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This is a new venture for me - fibre artist - somewhere I can tell you about what is happening in my world and offer you links to other work and my online shop.  I'm starting here by showing the process I go through when I design and make a new piece - whether for a commission, to form part of coursework or for my own body of work.  

The photo below is often the most exciting part of a project - gathering fibres, threads, beads and found objects and "auditioning" them to be part of the project.  

This particular project became a mixed media piece based on a manipulated photo and included one of my favourite design features - seed heads.  It was completed as part of a Module for a School of Stitched Textiles City and Guilds course.

Stage one is taking the photograph:

Stage 2: I chose to crop the image and get rid of my garden detritus and just show the seed heads themselves against the stone wall.

Stage 3: Import the photo into an online photo manipulation software package called Lunapic.  https://www12.lunapic.com/editor/

Stage 4: manipulate the photo in various ways and select the one to use.

Stage 5: interpret the photo I choose.

In this instance, I started by sponging the paint in different shades onto the canvas.  The teasel seed heads are represented by silk worm cocoons, painted and tied onto the work. This is supplemented by silk tops sewn into the canvas and extra fibres and stitched wool.  Given time, I would work an additional layer onto the piece to give more blurred edges.