Chapter 5 slips from stitched surfaces, the surfaces first!

'Make expanses of stitched surfaces from which to cut your 'slips' from' the module said and so i did! the first one above was made onto a layer of lilac felt, placing various pieces of 'materials' onto it before stitching. in order to hold them in position i bonded them to the felt first. i used bits of left over felt, paper coloured with chalk pastels, nylon net, organdie, cotton lawn and tissue paper strips. i placed a layer of lilac coloured tissue over the top and stitched basic zig zag and 'straight' stitches through all layers. i then tore off areas of the tissue to reveal the colours below. since working with tissue i realise like paper in general it gives different effects depending on which way you tear it. with the above piece the 'grain' went with the lines of stitching to give clean tears.
couldn't resist playing with letters and thinking of 'black' tulips so the next piece i made was worked entirely in paper, on a layer of white waxed tissue, layered with random newspaper letters from the word 'tulip' (also waxed) and then a layer of black tissue, all stitched through fairly randomly with lines imitating those seen on tulip petals. i then tore off the tissue in areas to reveal the letters. with this one i was tearing against the grain which produced bits that reminded me of parrot tulip tops. a layer of aqua wax was worked over the top. both pieces roughly 20cm square. i have since cut them up and made various 'slips' with them which i am bringing to summer school.