Friday, March 11, 2011

Module 4 Chapters 4 to 6 Part 2

For the next stage, I made two pieces of fabric from which to cut slips.  These are both made from layers of assorted sheers backed on felt.  I free-machined in looping petal shapes to reflect the shapes printed on my decorated papers from the previous chapter (images 13 and 14 in the Dec 5th post), and  used the same two colour schemes.
The next two pictures show how I applied the slips cut from these surfaces to new backgrounds and also added some of the earlier ones.  10p coins are included to give the scale.
Photo 1
Photo 1

The background is a piece of dyed silk backed with felt stitiched with a digitised knotwork motif designed as a sample in module 2.  I repeated the motif many times, letting it overlap and changing colours randomly, giving an overall trellis effect to complement the flowers.  The slips have been attached as follows (numbers on the photo)
  1. Added another layer of sorbello stitches which carry on into the background.
  2. Placed the slip on the background and repeated the knotwork motif over and around it.
  3. These are two slips made on the embellisher using little snippets of thread on felt to reflect the softness of the pastels (image 12 in the Dec 5th post).  These are dangling freely from loops of thread.
  4. A couched thread makes a more definite edge.
  5. Rows of herringbone stitches encroaching on the slip.
Photo 2
Photo 2
Background is dyed silk backed with felt and painted with Markal sticks, again using shapes from strapwork studies in module 2.  In this case, the angles contrast with the rounded slips.
  1. Slip attached by couching another colour around the outline of the flower head.
  2. Slits cut in the silk and the slips attached at one end to the felt underneath.
  3. Attached using beads at the centre.
  4. Handstitched lines added to the design and carried over into the background.
  5. Held down by two large pearl-headed pins (like a butterfly).
  6. Not sure the photo shows this very well - I have used a stiff thread to attach groups of beads to points around the edge.  The thread stands up in loops above the slip to echo the petal shapes stitched on it