SCOUT ~ Zollie Newsletter #3

Dearest Zollie Community,

Greetings from the tipping point of summer transitioning to fall! We're in the midst of enjoying the remaining warm days and cool nights, harvesting the gardens bounty for the year while sneaking peeks at our fall craft plans. Heres a little look into what I've been interacting with around color at the moment - natural dyes, embroidery projects, and mending practices. This round up feels just like this part of the season, awash in the late summer glow, hinting at the longer blue shadows of autumn.

I'm feeling SO curious about all the ways that Palette Scout has changed the ways you interact with color on a daily basis, so will you drop me a line at hello@zolliemakes.com and let me know?

SEEING

I love seeing the first signs of fall, especially goldenrod blooming along the sides of fields. This joyful flower is one of my favorites for doing natural dye projects. It can yield a surprisingly bright, almost neon, yellow. I made the following palette based on goldenrod for our Botanical Dyes Palette Pack. I imagined this triadic palette represented natural brown wool, yellow goldenrod, indigo blue, and a pink from avocado skins & pits.

p.s. If you have an affinity for playing with proportionality in your color palettes, and like the fun shapes we utilize in our Palette Packs, you're going to love our next addition to the Palette Scout universe—the Tool Kit. We've been working hard on this new deck to expand on the fun of Palette Scout, and take things to the next level. Stay tuned for the launch mid September! Here's a Tool Kit sneak peak, for SCOUT readers eyes only ;)

CRAFTING

Perhaps you've heard of "Tomato Girl Summer", but at our house we celebrate "Berry Boy Summer" in which we make our toddler's dreams come true by attempting to harvest every type of berry that grows between late spring and early fall. We harvest as much as possible and freeze all surplus. This summer I made an embroidery project inspired by Palette Scout and BBS (you can read a blog post about my process here), and I actually love the result. So I made a free pattern for you all to have, because why not? Enjoy!

OBSERVING

I heard a rumor on social media that when I reached some mysterious point in my 30s I would become interested in bird watching and I am here to tell you, the oracles of Instagram and TikTok were not wrong. I suddenly know way more bird names and calls than I used to, and finding feathers in the woods is my new love language. Each feather has it's own unique palette that I'm feeling inspired to pull colors from for other creative pursuits. I love love love this collection of bird-inspired outfits by Denver Audubon. With a wardrobe full of creams and warm terracotta, I'm for sure wearing Barn Owl fashion.

UNDERSTANDING

Caught up in the nostalgia of back-to-school sales, for the first time in my life I found myself wondering—why are pencils yellow? Figuring it had to do with the cheapness of paint, I googled. Turns out I was WAY off. It actually stems from the "Koh-I-Noor" pencils made in the late 1800s. Named after a famous diamond, they were painted yellow to signify that their graphite was from China, thought to be the finest graphite source in the world. In Chinese culture, yellow represented nobility, respect, and royalty. The color took off and all pencils were designed to follow suit.

TRANSFORMING

Mending my jeans!! My beloved jeans that were made in the USA and dyed with actual indigo (thus making them quite pricey) are finally failing after 3 years of hard wear. I'm giving them new life with a series of patches and some boro style stitching. The results are satisfying, and functional!