by Shylaah
Written exclusively for Confessions of a Jackaholic. Do not copy and paste elsewhere.
March 16, 2011
I had forgotten I left this review from June 2009 posted on the cjskttccostumewiki about the "then" new Licorice Raffia. Fortunately I had saved the pictures and was able to upload them here and restore the content.
While searching for information to recreate the research I did on the Raffia Licorice that I deleted when the Ebony Raffia 903 became available again in February 2010, I came across an old post of mine on KTTC.
".....when the first pics come out of POTC4 we may find our dear Jackie in the Licorice!!!"
Perhaps prophetic in light of what some who have worked on the film are saying about the POTC 4 coat fabric!?
Someone who worked on the new movie stated that they were fairly sure the OST coat wasn't the same as this (the Ebony) one, that it (the OST coat fabric) doesn't have the blueish threads. So the OST coat fabric, may well be the Licorice fabric.
Another person said it looked a great deal like an upholstery fabric available at Joann's right now Upholstery Fabric-Signature Series Nezumi Ebony. I did look at that fabric last time I was at Joann's and though I didn't do an in depth analysis, just a casual look at it I thought it looked a great deal like the Licorice. You all can discuss that amongst yourselves as unfortunately I do not have the time to investigate and research this any further.
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I received the sample of the new fabric from Lewis & Sheron, the new color that is taking the place of the Raffia Ebony 903 that was being used for Jack's frock coat. The new color is called Licorice
The fabric it is really lovely. The weave is the same but the color isn't exactly like the Ebony 903. It has a lot more black threads showing on the front and fewer showing on the back which makes the back and the front of the new Licorice pretty much matching in tone where the Ebony is more brown looking on the front and darker looking on the back.
That bright gold thread that makes that obvious horizontal line in the Ebony is a more mute tan color and the lines aren't so obvious in the Licorice. The reverse side does not have that charcoal to steel blue looking tone or haze to it like the Ebony has---if the frock coat is indeed made using the wrong side of the Ebony 903, the new Licorice does not look like that. But the Licorice also is not so brown looking on the front like the Ebony.
Guess overall I'll still stick to the old "not exact, but as close as we are likely to ever find" comment on the new stuff....... With perhaps a bonus, if you don't know which side you want to make your coat on, the Licorice is not that much different right and wrong sides. The front and back pretty much match up tonally.
Since the L&S Licorice fabric is the from the same mill as the Ebony with the same fiber content, the shrinkage test done on the Ebony should apply rather equally to the Licorice. That information can be found on THE Coat Fabric page.
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While searching for my Licorice research information I also came across this email I wrote while we were begging L&S to get us back the Ebony. I guess I became pretty frustrated that the Ebony was all gone and changed my mind about some of its attributes after I gave it a closer inspection.
As lovely as the Licorice is, it isn't the Ebony. And I think all of us or most of us are like you, we will not ever be really satisfied with anything other than the Ebony.
After some more looking and looking, I think the Licorice is more different from the Ebony than I first realized. I think it is a wee bit thinner and fewer threads. It just doesn't have the same feel that the Ebony has. And if you look at both with a magnifying glass, you can see how fat those charcoal blue/grey threads are in the Ebony, and how not plump the threads in the Licorice seem to be.
In fact, it almost looks to me like what the different is between the Licorice and the Ebony isn't just that the threads are a different color-- but that the blue/grey threads are just gone from the Licorice. As in the Licorice is the Ebony minus the blue/grey threads, changing both the color and the feel??
I tried bleaching the Licorice, just a small corner of the piece, and it just got BROWNER!!! Which adds even more to my thinking that the Licorice is a lot more different from the Ebony than it appears at 'first glance'! The Ebony bleaches to a pale bluish color.
Following are pics of the Ebony 903 and the new Licorice fabrics taken under various lighting conditions so you can see for yourself how and where they are similar and how and where they are different, and make your own decision about it.
Below each picture is a link to a LARGER VIEW of that picture (each one is 2+ megs in case you have a slow loader). I frayed out the threads some so you can see the different colors used in the new Licorice. Pictures taken of both sides of the fabric under varying light conditions as noted per picture. No cutting and pasting of fabric pieces, all pieces in a frame were taken in the frame together.
Ebony vs Licorice - right side indoors with flash
LARGER VIEW
Ebony vs Licorice - wrong side indoors with flash
LARGER VIEW
Ebony vs Licorice - right side Sun
LARGER VIEW
Ebony vs Licorice - wrong side Sun
LARGER VIEW
Ebony vs Licorice - right side Shade
LARGER VIEW
Ebony vs Licorice - wrong side Shade
LARGER VIEW
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