'Hey you get of my cloud' or Chapter 3 suspended shapes

Chapter 3 using suspended shapes to give the appearance of floating! i chose to use shapes taken from my gros point study which either look like clouds or oak leaves so i have Mick Jagger singing in my head at the moment.
#1 above using stencil shape and spray paint with stitch elements similar to historic links. each cloud is 6cm long and uses silk organza for the background.
#2 using machine stitch and layers of applique shapes from photocopies of gros point
#3 more applique shapes
#4 a more fluid spontaneous cloud painted and with many threads couched as one, again using ideas from my gros point lace techniques
#5 using melted bubble wrap for the base fabric with black waxed paper shapes applied and running stitch shapes
#6 going slightly 3d here with cut bubble wrap shapes and black shiny sequin shape.
#7 for this one i cut out some paper cloud shapes from left over paper that had been used to spray other cloud shapes on, juxtaposing slightly the cut shapes. they were then heat set in between 2 layers of silk organza with bonda web and more juxtaposed shapes were cut and then reapplied to organza. i have kept the background they were cut out from to use later.
#8 using an idea from gros point lace where small shapes are laid on top of each other i cut various shapes from organza with a soldering iron and applied them with large tacking crosses.
#9 i have just discovered apple (vegetable?) bags that are made from a criss cross of plastic fibres they make a great 'fabric' to work with fro transparency. i wanted to felt something without distorting the background so this was ideal, it is essentially sandwiched between two layers of felt that are needle felted together. the right hand one has a layer of paper in the sandwich, below shows it on white background.

#10 two layers of organza stitched together and then sprayed to give a dark outline, then cut to shape and distorted to make it stand proud and stitched in place.
#11 stitching around a shape and then pulling the threads very slightly to manipulate but still trying to keep the original shape
#12 using the cut out shapes left over from #10 and voiding the gaps with some old lacis
#13 finally playing around with more shapes as #10 but placing them within a clear piece of plastic i found in s skip (not sure what from) but i liked it!

Chapter 3, part 1 creating a slip design, digital manipulation

it took me quite a while to choose which flower to concentrate on. i wanted to choose a flower that would have been found in 17th century embroidery so i took lots of photographs of pansies, daisies etc. i quite liked the idea of the pansy with its potential for faces but went for the tulip! above was my inspiration, a bunch of variegated tulips, i kept them until they began to smell rather nasty (still have them but not in water!) until....
they looked like this. i wanted to use the full range of shape.
firstly i concentrated on this one which was a beautiful delicate lilac pink colour, and took various pictures of it in its various stages of decay.
i wanted to work with light coming through the petals where i could.
Using 'Photoshop elements 7' the above is a fairly simple manipulation which gives it an art nouveau look. changeing the lighting, then the hue and finally giving it drawn outlines.
above is similar to the first but changing it to black and white.
haven't got a clue what i did with this but i did use the distort to make the top edge more parrot tulip like!
above giving it a neon glow
above what i call the punk version rendered into black and white with added drawn lines
a solarised and distorted 'parrot'
as you can see i love the solarise function which makes colours zing! the above one is looking into a tulip head
the above and below are again solarised with distorted edges and different ranges of lighting.

above is the same tulip in a growing state of decay. i based the next 3 manipulations on this one.
above using twirl, expansion and solarise
the next 2 above and below i have altered the lighting and then the hue/saturation and finally i distorted the sepals and stamen.

above solarise again and extra distortion
i then based one on the above of the same tulip
using shrink wrap! and pinch
finally for this post i used the above one to achieve the lower image
using hue/saturation with a speckled draw. i did scan some of the petals but it was a complete disaster, however as you will see in the next post i took a photograph of the petals...... see part 2

Oh what exciting title can i give this other than Chapter 2 continued and Chapter 3 ?

When i first got Module 2, i looked at my diary and planned how long each chapter should take and where i should be by Christmas. Christmas is coming and the guinea fowl are beckoning but i am certainly behind schedule! should be on shi-sha work by now but hope to catch up! bit of frivolity above is my answer to Sian's suggestion of working on a photograph it is great fun to do and i have more ideas!
any way back to the rest of chapter 2, using machine stitch to couch down various threads. above is a thread made from a frayed metallic fabric, twisted and made into a cord with a zig zag stitch then couched down with further zig zaging.
above a cord made from stranded threads and secured with threads taken across from the stitches on either side.
strips of fabric distressed and couched down in a similar way to the thread above.
i am very pleased with this one! firstly i machined over a pale blue wire, then couched it down with a closely worked zig-zag, pulling out loops randomly.
detail of the above.the loops can be manipulated into various shapes.
here i took a fine brass wire and worked it around various shapes and then 'loosely' couched them down with a straight stitch.
above sample worked by wrapping threads around a wire form and then securing them down with straight stitches. the wire form was then removed. it looks very 50's.
finally working again with a photograph. i was sitting in the park at a table that had been painted with leaves and butterflies etc. this one was where someone had picked off the paint from the leaf leaving the wood visible. i used a combination of cut strips of gold paper and gold tissue randomly torn after stitching. this might not be true couching but it was fun to do.
Chapter 3, traditional sample of underside couching on a double layer of linen. not easy to do!
above sample worked on even weave canvas stencilled with diamonds.
top strip worked with some ancient lurex knitting yarn i have had for years, next layer a fine machine embroidery thread, then fine lurex strip (not easy to handle) and the lower one cut up strips from my vacuum packed coffee packaging. it was difficult to pull this through to the other side!
above shows the reverse.


and now for my underside couching worked on the sewing machine. top sample is my first experiment using perle crochet cotton.
changing the stitch length to form a diamond. it was difficult to judge the distance between the rows.
again changing the stitch length.
above, changing stitch type from straight to zig zag.
i then tried metallic thread in the bobbin.
trying to do a chequer board pattern but ran out of thicker thread half way through!
randomly changing stitch length.