Pebble with rainbow picot feathers

A sample seemingly lacking in coherence (I mean, what's the point of covering a pebble with tiny picot feathers in rainbow colours?) but one which, again, is intended more of a learning experience than anything else. If I can do it, therefore I will: and having mastered the technique of needlewoven picots, wanted to experiment using them in a much greater density on a three-dimensional base.



The rainbow colour scheme was ideal to practice subtly 'blending' one area of the stone into another, say, graduating the blue area gently into the pink without being too segmented. (Although pre-vareigated rainbow thread can have its uses, it was strictly forbidden here: the needle threaded up with one flat colour at a time.) Three strands of stranded cotton were used, and I have no idea how many individual picots were worked, but can only estimate thousands. The idea was to completely cover the entire stone, however time restraints mean than I'm moving on to something else having done sufficient to get the gist of what is, after all, only a sample.