Most of today was spent helping to get tickets ready for Expo, so I unwound with a bit of hand stitching – fly stitch in black:
A subtle texture, not sure whether to add a line of fly stitch in a single strand of white to go over these, or if that will be too bright. Maybe in teal?
I relaxed today with some lovely hand stitching, all these white crosses. I think they’ve really lifted the area, and hopefully drawn the eye in to see the black ones that I did previously, a dark texture.
My brother in law is visiting, so we spent the day playing board games, looking at a new house we were considering, and then watching Eurovision. I did find the time for a bit more image manipulation.
I started with a range of images that I’d taken several years ago in rusty railcards and slate mines, originally used for inspiration for mine and my husband’s wedding rings.
Original: 
With colours and textures tweaked:
I then added a Tunnel effect:
I thought I’d add another tunnel effect, then a few more! My husband’s favourite is the simple one above – which is yours?
Then I added a mirror effect: 
This was part of a steam engine: 
I played with the colour and texture, and added a bit of a wave to get this:
After a play with x and z shift, I got this:
This slides the pixels either horizontally or vertically over each other as if they were identical colours but in two layers, making some interesting colour combinations:
Next I started with this image of rusty machinery in a slate mine in Wales, one of my favourites that I’ve ever taken, I think: 
To this:
With a pleasingly watercolour paper-like texture in the background.
And finally a bit of tweaking with this image, lumps on a boiler in a railyard:
Via lots of effects about edges and texture, to this:
I think this one could have a bit more done to it, but by that point Eurovision was starting, and I was responsible for recording our scores.
Today I finally made some time to hang Phosphene I, and take a good look at it from afar:
I’m pleased with how it is coming along, but wanted to add more bold stitching, particularly in the middle. A lot of the stitching I have been doing has ben with one or two strands of thread, which is good when viewed up close, but now I need to add some layers that will draw the viewer in from further away.
I finished the fly stitch across this edge:
And added some more right down the middle:
I also couldn’t resist a bit of image manipulation, so here’s a tweak:
Another long evening spent sorting Expo cloth spreadsheets, so tonight I did some image manipulation. I went through my photos, looking for ones which would make good masks. I feel like I’m getting a better eye for good candidates now.
This was the mask photo:
To this mask:
Which I combined with this photo of a Spanish sky:
To get this image:
Rather dynamic, almost feels like a quilt and some appliqué. I did it with triangles and some messing with colours.
And then this mask of pebbles between beach groynes:
With this rather uninspiring photo from an aeroplane window:
(They never come out as beautifully as the view!)
To this:
This one took a bit of work to get it to feel cohesive. I eventually took the mask off and then did a Glass effect over the whole thing, but a bit less opaque to allow the layers underneath to show through.
And lastly, a photo of carved faces in Alcoi, as part of the Moors and Christians festival:
With my favourite swoopy paint background, and some gentle messing with colours:
All in all, a lot of fun,
As well as machine stitching strips of cloth together for the UK Games Expo, I did some more hand stitching on Phosphene I:
A bit more fly stitching.
Today I did some hand stitching on Phosphene I, stitching black crosses over gaps in the printing to emphasise them. Some of the stitches don’t show well in the photos, but I am pleased with the effect:
