Diploma Module 4 Chapter 5 - Slips from Stitched Surfaces

Slip Surface

Two slip surfaces were made inspired by the primrose and associated decorated papers, one with mainly natural fibres and the other synthetic.

1.     Natural fibre slip surface - a piece of Laura Ashley heavyweight cotton woven Jacquard was covered with the adhesive from a piece of bond-a-web. Small pieces of nylon net, painted habotai silk, sheers, pleated sheers and metallic ribbon were spread over this and then heat bonded in place.  On top of this, free machine embroidery helped hold the small pieces in place - 4-117.

2.    Synthetic slip surface - textured nylon sheer was covered in synthetic organza.  This was then covered with small pieces of fabric as above, plus fragments of lace from an old petticoat.  These were all laminated together with watered down PVA on a sheet of plastic.  Once dry, free machine embroidery in a free primrose-like pattern helped hold them in place.  The lace was painted gold - front 4-118.

Back - 4-119

Before starting to cut the slips from these surfaces, the slip was reduced in size by 20% to 6.75cmW and 11.25cmH.  Due to the loss of definition on the top edge of the slip that was attached with jute in Chapter 4, the top was redrawn to emphasize the shape in order to minimise the risk of this happening again and to retain the interest in the slip design.  Also, when you use a shape for some time, some detail tends to be lost.

Cutting slips from the Slip Surface

So that cutting the slip from the slip surface could be precise to obtain the maximum interest from the two slip surfaces, I drew round the slip with a Sharpie on a piece of plastic.  This was placed on the slip surface and then the card slip positioned and drawn round with a heat removeable biro.  This was free machined from the front, in some cases with three rows of stitching and in other cases with one row of stitching to marks the design and then machined from the back, again with more than one row of stitching producing a cable stitch edge. Other edge treatments are given in descriptions of the different slip collages.

More decorated papers and material were made to use as Applied Surfaces in colours that would complement the Slip Surfaces and with more interest to complement the slip.  These are detailed in the descriptions of the collages.  These were made relatively simple as the slip surfaces were already busy and there was a risk the outcome would be overpowering.  An appearance of simplicity wanted to be retained.

4-120    Detail of the back of the natural fibre slip surface with free machined slip shapes.

4-121    The first slip used was given an edging of cinq point de venise (thanks to Jennifer Collier for introducing me to this stitch whilst on a paper dresses workshop at her Unit Twelve Gallery).  This was then painted with gold acrylic to give it an Elizabethan richness.

4-122    Applied surface - gelliprinted tissue, the tissue on the right hand side incorporating stitch details from a plate stitched with an Elizabethan double twisted chain stitch edge (see 4-132) and Markal Paintstik rubbing over Elizabethan ladder braid stitch plate.  These were attached to wet strength paper with Pritt Stick.

The slip was attached with green back stitch.

4-123    Applied surface - black tissue with Markal Paintstik rubbings - left hand side basket stitch, right hand side plaited braid stitch and middle oven mesh. This was attached to wet strength paper using Pritt Stick. 

The slip was attached using yellow paper yarn couched with mercerised cotton.  The top of the paper yarn was opened out to give a flower-like appearance.

4-124       Applied surface - black card gelliprinted with green acrylic plus iridescent pearl, edged on both sides with black tissue with Markal Paintstik rubbings from Elizabethan double twisted chain stitch plate.  Attached to backing with and then coated in acrylic wax. 

The slip with a cable stitch edge was attached with broad chain stitch in yellow/orange variegated flower thread in primrose shapes.

4-125    Applied surface - left hand side - gelliprinted tissue paper using hard plastic plate with plaited edge stitch in plastic yarn and then coated in acrylic wax, right hand side - strip of abaca tissue rubbed with Markal Paintstik over plaited braid stitch plate held in place with acrylic wax underneath which is ghost print from gelliprinted tissue using plate with primrose shape cut from hard plastic and edged with cinq point de venise, centre - hand-made silk paper from cocoon strippings.  

The slip was edged with yellow paper yarn and green beads and attached with running stitch.

4-126    Slip edged in Elizabethan double twisted chain stitch in yellow paper yarn which gave it a 3D/sculptural mind of its own.  

4-127    Applied surface - photocopy on wet strength paper of background in  4-112 with the addition of strip of distressed silk paper.

The slip was attached over 3 layers of stepped felt to help keep 3D shape using running stitch.

4-128    Detail 4-127.

4-129    Applied surface - left and right hand side - acrylic painted American muslin, centre - gelliprinted rice paper.  

The slip was edged with plaited edge stitch and held in place with acrylic painted fabric buttons.  Additional decoration - natural fibre composite fabric buttons on left hand side.

4-130    Applied surface - left and right hand side - American muslin painted with acrylic with Markal Paintstik rubbing on abaca tissue on right hand side held in place with acrylic wax.  White wet the edges of the abaca tissue were merged with the fabric below using the tip of a needle.  

The slip was attached with overcast stitch. 

4-131    Two slips were cut from the composite synthetic fabric slip surface with a fine pointed soldering iron.  One of the slips had been stitched to mark the shape of the slip, as detailed above.  The shape of the other slip was drawn using a heat removeable biro which disappeared with the heat from the soldering iron.  This slip was obviously a little smaller than the machined ones.

Health and Safety

• the slips were burnt outside to prevent inhaling fumes
• the composite fabric to be cut was placed on a wire cooling rack and pliers were used to hold the fabric to minimise the risk of burning myself
• the soldering iron was kept in an upturned terracotta pot when not in use
• there was a double check at end to make sure soldering iron was unplugged.

4--132    Additional masks/stencils were made to add interest to the gelli plates.  Some of these were used for the Applied Surfaces already detailed.

4-133    Applied Surface - left to right - gelliprinted rice paper using plastic lace stencil, distressed silk paper, gelliprinted American muslin using plastic mask with cinq point de venise stitched edging. These were laminated together with dilute PVA on a sheet of plastic.  

Note the silk paper lost is lustre and would have been better held with acrylic wax or  Pritt Stick until machine.

The smaller slip on the left hand side was cut from the synthetic slip surface without edging stitches.  No stitching was needed as this combination of materials didn't fray.  The main slip had a gold cable stitch edge and free machined five petalled cable stitched flowers inside.

The slips were attached with free machine embroidery again with five petalled flowers.

4-134    Applied surface - left to right - American muslin painted with acrylic and then rubbed over plaited braid stitch plate with gold Markal Paintstik; gelliprinted surface with tissue rubbed over the same plate.  This was attached with acrylic wax which gave it transparency.

The slip had a gold free machined edge and is held in place with lines of gold back stitch.  Prior to stitching the holes were made with an unthreaded sewing machine with stitch length 5.

4-135    Applied surface - left to right - gelliprinted tissue; wet strength gelliprinted paper applied to black card with acrylic wax.  Once attached coated with acrylic wax.

The slip was cut with soldering iron and has a with free machined edge.  It was attached with manipulated net held in place with seeding stitches.

4-136    Applied surface - left to right - gelliprinted wet strength paper: gelliprinted rice paper.  These were applied to American muslin with acrylic wax.  A coating of wax was then given and an additional gelliprinted tissue 'primrose' was attached in the centre.

The synthetic slip was edged in small blanket stitches and then attached using larger blanket stitches.  The centre of tissue 'primrose' was also given blanket stitch detail.

4-137    Applied surface - layered and frayed calico monoprinted with acrylic.

The main synthetic slip was cut out with a soldering iron.

All slips were attached with random cross stitches with variegated flower threads. 

Diploma Module 4 Chapter 4 - How Can a 'Slip' be Re-Invented?

There was a lot going on in this chapter, so I hope I've covered everything.  On analysis, choices were broken down into what is referred to as a Pick 'N' Mix (4-110 and 4-111).  

• Construction - construct your slip on its chosen ground. 
• Ground - to what to apply the slip.
• Attachment - how to attach the slip.  From page 20, attachment effects could be by making a gentle merging: making a contrasting effect or by making a floating slip or 'badge'.
• Rigidity - extra rigidity may be added at any stage.

Examples of Pick 'N' Mix were given using my slip.  To give you an idea of scale of the slip, its maximum dimension are 8cmW x 14cmH.  All these are pages from my sketchbook.       

For example on 4-110:

Construction - slip is constructed by hand stitching onto a canvas ground

Ground - slip is then attached to a silk ground

Attachment - using silver beads to give a contrasting effect.  

Rigidity - none.

Further ideas are given in 4-111, 4-112 and 4-113.

Stitched Slips produced using a Computerised Embroidery Machine

Not having a computerised embroidery machine I resorted to free machine embroidery on my trusted Bernina using my slip shape and inspiration from my decorated papers. 

4-114    

Construction - free machine embroidery on acrylic painted calico

Ground - natural canvas

Attachment - couched jute natural garden twine giving a contrasting effect

Rigidity - the acrylic paint gives the slip ground extra rigidity and it can be free machine stitched without a frame and cut out without fraying.

Note that the garden twine was rather thick and when stitched you lose the definition of the top of the slip.  For future use, the detail on the top of the slip might be emphasised more so that this does not happen.

4-115

Construction - free machine embroidery on mono-printed calico using acrylic paint

Ground - natural canvas

Attachment - with acrylic painted calico 'buttons' making a floating slip or 'badge'

Rigidity - the acrylic paint gives the slip ground extra rigidity and it can be free machine stitched without a frame and cut out without fraying.  This also applies to the 'buttons'.

4-116

Construction - free machine embroidery on mono-printed calico using acrylic paint

Ground - natural canvas

Attachment - with couched jute natural garden twine giving a merging effect as the twine is a similar colour to the paint and follows the line made by the monoprinting.

Rigidity - the acrylic paint gives the slip ground extra rigidity and it can be free machine stitched without a frame and cut out without fraying. 

Diploma Module 4 Chapter 3 - Create Your Own 'Slip' Design

Due to the time of year, for this study I chose the primrose.  It has so many memories for me of Spring at Baldwin on the Isle of Man, with its banks blanketed in yellow flowers.  Due to the Covid restrictions I missed them this year but those in our garden are doing their best to make up for this. Memories too of the daily walk to and from the station suddenly taking on a freshness as the primroses sprang up on the verges.

Some interesting facts - the primrose, Primula Vulgaris, takes its name from primus - first and vulgaris - common and was first coined by William Hudson in Flora Angelica published in 1762.  The vernacular term primrose is derived from the Latin prima rosa - the first 'rose' of the year.  Primrose day is the 19th April.  In the language of flowers, the primrose is the flower for lovers and is interpreted as 'I can't live without you'.  It symbolises youth.

As my design process progressed I realised this probably hadn't been the best choice as though it gave me colour, shape, pattern and texture, I could have chosen a flower that gave me more of all of these things.  But equally I had them in abundance to study... and there is nothing like a challenge!

Using Photoshop Elements to produce images that relate to the stitch effects studied

A series of photos of primroses were taken from different angles until one was found that I thought would suit my purpose.

I decided to use 4-53, the primrose with the rain, and 'cut' this out using Photoshop Elements. Filters were applied that produced images related to the stitches/techniques already studied.  Notes were made on the filters used and the adjustments needed to them to produce the effects shown.

4-54    speckling

4-55    speckling

4-56    wired needlelace

4-57    tent stitch

4-58       waste canvas

4-59    larger holed waste canvas

4-60    flap shape Hollie point

4-61    flap shape

4-62    padded shape and flap shape

4-63    pattern darning, brick stitch

4-64    long and short stitch

4-65    kantha

A section of the primrose was used and the selection of filters was repeated looking for stitch potential.  Again notes were made of the adjustments to the filter to achieve a result.  I noticed that some filters took the abstraction too far and the essence of the primrose was lost.

4-66    section of the primrose

4-67    distressed Tyvek

4-68    needleweaving

4-69    needleweaving

4-70    Roumanian couching

4-71    or nue, underside couching, Sorbello Stitch, Eastern Stitch

Drawing to Study Your Flower

Drawings were produced from my digital imagery and also from picked flowers.  Due to the simplicity of the structure of the primrose I found this section particularly difficult and kept continually asking myself 'what makes a primrose a primrose' so I would retain the essence of the primrose when I started producing decorated papers.

Initially I experimented with computer generated images but using more of the artistic filters.  I also looked at how other artists had interpreted the primrose.  

4-72    a different section of a wild primrose

4-73    accented edges

4-74    poster edges (love this)

4-75    posterisation (love this too)

4-76    texturizer

4-77    chalk and charcoal

I looked at a wild primrose bloom:

4-79    accented edges

4-80    chalk and charcoal

4-81    sketch dry brush

4-82    sketch palette knife

4-83    sketch plastic wrap

4-84    sketch smudge stick

4-85    sketch water paper

4-86    texturizer

I looked at how other artists/designers, and indeed I, had used the primrose and included the most appropriate in my sketchbook 4-87/88.

Drawings/interpretations of my flowers were made, first with a couple of studies using Koh-i-Noor Aquarells and Inktense pencils and then line drawings followed by shading using an ink pen and Graphite Aquarelles 4-89 to 4-91.

Different silhouettes were studied - looking ahead to when I had to select a silhouette shape - 4-92.

Decorated Papers using Colour, Pattern and Texture from Drawing Studies

Coloured papers were produced using variously Koh-i-Noor dyes, thin bleach, Golden Open acrylic paints, a gelli plate, a hand made stencil of full-flowered primrose shapes and their cut outs, a primrose-shaped edge over which I stroked oil and chalk pastels, a plastic lace stencil, a silicon pastry brush, a wax pot and tjanting tools.  Both tissue paper in various colours and white Seawhite wet strength paper (140gsm) were used.  Some of the more successful papers are included here 4-93 to 4-108, the last being my favourite.

Finally an interesting silhouette shape was selected from my drawings.  This evolved from all the above exercises.