you can see bits
of yellow still in the gray bands."
"Ah yes," said Nonno Gabbana.
"I could definitely work with this."
"Maybe spray paint too," Shiv said,
thinking back to the speckled print
from huath. "If you do yellow or gold
over blue, they would layer together
instead of just turning to green."
"I know fabric manufacturers
who will produce a special run
for me, as long as I can give them
parameters," said Nonno Gabbana.
"We're doing glas too," said Halley,
"and that's challenging because
it can be so many different colors."
"Sea-colored," Shiv said instantly.
"Blue, green, gray, sometimes
white or silver -- all the colors
the sea can be. Also things
like abalone or watercolor."
"Yeah, it's as much colorway
as color," Halley said, opening
another swatch book. "We
have all kinds of sample chips,
so there's no trouble getting
solid fabrics based on these."
Some were bluish, while others
were more greenish or grayish.
Shiv loved the swatches too.
One was woven of slubby yarn
in almost all of the sea-colors.
"I'd love to have a suitcoat
of this," he said, petting it.
"Yes, that's on the list,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
A whole two-page spread
showed different colors of
gorgeous moiré shot silk.
Shiv traced the ripples
with a fingertip. "It's heavy."
"Good for dresses, sashes,
cuff trim, or cummerbunds,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I
haven't found a good silk
for shirts or blouses, though."
"We did find this great floral,"
Halley said, showing it off.
That one reminded Shiv
of a rainy day, soft grays
and blue-greens in layers.
"Something with raindrops
would work really well with
Halley's rain-patterned plastic,"
Shiv said. "We could look?"
"There's a whole stack
of swatch books based on
dye experiments," said Halley.
"I was looking at them earlier."
They searched through the books.
Some of the swatches looked
murky, but others were brighter.
"Perhaps this," Nonno Gabbana said,
pointing to a swatch in lighter and
darker shades of blue, stippled
with white and silver dots.
The pattern reminded Shiv of
trout freckles, supple and wet.
"It looks like waves on a beach,"
Halley said, "or rain on a window."
"Yeah, those too," said Shiv. He
fingered the swatch. "This feels
light enough for a shirt or a skirt."
Nonno Gabbana nodded. "I agree,
this cloth makes a good addition."
"Variegated yarn would work again,"
said Shiv. "You could include all of
the colors. With the leather that looks
like dragonhide, maybe knit or crochet
something like a dragon or wings?"
"A scarf or wrap, perhaps,"
Nonno Gabbana said, nodding.
"We can always use more scarves,
they're so popular for bringing
a whole outfit together. Do you
have any images that might suit?"
"For scarves?" Shiv said. "I dunno.
I do all kinds of artwork. I work
the most with spray paint, but I
doubt you'd want that for fashion."
"But of course!" said Nonno Gabbana.
"What use is it to consult an expert
in graffiti art and then not feature
any of your graffiti? Halley talks."
"Uh ... okay." Shiv brought up
the file of his graffiti snapshots,
the small works done for fun.
He wasn't sure how well
a big masterpiece would
translate into a scarf.
They paged through
the images together.
"That one!" Halley said,
pointing. "I love how
the graffiti artist is
painting the sky."
It had swaths of
deep blue-violet
speckled with stars,
a pale moon, and then
a blaze of bright orange.
"Yes, I like this one too,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Have
you done anything Celtic?"
"Not graffiti," said Shiv. "I've
tried doing some of the animals,
but it turns out, Celtic knotwork
and watercolors don't mix well.
Also me and math don't mix well."
He hadn't known when he started
that knotwork was basically all math,
but he'd figured out fast enough.
"I mean, this doesn't even look
like a salmon," Shiv said, pointing.
Aida had thought that it was
a coelecanth, whatever the hell
that was -- certainly, not a salmon.
"So it's a bit stylized," Halley said.
"The colors are exactly what we need."
"Yes, and we're having a hard time
finding them together, so I'd love
to use this," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Oh, what are all these beauties?"
"Those?" Shiv said, looking at
the images. "Abstract cityscapes.
I got to experimenting with using
different palette knives, pieces of
cardboard, whatever. Friend of mine
runs an art thing, and I'm welcome
to use up the paint that's getting old.
It does great sculptural effects."
"I wonder," Halley said slowly.
"We could print the colors onto
a scarf, but could we use silk that
has just a few slubby strands, so
it mimics these long rectangles?"
"Possibly," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Choose an image with just a few
prominent ridges, like this one ..."
That painting was mostly brown
on the bottom, mostly blue up top,
with a bold streak of goldenrod
right down the middle of it.
Shiv looked at it, thinking
about ways he'd seen ladies
folding the scarves they wore.
"It's a versatile picture," he said.
"You could fold it to show more
of the brown or the blue, or both."
"We'll put this on the list, then, if you
don't mind," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Go ahead," said Shiv. "Right now,
it's just sitting in my computer files,
and the original's in my studio."
"Thank you," said Nonno Gabbana.
"I'm impressed with your ability
to make clashing colors mesh well."
"Shiv can make a good palette
out of almost anything," said Halley.
"You should see the stuff that he's
done for Omaha Public Housing."
"Yeah, yeah," Shiv said, flipping
to those files. "I made some palettes
for painting blocks of new homes,
or decorating the insides, based
on pictures of Nebraska."
"Ah, if only we could turn
something like that into
fabric or even yarn,"
Nonno Gabbana said,
caressing the images.
"Course you can, it's
easy," said Shiv. "Here."
Boss White had bought him
a subscription to some of
the fancy programs that
architects and designers
used to play with colors.
Shiv had quickly realized
it was simple to break down
a picture into its palette of colors,
match those to fibers, and have
someone spin a hank of yarn
that would knit or crochet into
an abstract of the picture.
He'd done a whole bunch of
those things in different colors.
In fact, he had one of a bridge
over a mountain stream that used
the blue-gray-yellow-bronze palette
Nonno Gabbana was working with.
"Sweaters," the designer said,
grinning at the picture alongside
its matching skein and swatch.
"We'll make sweaters from yarn,
and scarves with the photos."
"I ain't doing the math on that,"
Shiv warned him. "I only do colors.
You gotta figure out how much of
each fiber to use, in order to get
the repeats and pools where you
want them. That's even harder
if you want to make two-ply yarn."
Nonno Gabbana waved a hand.
"So long as I have examples, I am
confident in my manufacturers. It
is your eye for color that I cannot
so easily reproduce elsewhere."
"No problem, then," said Shiv.
"I can go through a stack of
pictures, run the favorites past
my art program to make palettes,
and then hunt for matching fibers.
I've played with silk and wool
the most, but I can do others."
"I like to download as many apps
as I can -- especially the ones
with games and gadgets,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I'd
love to see what you're using."
"This is arts and architecture stuff,"
said Shiv. "Halley could probably
write something better, though."
"You didn't mention that,"
Nonno Gabbana said,
looking at Halley.
"I didn't think of it,"
thon said. "I do a lot
of different things, and
this summer I've been
focusing on chemistry."
"I've seen your work,"
Shiv said. "I bet you
could make a program
for translating pictures
into yarn better than I
can do it in my head."
"I could set it to calculate
fiber amounts and yarn length,
since that's just math," said Halley.
"Actually choosing the colors, no,
computers are terrible at aesthetics.
Sure it could pick colors based on
what's in a picture, but that doesn't
mean it will pick the right ones."
"You really do have an unusual eye
for color, especially matching colors
that most people consider ugly,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "That is
not praise that I give lightly."
Shiv tried not to squirm in
his seat. "I uh, been picking
colors based on what Halley
likes for a while," he hedged.
"It just works better if they're
variegated, or glossy, or
something else with depth."
"We should do something with
seacell," said Halley. "It's glossy,
it takes dye well, and we've got
kind of a sea theme going."
"I've seen that," Shiv said,
calling up a favorite website
that sold fibercraft supplies.
It was a bit slippery to work with,
like silk, but he loved the feel
of it in his fingers and the sheen
it gave to finished projects.
"Yeah, here it is in glas,"
he said, opening the page.
The long braid showed
watery shades of blue,
green and gray along it.
"Ah, that is nice. It would
work for making a scarf,
or perhaps a vest,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
"Can you use things that
aren't exactly mass-produced?"
Shiv asked. "Some companies
make a lot, but some of this
is hand-made so there's
just not as much of it."
Nonno Gabbana chuckled.
"Of course," he said. "I make
some things for retail sale, but
others are much more limited,
and some for runway shows only."
"Some of the showpieces are
really wild," said Halley. "They're
meant as wearable art, not as
things for everyday use."
"So like costumes?" Shiv said.
"Me and Luci and Gray did
this cosplay skit for Frozen."
"I have the video right here,"
Halley said, bringing it up
on thon's smartphone.
Shiv listened, feeling
a little shy, but his foot
tapped along to "Let It Go."
Nonno Gabbana clapped
his hands. "Breathtaking!
Who made the costumes?
And how did you manage
to animate the snowflakes?"
"The costumes were mostly
Luci, and Gray helped," said Shiv.
"I uh ... did the snowflakes myself."
He pulled out his play-putty,
divided it into several pieces,
and sent them swirling around.
"I can do that with other hard stuff,
too, like glass," he explained. "So
we used a few nice snowflakes
and the rest just broken glass.
We even put some of it in
the auction afterwards since
we didn't need to keep it."
"What a marvelous gift,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I
confess it's quite inspiring.
I might do something with
metallic or glass beads ..."
"I don't know how much I
could gamify fashion design,
but I could try a few ideas,"
Halley said. "It could be fun."
"We kind of are treating this
like a game," Shiv mused. "It
seems a bit risky, given how
expensive fashion anything is."
"Exactly," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Fashion is all a game, with
new rules every season."
Shiv thought about that,
the way the colors and
shapes changed over time.
Yeah, he had played games
where each new level had
its own color scheme and
differently shaped gear.
"Well, okay, then," said Shiv.
"Let's see how high we can score!"
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes will appear elsewhere.
siliconshaman. It also fills the "Praise or Humiliation" square in my 6-1-23 card for the Kinky and Unusual Situations Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv, Marionettes, and Finn Family threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "A Great Deal of Energy and Determination" so read that first or this won't make much sense."New Rules Every Season"
[Thursday, September 29, 2016]
It wasn't often that Halley
reached out to Shiv; they
tended to dance around
each other at family events.
This invitation sounded different,
though, and it piqued Shiv's interest.
Halley wanted to introduce him to
some fashion designer and get
input on the colors that they were
playing around with for spring,
inspired by the old Irish colors.
So Shiv met up with the teleporter
they sent, and arrived in the courtyard
of a sprawling yellow brick building.
Halley met him there, alongside
a distinguished Italian gentleman.
"Shiv, this is Nonno Gabbana, who
designs fantastic clothes," said Halley.
"Nonno Gabbana, this is my cousin Shiv
that you wanted to meet, he's an artist."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance,"
Nonno Gabbana said, offering a hand.
"Nice place you got," Shiv said as
they shook hands. He kinda wanted
to paint it, but wasn't sure if he could
quite capture the sun on the bricks.
"Thank you," said Nonno Gabbana.
"It does make a good backdrop."
So that's why the place looked
vaguely familiar -- Shiv had
probably seen it on television.
"Wait until you see the workshops,"
Halley said, trotting along beside
them as they headed indoors.
There were rooms full of
fabric swatches and books
and tables to lay things out on.
Looking at all the people in there,
Shiv muttered, "I am so underdressed."
He wore one of his best suits, gray
with opalescent embroidery on the lapels,
over a silk shirt whose color hovered
somewhere between pink and lavender.
"Nonsense, you look perfectly fine,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "The gray goes
quite well with your coloring, and it's
not that often I see a young man
with the heart to wear orchid."
"Really?" Shiv said, startled.
"But you're ... fancy, and I'm not."
"I don't give empty compliments,
especially with regard to clothes,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Italians
know that what matters is style,
not fashion. Italian style does not
have social or age boundaries."
"He really doesn't, Shiv," said Halley.
"I asked you here because I thought
he would like your style, the way that
you see colors. Guess it worked."
"Uh huh," Shiv said, scrunching
his shoulders. Praise made him
feel more anxious than flattered.
"So you had colors to show me?"
"Yes, over here," Nonno Gabbana said,
leading them to a table covered with books
and swatches. "These are some ideas,
along with what other people are considering."
One page had possible Pantone colors, with
handwritten notes about which ones were
probably too bright for Spring 2017.
"I like all the blues," Shiv said. "I could
do without that ridiculous pink, though."
"We're certainly scrapping Flame and
Pink Yarrow," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Probably Primrose Yellow, and we
have ideas for replacing Island Paradise."
Shiv hated to lose that lovely turquoise, but
considered the remaining colors. He discarded
other too-bright possibilities, then touched on
several remaining. "Two blues, two greens,
two light browns," he said, using his fingers
to point out the color chips on the page.
"Yes, those are among our favorites
for keeping from the Pantone possibilities,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "They would all
work well with our other selections."
"They're really just recycling colors
that already exist," Shiv pointed out.
"Fashion takes its inspiration from society
and everyday life, which is similar for everyone,"
said Nonno Gabbana, "and this is perhaps
the reason why certain elements recur."
"We started with a neutral color, bronze,"
said Halley. "That gave us a base that
would go with a lot of other things."
"That is like the ugliest color in
the world," Shiv said, staring at
the color chip. "I'm pretty sure it
actually won a contest for that."
"It is not!" Halley protested.
"Bronze isn't unpopular."
"Is too," Shiv said. "That
right there is babyshit brown."
"Well I like it," Halley said mulishly.
"Children," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Perhaps examples would help."
"Yeah, we got some for bronze,"
Halley said, opening a swatch book.
"The silk and the chenille aren't bad,"
Shiv admitted. "What's with the calico?"
"We're aiming for at least one each
of solids and patterns for every color,"
said Halley. "That makes it easier
to mix and match the garments."
"Oh yeah," Shiv said. "I remember
that lesson from Shrewd Dude. You
can pick any color from a print and
match that using a solid piece.
It works in quiltmaking too."
Then Halley turned the page,
and Shiv's jaw dropped. "Woah,
what is that?" he wondered.
"Sculpted leather," said Halley.
"We want to make accessory sets
in several colors. This is a favorite."
"It's beautiful," Shiv murmured. It was
bronze, a lighter shade than the chip
but clearly related, with shimmery hints
of pale green, blue, and yellow in it.
"It looks just like dragonhide."
"Feel free to request samples,"
Nonno Gabbana said. "Everyone
who helps develop the line gets
to claim what they want from it."
"Yeah okay," Shiv said instantly. He
didn't have a lot of warm-toned clothes,
mostly khakis and such, but the dragonhide
would work perfectly to mesh those with
the cool-toned clothes he usually wore.
"Maybe boots and a belt or something?"
"We'll be doing boots, belts, and probably
other things like bags," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Then what do you need me for?" Shiv said.
"Whittling down," Halley said. "Here, look,
we collected a ton of images that have
bronze in them, that we could use for
printing scarves. This is as short as
we've gotten the set down to so far."
There were pages and pages of images
in the binder. Shiv counted. Three pages,
and twelve images per page, so thirty-six.
"You do not need thirty-six scarves," he said.
"No," said Nonno Gabbana. "At least one
per fashion color, but neutrals may have more,
plus a few extras from our contributing artists."
Shiv looked at the pages again. One had
closeups of science stuff, almost abstract;
the second was nature, plants or animals;
and the third was machinery or architecture.
"Three pages, three pictures, three scarves,"
he suggested. "One from each of the sets."
"Ah, that's a good idea," Nonno Gabbana said,
waving a hand at the book. "Which of these
would you suggest using, then, and why?"
Shiv used his hand to cover up images,
trying to weed out the worse ones, and
Nonno Gabbana handed him a stack
of cards to use for hiding the rejects.
"Keep the meteorite slice," he said.
"It almost echoes the dragonhide."
"Why that one?" Halley wondered.
"I mean meteorites are cool, but
the color spread is a little weird. I
admit I kept it for the space theme."
"Look at the colors," Shiv said. "It
has the bronze, yeah, but it also has
olive and yellow, and the background
is real close to that Hazelnut chip."
Nonno Gabbana slid the Hazelnut
next to the meteorite image. "True,"
he said, smiling. "Next picture?"
Shiv quickly ruled out most of
the plants and animals as things
you could buy anywhere, looking
instead for something unique.
"The moth," he said. "Background
is black, you can't go wrong with that.
The wings are mostly pigeon colors --
the bronze, other browns and grays --
plus olive across the top edges.
But there are these yellow streaks
and pink patches to liven it up."
"You missed the pinks that we
dropped," Halley said, looking at
Nonno Gabbana. "With this for
a scarf, you could justify offering
a pink blouse and a yellow one."
"Those would make nice accents,"
Nonno Gabbana said, jotting notes.
Shiv had a harder time cutting down
the last page. Italian architecture was
so beautiful, as was the Celtic stuff.
He found himself drawn back to
a beached ship, though. It wasn't
conventionally pretty, but it had
so much texture in the rusting metal
and the stark shadows of the sand.
"This color's hard to find but really
useful, coffee-black," he said, pointing
at the side of the ship. "Then it's got
the bronze on the deck, warm and
cool grays in the sky --" He followed
the Milky Way with a fingertip. "-- and
where they meet, it's like a yellowy-gray."
"Liathbhuí!" Halley exclaimed. "There,
on the horizon, fore and aft of the ship."
"Yeah, that's the word," Shiv said.
"I just forgot the Irish name for it."
"I see it too," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Well spotted, Shiv, we'll use this."
The three images looked nothing
alike, but hopefully would appeal
to different customers as scarves.
"So that's the bronze," Halley said.
"The first of the Irish colors we
picked was irfind, very white."
"Whiter than white," Shiv said.
"So like a pure white, or glossy."
"Yeah, the first two fabrics we
found are silk and linen, both
with a shiny look," said Halley.
"For a pattern, we plan to use
a floral brocade, rather than
a print," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Not a bad idea," Shiv said as he
tilted the swatch to catch the light.
"It's hard to find things with variation
that still look white," Halley said.
"Have you tried holographic fabric?"
said Shiv. "It doesn't last long, but
fashion stuff isn't always meant to last."
"I'll need to get another swatch book,"
Nonno Gabbana said as he headed
for the bookcases along the walls.
"Grab some texture too, lace or
knit or something," Shiv hollered,
making people stare at him. "What?
You don't got any velvet or anything."
"We tried that, they don't look
white enough," Halley explained.
"Well, think of something, because
what you have is too flat," Shiv said.
Nonno Gabbana returned with
an armload of swatch books. "You
are scandalizing my interns by bossing
me around like that," he said with a smirk.
"Do continue, I can't stand a pedestal."
"Sure, help me sort out what's where,"
Shiv said. "Also I got no idea what
you can even work with, what kind
of cloth you'd want for this project."
"Something with nice drape, I think,"
Nonno Gabbana said, looking at
Shiv to see if he understood. "We
have a soft silk and a robust linen."
"So like skirt weight or curtains,"
Shiv said as he leafed through
the offered swatch book.
"These are too heavy,"
Halley said, shutting one.
"And these are too light."
"Nowhere near white enough,"
Shiv said of the rainbow set.
"Perhaps one of these?"
Nonno Gabbana said,
tilting the book he held.
These fabrics looked like
a faintly freckled, glossy white
until the light caught just so
and refracted the colors.
"I like this one," Halley said,
pointing to one with tiny pinpoints
of pale blue, green, yellow, and pink.
"It looks like opal," Shiv said, "you know,
the cheap kind with barely any fire in it,
but the stone has that milky sheen."
Nonno Gabbana ran a knowing hand
over the fabric, feeling its weight and
watching how the light moved and
danced over the surface as it draped.
"Yes, I can work with this," he said.
"Now, you wanted more texture?"
That was even harder to find
than a good holographic fabric.
Halley was right. All the velvet
and velour and corduroy looked
too yellow, or grayish, or plain dingy.
The lace was just as bad, because
so much of it was eggshell or antique
or ivory or some other off-white tint.
Then Shiv found an unusual length of
lace shaped like thick waves held together
by finer threads. It wasn't quite shiny -- cotton
rather than silk -- but it was a bright icy white
that he would have called semi-gloss in paint.
"It's pretty, but it's too stiff," Halley said,
running a hand over the sample.
"For average customers, yes. I could
use this on cuffs, collar, perhaps a sash,
no more," said Nonno Gabbana. "But for
a fashion model, I could make a whole dress!"
"Yeah, if you wanted her to walk down
the runway practically naked," Shiv said.
"Fashion is much about illusion,"
Nonno Gabbana said smoothly.
"It's merely a matter of hiding white
or nude-toned undergarments beneath
the shifting layers of the lace dress."
Deft fingers folded the sample
back on itself, creating a crisscross
of thick white strands and pale shadows.
"Oh wow," said Halley. "The model will
look like she's wearing clouds, or waves!"
"Precisely," said Nonno Gabbana. He
produced a sketch set from somewhere
and drew a lady rising from the waves
in a dress that looked like seafoam.
Shiv could no way draw like that,
a picture meant for someone
to make into a real thing.
It piqued his interest, though,
because he could see the anatomy
even though Nonno Gabbana had
drawn the model impossibly
tall and thin and willowy.
The shoulders and hips
were right, all the joints too.
"That looks so cool," said Halley.
"I wonder if we could do something
swishy with the dendropolycarbonate."
Shiv remembered Halley saying
something about a new plastic
made from leaves, that China
wasn't allowed to buy any of.
"What's that got to do with
all this?" he wondered.
"We're going to use it for
necht," Halley explained.
"Clear isn't a color," Shiv said.
"It's close enough," Halley said.
"So, we're trying to come up with
ideas for things to make with it."
"Got swatches?" Shiv said.
"I thought it was for cars."
"I did finally get the mix right
for car windows," Halley said,
waving a hand, "but I made
flexible versions too. I didn't
think Nonno Gabbana would
want to work with synthetics --"
"Tch. Just because I prefer
natural fibers doesn't mean
that I never use synthetics,"
the designer scolded gently.
"Besides, I love the challenge
of being the first person who
gets to create with this material."
"Ah, you just want to stick it
to China too," Shiv snickered.
"Of course I want to do that,"
Nonno Gabbana replied. "I am
beyond appalled with them."
"You and everyone else who
isn't a total nutjob," Shiv said.
"So let's see, rain gear is obvious."
"Yeah, we have some sketches
for that," Halley said. "I already
made smooth and raindrop sheets,
but we need a way to connect it
with other colors in the lineup."
"So print 'em on it like they
do on kiddie raincoats, or put
ribbons or something," Shiv said.
"That could work," Halley said.
"I can probably do colors. I got
the holographic film to work."
"Oh yeah? What did you
do with that?" Shiv asked.
Halley showed him a swatch.
"Mermaid scales," thon said.
"Leg sock for wheelchair users,"
Shiv said promptly. "It would
keep the rain off, and you know
how some of them like to style
themselves as mermaids
even if they really aren't."
Halley laughed. "Yeah,
I've seen that before, and
the mermaid soups don't
seem to mind it, either."
Thon turned a page in
the swatch book, and there
were the sheer samples
of dendropolycarbonate.
One was barely visible,
so cobweb-fine that Shiv
could see his hand through it.
Instead of a film, this had been
made into floss and then woven
into a delicate gossamer veil.
"Totally wedding dress material,"
Shiv said. "Girls will go nuts
for something this fancy."
It glistened in the light,
colorless yet shining.
The other swatch was
more substantial -- still
transparent from the front,
but when the light caught it,
the folds shimmered with veils
of pale green and lavender.
It reminded Shiv of pictures
he'd seen about auroras, how
the colors danced in the sky.
"That's the one to use for
your swishy dress," he said.
"Do like --" He scrunched
the material into folds, but
as soon as he let go, it
snapped itself flat again.
"Huh, no crease memory."
"We can experiment with
setting methods, and if that
doesn't work out, use sewing
to shape it," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Be fun to see what you come up with,"
Shiv said. Maybe if he had an actual girl
and dress in front of him, he could draw it,
since he couldn't pull it straight out of
his head like Nonno Gabbana.
Then something else occurred
to him. "Hey, Halley, did you
put huath in this lineup?"
The name literally meant
'terrible-colored' and it was
Halley's favorite color, sort of
a brownish-purplish-gray.
"Yeah, we found some,"
Halley said. "Here it is."
The first swatch was woven,
ever so slightly heathered,
and looked pretty good.
The silk was more of
a soft, grayish plum.
The prints were unusual,
one a speckled array of
dark gray, brown, and plum
that looked almost like stone
while the other one was
a mottled purplish-brown
with bright white feathers.
"Be pretty if you could put
a shine on the white part,"
Shiv mused. "Make it irfind."
"The white's just the base fabric,"
said Halley. "It's done with resist."
"We could paint over the white
in a few strategic places, though,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Plenty of
fabrics have metallic touches."
"Like lightning in a storm, or
how some feathers catch
the light," Shiv said.
"I like that," said Halley.
"It sounds beautiful."
"I think that you need
more variegated stuff,"
said Shiv. "Especially
with a complex color like
huath, breaking it down some
will help it mesh better with
the other colors around it."
"There's this splash-dyed leather
we're considering," Halley said,
showing him another swatch.
The white leather had ridges
that made a ragged grid, splashed
with gray, almost-purple, and oxblood.
"You know, this stuff reminds me
of the family tie-dye parties,"
Shiv mused. "If you could
find a dark dye that separates
well, that would be fantastic."
"Let me check the companies
we buy from," Halley said.
"They may have samples,
or a chemical breakdown
of the pigments in dyes."
"I'll investigate our suppliers,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
Before long, they found
a black dye that separated
into shades of brown and gray,
with hints of pink and faint blue.
"Yeah, that'll work," said Shiv. "We
could also look for variegated yarn."
Halley perked up. "Like some of what
you've sent me?" thon said. "I love
the clothes that you've knitted up."
"Either a single variegated yarn,
or something like a crazyball,"
Shiv said. "I love crazyballs,
you never know what you're
going to get until it's done."
"Do you have a source for
those?" Nonno Gabbana said
as he leaned forward, intrigued.
"I have admired Halley's knitwear,
but I did not know it was your work."
"Well, some I made, some I just bought,"
Shiv said. "I like knitting and crochet,
though, they're relaxing crafts. I've
got a friend, Colette, who spins up
stuff for me. She has every kind
of blending tool on the market."
Halley grinned. "I heard about you
making art batts for the spinners."
"Yeah, turns out most fibercrafters
like spinning better than blending, but
I love choosing fibers to go together,
and all the fun mix-ins like dyed locks,"
said Shiv. "It almost makes me popular."
"You are popular," said Halley. "You're
just not used to it, so it's hard to recognize.
Look on their blogs or websites and you'll
see them talking up what you've done."
"Perhaps you could make a few things
for me?" said Nonno Gabbana. "If you
aren't up to mass production, then
a pattern or design would suffice."
"Uh yeah, I can probably do ...
something like that," Shiv said.
"Maybe a mix of shiny and matte
fibers to pick up the other colors."
"That would help a lot," said Halley.
"Another color where we're really
focused on the sheen is usgdha,"
"You'd have to," Shiv said.
"That one's 'resinous,' right?"
"That's right," said Halley.
"So we want things that
kind of look like amber,
the luster as well as
the range of colors."
Thon opened a book
to show off swatches.
"We found more shot silk,
this one has yellow and orange
on warp and weft," Halley said.
"It looks almost like fire, the way
it moves in the light," said Shiv.
"Hmm, I could probably do
something with a flame motif,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
"We found a couple of
really fun prints for this,"
said Halley. "This floral one
has all the colors of amber
from yellow to almost brown,
and even a few greenish bits."
"That'll make pretty blouses
or skirts," Shiv said, nodding.
"This other one is speckled,"
Halley said. "If you look closely,
it has yellow, orange, brown,
black, blue, green, and clear."
Shiv ran a hand over the swatch,
but it was smooth to the touch.
"I wonder if you could duplicate
this print with beadwork," he said.
"Maybe for the front of a dress?
I've seen dresses like that."
"That'd take a ton of work,"
Halley said. "Plastic beads
look almost like amber, though,
so that's worth a thought."
"Not all beads have to get
sewn on," said Nonno Gabbana.
"The tiniest ones have no holes
and are fixed with glue. I'll see
if I can source something suitable."
"Amber," Shiv said thoughtfully,
looking at the samples for usgdha.
"There was that yellowy-gray earlier,
maybe we could do more with that,
and it would go well with this."
"Liathbhuí," Halley said again.
"We want to include that, and
maybe buíghorm which is
more like yellow-blue, but
it's so hard to find a source
for impossible colors."
"We have a color chart,
some gradients that might
work for spray-dyeing, and
a couple of shot-silk samples,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I've
sketched a few garments, but
there's just not much out there."
Shiv looked at the pictures of
the potential garment designs.
There was a yellow-gray blouse
with gold paisley at the top and
gray dapples at the bottom,
blending a little in the middle.
There was a gorgeous wrap skirt
with abstract swirls that faded
from yellow to yellow-blue
to yellow going around it.
Still, it was hard to get
the balance just so with
conventional methods,
allowing both colors
to show equally well.
"This reminds me of
something I made while
fiddling with creme pastels,"
Shiv said, using his phone
to show them a picture of
the canvas swirled with
clouds in shades of gray,
blue, yellow, and green.
"Beautiful," Halley said, then
looked at Nonno Gabbana.
"Could we use this somehow?"
"We could make printed fabric,
but I doubt that would capture
the depth," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Maybe gel dyes?" said Halley.
"We've used those before, but it's
a lot of work for a small piece of cloth."
"Creme pastels work on Microfyne,"
said Shiv. "Yeah, it's a lot of work,
but the results can be gorgeous.
They haven't figured out how
to automate it yet, not fully."
"At least it would give us
a good blend," said Halley.
"What you really need is
yarncake," said Shiv. "It's
an extra long gradient yarn
wrapped like a flat ball so you
can make ombré projects."
"That sounds promising,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Can
you show me some examples?"
"Sure, I've got a yellow-gray
and a yellow-blue that I've been
fooling around with for Halley,"
said Shiv. "Here, I swatched
the yellow-gray so you can see
how it makes these bands."
He called up an image on
his smartphone. "Toward
the bottom, you can see bits
of yellow still in the gray bands."
"Ah yes," said Nonno Gabbana.
"I could definitely work with this."
"Maybe spray paint too," Shiv said,
thinking back to the speckled print
from huath. "If you do yellow or gold
over blue, they would layer together
instead of just turning to green."
"I know fabric manufacturers
who will produce a special run
for me, as long as I can give them
parameters," said Nonno Gabbana.
"We're doing glas too," said Halley,
"and that's challenging because
it can be so many different colors."
"Sea-colored," Shiv said instantly.
"Blue, green, gray, sometimes
white or silver -- all the colors
the sea can be. Also things
like abalone or watercolor."
"Yeah, it's as much colorway
as color," Halley said, opening
another swatch book. "We
have all kinds of sample chips,
so there's no trouble getting
solid fabrics based on these."
Some were bluish, while others
were more greenish or grayish.
Shiv loved the swatches too.
One was woven of slubby yarn
in almost all of the sea-colors.
"I'd love to have a suitcoat
of this," he said, petting it.
"Yes, that's on the list,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
A whole two-page spread
showed different colors of
gorgeous moiré shot silk.
Shiv traced the ripples
with a fingertip. "It's heavy."
"Good for dresses, sashes,
cuff trim, or cummerbunds,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I
haven't found a good silk
for shirts or blouses, though."
"We did find this great floral,"
Halley said, showing it off.
That one reminded Shiv
of a rainy day, soft grays
and blue-greens in layers.
"Something with raindrops
would work really well with
Halley's rain-patterned plastic,"
Shiv said. "We could look?"
"There's a whole stack
of swatch books based on
dye experiments," said Halley.
"I was looking at them earlier."
They searched through the books.
Some of the swatches looked
murky, but others were brighter.
"Perhaps this," Nonno Gabbana said,
pointing to a swatch in lighter and
darker shades of blue, stippled
with white and silver dots.
The pattern reminded Shiv of
trout freckles, supple and wet.
"It looks like waves on a beach,"
Halley said, "or rain on a window."
"Yeah, those too," said Shiv. He
fingered the swatch. "This feels
light enough for a shirt or a skirt."
Nonno Gabbana nodded. "I agree,
this cloth makes a good addition."
"Variegated yarn would work again,"
said Shiv. "You could include all of
the colors. With the leather that looks
like dragonhide, maybe knit or crochet
something like a dragon or wings?"
"A scarf or wrap, perhaps,"
Nonno Gabbana said, nodding.
"We can always use more scarves,
they're so popular for bringing
a whole outfit together. Do you
have any images that might suit?"
"For scarves?" Shiv said. "I dunno.
I do all kinds of artwork. I work
the most with spray paint, but I
doubt you'd want that for fashion."
"But of course!" said Nonno Gabbana.
"What use is it to consult an expert
in graffiti art and then not feature
any of your graffiti? Halley talks."
"Uh ... okay." Shiv brought up
the file of his graffiti snapshots,
the small works done for fun.
He wasn't sure how well
a big masterpiece would
translate into a scarf.
They paged through
the images together.
"That one!" Halley said,
pointing. "I love how
the graffiti artist is
painting the sky."
It had swaths of
deep blue-violet
speckled with stars,
a pale moon, and then
a blaze of bright orange.
"Yes, I like this one too,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "Have
you done anything Celtic?"
"Not graffiti," said Shiv. "I've
tried doing some of the animals,
but it turns out, Celtic knotwork
and watercolors don't mix well.
Also me and math don't mix well."
He hadn't known when he started
that knotwork was basically all math,
but he'd figured out fast enough.
"I mean, this doesn't even look
like a salmon," Shiv said, pointing.
Aida had thought that it was
a coelecanth, whatever the hell
that was -- certainly, not a salmon.
"So it's a bit stylized," Halley said.
"The colors are exactly what we need."
"Yes, and we're having a hard time
finding them together, so I'd love
to use this," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Oh, what are all these beauties?"
"Those?" Shiv said, looking at
the images. "Abstract cityscapes.
I got to experimenting with using
different palette knives, pieces of
cardboard, whatever. Friend of mine
runs an art thing, and I'm welcome
to use up the paint that's getting old.
It does great sculptural effects."
"I wonder," Halley said slowly.
"We could print the colors onto
a scarf, but could we use silk that
has just a few slubby strands, so
it mimics these long rectangles?"
"Possibly," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Choose an image with just a few
prominent ridges, like this one ..."
That painting was mostly brown
on the bottom, mostly blue up top,
with a bold streak of goldenrod
right down the middle of it.
Shiv looked at it, thinking
about ways he'd seen ladies
folding the scarves they wore.
"It's a versatile picture," he said.
"You could fold it to show more
of the brown or the blue, or both."
"We'll put this on the list, then, if you
don't mind," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Go ahead," said Shiv. "Right now,
it's just sitting in my computer files,
and the original's in my studio."
"Thank you," said Nonno Gabbana.
"I'm impressed with your ability
to make clashing colors mesh well."
"Shiv can make a good palette
out of almost anything," said Halley.
"You should see the stuff that he's
done for Omaha Public Housing."
"Yeah, yeah," Shiv said, flipping
to those files. "I made some palettes
for painting blocks of new homes,
or decorating the insides, based
on pictures of Nebraska."
"Ah, if only we could turn
something like that into
fabric or even yarn,"
Nonno Gabbana said,
caressing the images.
"Course you can, it's
easy," said Shiv. "Here."
Boss White had bought him
a subscription to some of
the fancy programs that
architects and designers
used to play with colors.
Shiv had quickly realized
it was simple to break down
a picture into its palette of colors,
match those to fibers, and have
someone spin a hank of yarn
that would knit or crochet into
an abstract of the picture.
He'd done a whole bunch of
those things in different colors.
In fact, he had one of a bridge
over a mountain stream that used
the blue-gray-yellow-bronze palette
Nonno Gabbana was working with.
"Sweaters," the designer said,
grinning at the picture alongside
its matching skein and swatch.
"We'll make sweaters from yarn,
and scarves with the photos."
"I ain't doing the math on that,"
Shiv warned him. "I only do colors.
You gotta figure out how much of
each fiber to use, in order to get
the repeats and pools where you
want them. That's even harder
if you want to make two-ply yarn."
Nonno Gabbana waved a hand.
"So long as I have examples, I am
confident in my manufacturers. It
is your eye for color that I cannot
so easily reproduce elsewhere."
"No problem, then," said Shiv.
"I can go through a stack of
pictures, run the favorites past
my art program to make palettes,
and then hunt for matching fibers.
I've played with silk and wool
the most, but I can do others."
"I like to download as many apps
as I can -- especially the ones
with games and gadgets,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I'd
love to see what you're using."
"This is arts and architecture stuff,"
said Shiv. "Halley could probably
write something better, though."
"You didn't mention that,"
Nonno Gabbana said,
looking at Halley.
"I didn't think of it,"
thon said. "I do a lot
of different things, and
this summer I've been
focusing on chemistry."
"I've seen your work,"
Shiv said. "I bet you
could make a program
for translating pictures
into yarn better than I
can do it in my head."
"I could set it to calculate
fiber amounts and yarn length,
since that's just math," said Halley.
"Actually choosing the colors, no,
computers are terrible at aesthetics.
Sure it could pick colors based on
what's in a picture, but that doesn't
mean it will pick the right ones."
"You really do have an unusual eye
for color, especially matching colors
that most people consider ugly,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "That is
not praise that I give lightly."
Shiv tried not to squirm in
his seat. "I uh, been picking
colors based on what Halley
likes for a while," he hedged.
"It just works better if they're
variegated, or glossy, or
something else with depth."
"We should do something with
seacell," said Halley. "It's glossy,
it takes dye well, and we've got
kind of a sea theme going."
"I've seen that," Shiv said,
calling up a favorite website
that sold fibercraft supplies.
It was a bit slippery to work with,
like silk, but he loved the feel
of it in his fingers and the sheen
it gave to finished projects.
"Yeah, here it is in glas,"
he said, opening the page.
The long braid showed
watery shades of blue,
green and gray along it.
"Ah, that is nice. It would
work for making a scarf,
or perhaps a vest,"
said Nonno Gabbana.
"Can you use things that
aren't exactly mass-produced?"
Shiv asked. "Some companies
make a lot, but some of this
is hand-made so there's
just not as much of it."
Nonno Gabbana chuckled.
"Of course," he said. "I make
some things for retail sale, but
others are much more limited,
and some for runway shows only."
"Some of the showpieces are
really wild," said Halley. "They're
meant as wearable art, not as
things for everyday use."
"So like costumes?" Shiv said.
"Me and Luci and Gray did
this cosplay skit for Frozen."
"I have the video right here,"
Halley said, bringing it up
on thon's smartphone.
Shiv listened, feeling
a little shy, but his foot
tapped along to "Let It Go."
Nonno Gabbana clapped
his hands. "Breathtaking!
Who made the costumes?
And how did you manage
to animate the snowflakes?"
"The costumes were mostly
Luci, and Gray helped," said Shiv.
"I uh ... did the snowflakes myself."
He pulled out his play-putty,
divided it into several pieces,
and sent them swirling around.
"I can do that with other hard stuff,
too, like glass," he explained. "So
we used a few nice snowflakes
and the rest just broken glass.
We even put some of it in
the auction afterwards since
we didn't need to keep it."
"What a marvelous gift,"
said Nonno Gabbana. "I
confess it's quite inspiring.
I might do something with
metallic or glass beads ..."
"I don't know how much I
could gamify fashion design,
but I could try a few ideas,"
Halley said. "It could be fun."
"We kind of are treating this
like a game," Shiv mused. "It
seems a bit risky, given how
expensive fashion anything is."
"Exactly," said Nonno Gabbana.
"Fashion is all a game, with
new rules every season."
Shiv thought about that,
the way the colors and
shapes changed over time.
Yeah, he had played games
where each new level had
its own color scheme and
differently shaped gear.
"Well, okay, then," said Shiv.
"Let's see how high we can score!"
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes will appear elsewhere.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-11-29 01:37 am (UTC)Grinning again at this... I still get the feeling that Shiv has no idea who Nonno Gabbana is actually and is just rolling with it. But that just makes it all the more fun!
Huh..and I just thought of something. Shiv shows a bias towards the bluer end of the spectrum in his choice of colours, right? So.. did you know cats don't see reds very well?
Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 01:59 am (UTC)Yay!
>> I still get the feeling that Shiv has no idea who Nonno Gabbana is actually and is just rolling with it.<<
No clue whatsoever. As far as I can tell, Shiv has a very limited ability to recognize rank and influence in humans, that being primarily: 1) crime bosses, 2) credible threats, and 3) experts he wants to learn something from. While people with ordinary levels of authority have found this intolerable, it's the reverse with people high up enough that sincerity is hard for them to find because everyone defers to them. Shiv sees no reason not to yell across the room for a world-famous designer to grab more books. And Nonno Gabbana adores him for it.
I actually had to ask why big name pros were consistently picking me out of a crowd of hundreds at conventions. "Because you treat us like people."
Shiv is like that, albeit for different reasons.
>> But that just makes it all the more fun! <<
I agree.
>> Huh..and I just thought of something. Shiv shows a bias towards the bluer end of the spectrum in his choice of colours, right? So.. did you know cats don't see reds very well? <<
I had forgotten that about cats! But yeah, they're optimized for low-light conditions and blue light lasts longer.
Shiv tends to prefer colors that look good on him, and he's cool-toned; and he prefers colors that don't attract too much attention. He has exquisitely good color vision. But I would still suspect that it spills over on the ultraviolet end, not the infrared end.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 02:16 am (UTC)There is a known mutation in the human genome that makes seeing some way into the UV end possible. Ordinarily it's blocked by a protein in the cornea (an adaptation to prevent retina burn) but in some people that protein is inactivated so UV gets though, it's often linked to very pale fair skin and red or blonde hair. (basically, it's part of the pigmentation cluster)
Interesting fact though, in those people where it's inactivated, because it's actually a two part protein complex the second part of the blocking protein is often still present, and acts like a polarising filter, conferring the ability to see polarised light instead. (the UV blocking is thought to be a later mutation after we moved out of the forests)
This might actually be an adaptation passed on from our ancestors who lived in the arboreal margins since being able to see polarised light would give them an idea of the direction of sun, even if they couldn't see it directly.
According to my beloved, who has this mutation, is shows as blue-on-blue bands in the sky on sunny days and a 'grain' to shafts of sunlight.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 03:55 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 06:30 pm (UTC)That sounds about right. I'd check to see if you were tetrachromat as well, since the two mutations are weakly linked.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 07:21 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 06:09 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 06:28 pm (UTC)Given that the two mutations are weakly linked, do you also see faintly darker and lighter bands, like ripples in a pond, when you look up at a cloudless sunny sky?
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-30 04:03 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-11-29 06:14 pm (UTC)(COllege grad shows up for job interview in the suit he bought when he was 13)
Many men can't see the difference between shades of purple and blue. And cheap digital cameras blue-shift most of the violet shades. I went to meet an internet friend from north Jersey one day, and she took a picture of me with her phone. My hair and clothes looked BLUE.
But I love the way Signore Gabbano responds to Shiv, one artist to another.
I just plain see UV. Working around a stage where they were using UV lights for one of the production numbers (dancers whose hats,shoes, and gloves glowed under UV). I said to one of the lighting techs, "Richie, you left the UV on again." -how do you know? I can see it. He said, "Huh. Only insects and birds can see UV." - "I must be a bird. I know I'm not an insect." Actually, it just proves that I'm part feline.