The Endeavourers’ Reveal Day: Patterns in Nature

It is time for the quarterly reveal day for the online art quilt group, The Endeavourers.  This time our theme was “Patterns in Nature.”

It took me a while to come up with an idea.  I finally remembered that some of nature’s patterns are hidden to our eyes, but visible to birds and insects.  What looks like a plain, solid-yellow flower to us, may have patterns that emphasize the plant’s center.  With modern technology, we can see a simulation of what they see.

So that called for a double image — ordinary daylight on the front, and black light on the back.  My inspiration photo was this one of some rudbeckia flowers and a hairstreak butterfly. 

Flowers and Gray Hairstreak butterfly.

Then I did a little research to see actual patterns that show up in alternate light sources.  There is a little on Wikipedia about flowers, and a lot of articles about fluorescence in butterflies (listed at end of post).  I also found a study of a hairstreak butterfly and how a thermal camera reveals patterns of heat emission in its wings.

I purchased some neon and glow-in-the-dark threads and paints, and started playing. I soon found out that the threads and paints were limited in color, so my portrayal is just inspired by the hidden spectrum, and not scientifically accurate. :)

Okay, now for some notes on the comparison pictures. I flipped the pictures of the back so that they would be easier to compare to the pics of the front. And using black light to photograph is hard! I couldn’t get an evenly lit picture. But you get the idea.

Spectrum Secrets, front, under daylight and black light.
Spectrum Secrets, reverse, under daylight and black light. (Image flipped so it’s easier to compare to the front.)

On the front, the petals are made from batiks, with raw-edge applique using the neon thread.  I added some stitched details with regular embroidery thread on top, and glow-in-the-dark thread on the bottom.  The stitching created a mirror image flower design on the back.  I quilted the background with regular thread on top and neon thread on the bottom.

As I was checking the stitching under a black light flashlight, I noticed that some other things in the sewing room glowed. 

The ’70s called and reminded me of my youth!

That prompted me to look through my existing supplies for anything else to use.  In my bead supply, I found one set that showed up in black light, so they were perfect for the centers of the flowers.  They look pink in daylight and orange under black light!

Detail of the beads and stitching.
Pale pink beads in the centers. Dots of the glow-in-the-dark threads from the back show up as little specks in the shiny orange stitching.

For the butterflies, I edited my photo of the hairstreak in different colorways.  For each butterfly, I printed out two mirror images, and then fused them together. The pale ones for the front have some running stitches in silver.  The ones for the back are colorful to portray the heat-emitting images.  I used black light thread to add color to the veins in their wings, but ironically, the printer fabric glows white so the stitching doesn’t show that well.

Butterfly — computer printed, free motion embroidered, painted, stitched.
A butterfly on the reverse, in daylight.

Notes on Materials:

The neon threads were New Brothread polyester threads.  They worked beautifully in both straight stitching and free motion quilting, BUT I bought the eight color assortment, and under black light, they show up only as either orange or green.  (All the pinks and oranges show up orange, the yellows and green show up green.)  I could have bought two spools instead of eight.

New Brothread polyester threads in neon colors, in daylight.
New Brothread neon threads under black light. They look nice in the spools, but they really only show up in either orange or green when stitched out.

(It’s possible I don’t have the proper black light equipment to capture all the colors, but I think I have what most people would have.  I have a black light flashlight from Lumenshooter, and some UV bar lights from Faishilan. )

The glow-in-the-dark threads were from Simthread. I bought the six color assortment (white, gray, blue, peach, green, yellow).  These threads have a matte appearance, and I thought they were more linty than most threads.  I used the light blue in this piece and in black light, it shows up as green.  As far as glowing in the dark on their own, I could see the glow in the spools, but not in the stitching, even though I stitched lines very close together, about a square inch in area.  In my opinion, the results were disappointing.  I’m glad I didn’t use these on a Halloween costume or something that really needed to glow.

Simthread glow-in-the-dark threads in daylight.
Simthread glow-in-the-dark threads in darkness. I may have changed the position of the white and the blue, but you can see they all look orange or green; the other colors are lost.

I also used FolkArt black light paint for some blue and orange touches, and they stayed true in color. But I would be cautious about using them because they can cover up the stitching.

Results

I had so much fun working on this piece.  I don’t think I will ever try working with these effects again, because of the limited color palette of the neon yarns, but I enjoyed trying out the materials and adding layers of stitching.

Links for more research:

Ultraviolet radiation in butterflies

Biofluorescence in the stages of monarch life

More about seeing ultraviolet light

Tips for creating your own UV photographs

Some animals perceive colors beyond human vision

glow

Category : Endeavourers, Quilting
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