It’s officially fall, and here in Seattle that means the rain and clouds are back after a warm, dry summer. Here at Of The Earth, we’re experiencing the rainy day blues in a more positive way – inspiration!
“Into each life some rain must fall.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This collection of our lotka paper, handmade in Nepal, fits right in with the mood and weather we’re having. This is a lightweight paper with many decorative and artistic uses, including wrapping gifts.
Seattle Blues Lotka paper collection
Any discussion of color and mood would be incomplete without mentioning our Earth Silk Ribbon. These hand dyed, rich colors pull me right into a relaxed, rainy-day attitude.
Our seed paper cloud shapes are available in a variety of our seeded and petal papers, with or without printing. You can also create a custom design to be printed on them for your business or event.
Of The Earth customers had a busy summer. Here are some images that they shared recently of how they used our products. They include wedding invitations, delicate jewelry, custom art, seeded goods and more!
In ancient Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of a rainbow. She makes a rainbow bridge to travel between the heavens and waters below to fetch drinks for the gods in Olympus. The freedom to travel between these worlds allows her to be the messenger, the communicator between mortals and immortals. Folks usually ‘wish upon a star,’ but next time I see a rainbow, I’ll give my hopes to Iris so she can carry them where they need to be heard.
Speaking of rainbows and communication, I think of Lori Graham as our very own ‘Iris in Residence.’ She’s our color impresario, the master dyer and co-owner of Of The Earth. She creates glorious rainbows of ribbons using sustainable practices. She obsesses about shades, and recently I took an opportunity to speak with her about color.
Q: Lori, besides the lovely ribbons of cotton and silk for Of The Earth, do you dye other materials?
Lori: Yes, I used to dye wool and cotton fabric using natural and chemical dyes.
Q: What were your favorite colors when you were younger?
Lori: When I was young, it was pink pink pink! Pink duvet, bedspread, pink lace – all pink – all the time. Then in my early twenties, lots of black. Now it’s orange.
Earth Silk Color 089Earth Silk Color 053Earth Silk ribbon adorns a bridesmaid dressEarth Silk Color 099Earth Silk Color 092
Q: When new Pantone colors are released, do you generally agree with their trend sense?
Lori: I am interested in their bridal color forecast. That’s what I pay attention to because that’s what my clients will ask for. But I’m not always jazzed about the Pantone forecast and dread the “muted” or ambiguous tones that I’ll need to develop. For example, ‘seafoam’ (324, 324-5, 534, or 515?) and ‘merlot’ (093, 030, 247-5, or 232-5?) Both can be imagined in so many different ways.
Q: What is the most difficult color to achieve?
Lori: Right now I would have to say it’s “warm black.”
Earth Silk Color 079Earth Silk Color 241
Black is a finicky mixture of colors and achieving the subtle differences in black shades is more of an art than a science. You’ve probably seen how when bleach splashes on black clothes, you get a lighter blotch, but it’s not grey or “pale black.” You may see a green, purple, orange, or blue blotch.
Lori continues: Regardless of ingredient inconsistencies, we are determined to create true colors for our clients. In the past, ‘warm black’ may have been a two step process. But more alterations and futzing is required when the original ingredients are different. So, we keep copious notes and are constantly working to ensure that our shades match our swatches. Our colors are definitely a secret recipe!
Q: Do you dream in color, and when you dress up to go out, what is your happiest celebration color?
Lori: Yes, I definitely dream in color and I feel best wearing the colors of a candle’s flame: red, bright orange, fiery yellow and teal blue of the hottest part.
It is long past time to be sharing these photos that have been inspirational to our brides.
We have had the great fortune of having our paper and ribbon goods featured on many talented designers, artists and photographers Instagram feeds. While we have our own feeds (ote_seattle, and of_the_earth) they really don’t hold a candle to the creative skills shown in the photos we have seen.
What we have planned here is to share with you the many photos with proper attribution.
If you do end up sharing these with your friends and family, please be sure to give the appropriate nod or mention of the original group of skilled individuals so their work is not in vain.
Lotka Seed Paper Invitation – Letter and Line Studio
Styling: @bixbayandpine Photo: @toniechristine Original post: @letterandlinestudio
Florals: Moelleux Events
Silk Ribbon: Of The Earth Florals: @moelleux_events Photographer: @alyssaryanphotography
Floral design by Smashing Petals Hand dyed silk ribbon by Of The Earth
With the new year comes one of our favorite events, The Seattle Wedding Show. The creative energy has been flowing in our studio and we have designed some beautiful new invitation suites and hand dyed silk ribbon colors for the upcoming wedding season. Stop by our booth to take a sneak peak or visit our updated website. Now mobile friendly!
http://www.custompaper.com
6 x 9 handmade seeded paper wrap with belly band and poppy5 x 7 recycled panel with handmade paper print5 x7 handmade seeded paper panel with queen anne’s lace2.5″ hand dyed, cream and gold, bias cut silk ribbon
Seattle Wedding Show
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
705 Pike Street, 4th Floor
Seattle, WA 98101 Of The Earth booth #1124
Saturday January 14th, 2017
10:00am to 5:30pm (ticket sales open at 9:30am)
Sunday January 15th, 2017
10:30am to 5:00pm (ticket sales open at 10:00am)
Tickets are $17.00 per person and can be purchased at the door.
Children twelve and under are admitted free.
Come to the show Saturday, get your hand stamped on the way out, and come back Sunday for FREE.
We are so fortunate to have such wonderful customers! We recently were contacted by a customer who celebrated a fall 2014 wedding who just wanted to say “Thanks” for our contribution to her wedding day. We had worked with her to find the right silk color for her wedding, not realizing until receiving the photos just how prominent our Earth Silk ribbon would be on display on her big day. It was so wonderful to have a window into her event and see the happiness on display. Thank you so much for sharing! We love how beautiful you made our silk ribbon look!
The beautiful bride wearing a hand dyed Earth Silk ribbon sash of her own construction.Earth Silk sash ties autumn wedding details together.Earth Silk hand dyed ribbon sash on a wedding gown.
Photographer: R.T. Photography, Louisville, KY
Alterationist: Heather Brown Alteration, Louisville, KY
Flowers: By the Bride, Erin Tims
Since we started our silk dying studio in 2010, we have known there was a need for this, now we have finally made it happen. The Earth Silk Sample Set gives you a look at our 90 blends in a new way. The 1 inch wide lengths will let you see how the dyes interact with the material in a more informative way than our 5/8″ swatches can. The eight yard lengths allow you to see how the patterns that form on some of our blends, repeat. Unlike the swatch card where the silk is grouped in numerical order, on the silk sample cards we have arranged them by color.
We have numbered them on both sides, with the silk overlapping by a half inch. You will notice that the ribbon’s number is centered on the correct color. You can also use the web site as a quick reference if you are unsure.
We just shipped this custom ribbon to a happy bride. She wanted to order our pressed hydrangea flowers but she needed a silk ribbon to match the hue of the flowers. We have over 150 colors in our hand dyed silk ribbon line but none that were quite the right shade, until now!
Pressed blue hydrangea flowers with dyed to match silk ribbon
We offer custom dyed silk ribbon with a low three spool minimum purchase. Once we have your color matched, chances are it will become part of our growing line of silks. For those customers looking for an exclusive ribbon for product packaging or a signature line we can offer you a five year license of your custom color if you pay a $400 development and licensing fee. We will keep your design out of our product line while it is under license.
What do we do? We make paper and ribbon, right? Piece of cake. Two products, easy peasy. Well no actually, we have over four thousand inventory items currently featured on our website and thousands more when you consider the custom work we offer. This includes everything from the aforementioned Accommodation Cards to Memorial Invitations. Since starting this business eighteen years ago, we have greatly increased the breadth and depth of our collection. While we continue to expand and take on a variety of products outside wedding planning, invitations and promotional events, we always welcome the opportunity to take on custom projects.
We created this custom silk ribbon for our friends at Tiny Pine Press in California who needed to match a fabric color for invitations and wedding day decorations.
We took on a custom matching dilemma for Susan Hammer of Fontastic in Georgia. Ultimately this order did not go with our hand dyed silk. We could not match the effect created in this Dupioni silk where threads of different colors are woven together and seem to shift color from different angles. We were able to provide a ribbon for her wedding programs, just not one we dyed by hand.
A beautiful custom place card for an English bride. This customer has been working with us for close to a year planning her wedding. Tomorrow is the big day! April, 27 2013. We are very excited for her and all of the couples we have the pleasure of working with.
If you are in need of a custom piece, please contact us directly. Some of our favorite and most innovative works come directly from client commissions.
We are happy to display our newest hand dyed silk ribbon colors! Just in time for spring we came up with this set of three colors pulled from our original watercolor art work. The watercolor work was done to showcase the flowers that sprout from our seed paper; look for the art to grace our new product tags. Using the flowers as inspiration our colorist made these three new blends to welcome spring and our new business branding. We have had the pleasure of custom dyeing silk to match corporate colors, bridesmaids dresses, home decor, stationery and new product launches. We would love to work with you on your next project. With a low minimum requirement (just three spools) it is easy to have just the right look for your newest designs.
Available in five widths and two finishes our hand dyed silk line is the largest and most flexible in the country. Nowhere else can you find such talented craftsmen and women working to produce hand dyed silk goods in small runs such as ours. We are proud of our efforts to not only produce beautiful works but also to do so in an environmentally focused manner.
Let us know how we can help make your design ideas a reality.
Custom color matching hand dyed silks
Hand dyed silk ribbon #082 purple lavenderEarth Silk blend 080 yellow orange and green
