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.

How can a 'slip' be re-invented! Chapter 4

it seems ages since my last post but i have been busy! Chapter 4 asks how you can re-invent the slip. the plan was to choose a simple shape from my study of tulips to use as a slip, so far so good, i did a page of ideas then changed my slip shape so i did another one (above), then as you can see when i actually came to work the slips i had changed my mind again! but the ideas are still the same! i am hoping when this is posted it will be possible to read!
this chapter is all about stitched slips, hand and machine stitched. i don't have a computerised machine which was one of Sian's suggestions so my slips are quite basic but bright which i think is more ME anyway! the shape i eventually chose is very simple because i thought their construction would be quite busy. they are 12cm long. so (above) top row from left to right:1. part of a counted thread cross stitch 'don't slip up', 2.part of a flier which happened to have a tulip printed on it stitched onto vilene with long stitches, 3.layers of felt and organdie with lines of machine stitch left with loops, 4. layers of organdie and tissue stitched and tissue ripped away then painted, 5.felt base with layers of foil wrapping straight stitched, 6. as 4, 7.pieces of thread and fabric with tissue stitched together, 8.more layers of felt and organdie hand stitched randomly, bottom row left to right, 9. layers hand chain stitched together, 10. random hand stitching on organdie and felt, 11. layers encapsulated in plastic, 12. felt,paper,silk heavily stitched by machine and then attached to each other with zig-zag stitch.
i decided to attach the slips to a piece of paper sprayed with a mask of tulips (they are getting crispier with all the spray paint they have been subjected to!).
all attached with various methods, 1. a displaced slip shape, 2. more zig-zag stitch and 3. likewise attached with more, 4. a row of onyx beads, 5. has cake decorating stamens couched across its width, 6. has a mirror square securing it in place and 7. three strips of plastic looped over the slip.
8. in contrast to the random stitches has been secured using a rigid grid of cross stitches, 9. more random hand stitches, 10. stitched over with the same, 10. invisible floating attachment, 11. wiggly line of chain stitch. i might keep the next lot to bring to summer school. looking forward.

Couldn't resist sharing this one

Haven't quite worked out how to get the actual video on my blog yet but thought this one was amazing, could work well with stitch!

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

Chapter 3, part 2

this is a continuation of chapter 3 manipulating digital images. to recap i have chosen to concentrate on tulip/s. the above shows one tulip's petals after they have fallen and i photographed them laid in a circle.
the following 3 show how it can be manipulated using 'Photoshop Elements 7' i am still a novice but am getting to grips with changing colour and form and i tend to do things and then can't remember what i have done!! but i know the top one i have used a 'pinch' button.
above using glow edges and distort.
above changing the hue/saturation and twirl. i could have gone on for ages but thought i had better stop and work on some drawing/painting.
before i chose which flower to concentrate on i took myself into the garden with my watercolours and looked at various flowers we have growing. this was a perfect time of year to start this study, although the UK is suffering from an early spring so i got the end of the tulips. in fact the last bunch in the shop! #1 shows our abundance of dandelions, we must be quite rare in the gardening world in that we actually like dandelions and daisies growing on our lawn! and after about 10 years here we finally had our first daisy and now some speedwell!
#2 shows Spanish bluebells and lizieanthus but i was keen to choose a flower that would have been encountered in 17th century embroidery so i eventually chose tulips which i love. i got rather carried away hence there are so many!!
#3 basic water colour washes on A3 paper
#4 as #3
#5 as 3 and 4 but a bit more wishy washy
#6 i then moved onto chalk in my A5 sketchpad
the next 2 although not numbered are worked on an A4 black papered sketchbook. i love the way the chalks really come alive on black.

#8 back to A3 using a mixture of Markal oil sticks and chalks
#9 using a brush pen (A5)
#10 i sacrificed one tulip and got out the favourite spray paint!
#11 i worked with the tulips through the whole of their life!! so the rest are based on 'dead' tulips! #11 watercolour
#12 and #13 watercolour although #13 worked with a stick and brush.

#14 and 15 are back to chalk (A5)
the above one i used a white chinagraph crayon to draw with. its amazing how a dead dried tulip can look like a courgette flower! i know i have concentrated on the whole flower but i just loved the shapes they made!

Chapter 3 Part 3 extra one

#7 A3 the final decorated paper based on tulips. watercolour, acrylic ink, chalk using various torn paper masks.