Color is a fickle subject. It is almost impossible to talk about because it’s completely visual. We can speak of it scientifically but that only gives us numbers. Those numbers mean nothing until we see the colors. The only have meaning in someone’s sight.

But we do know that colors relate to each other. The way we see them is in context with each other. The names we give colors mean very little. How they appear within the context of of the colors around them is what we respond to. Add to that, each of us see color differently. It’s experiential.

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Here is the Wikipedia definition of iridescence .

“Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. ….. It is often created by structural coloration (microstructures that interfere with light). “

Wikipedia defined iridescence as colors that shift and change across the surface of an object. An abalone shell is the perfect example of iridescence, although we also see it in beetles, soap bubbles, butterfly wings and oil slicks. Which may explain why I love all of those things. Its not a color. It’s a shifting of light.

When we start talking about iridescent thread, I found it was more a matter of advertising than of anything else. All kinds of threads were called iridescent. Most of them were pretty metallics in variant colors. Not anything like an abalone shell.

The fiber used is Lurex. It’s a plastic film that has that dance of color across it. Sliver is just the film itself. Candelight is a thicker thread with the Lurex twisted into it. Iridescence is not a color. But it reflects the color around it, shining in it’s own way.

That green glow starts to show it this photo. But like all art, photos never quite show what’s there. You need to see a piece in person, to watch it glow iridescently. The other colors around it bask in it’s light.

On another note, I am going in for surgery this next week. It may be a couple of weeks before I blog again. Please forgive me if it takes a while between posts here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.