Sting Ray Leather
Last year I came home with a piece of sting ray leather, black with whitish imbedded grains down the center.
My collaborator, Grace A. Meacham, fell in love with the piece and wants to make a leather jacket with it. It is a small piece, about 22" long by 6" at the widest part. It is irregular in width with a narrow waist about 1/3 of the way from one end. Near the white part it is very thick and stiff.
We have been working on this for a while and my task was to get some silk to go with the sting ray, to make the rest of the outfit---such as a skirt or pants.
I am trying a stitched shibori pattern that reminds me of the white grains in the center of the leather. I chose two silks, light weight (because that is what I mostly have) both doupioni shantungs. I tried the stitching both on the bias and on the grain. The only sample I've ever seen was done on the bias. I dyed them with an acid dye that gives a true black on silk. Here is the first sample with my hand for scale.
Both the bias and straight grain sample were successful in resisting and I like the pattern. The dye did not penetrate evenly around the stitching so there are lighter rays emenating from the white spots--a little distracting. Also the quality of the black is an issue, it has to go with the black leather that will be the bulk of the jacket.
