Photographs...

...are really useful things.  When I took a closer look at the photograph of yesterday's fabric collage, I thought...there's something wrong with that...    And there was.  Plenty, as it happens.  Here's the new version : see if you can spot the changes.

Here's the first version, to compare it with.

Basically, of course, it looks the same, or very close.  So...what did I think was wrong? Firstly, the positioning of the whole thing wasn't right.  It was too low on the backing fabric, and that made it look unbalanced.  It was also closer to the right edge, than the left, so, not centred, and whilst it's not a square, it's close enough to being one, for that to feel wrong.  Then, there was nothing to connect the lutradur to the lovely Japanese Ogura paper, which is lacy and delicate, while the lutradur looked solid and straight edged. 

So... I started by removing some of the Ogura around the central motif, and then trimmed back the top and left side of the backing fabric, to achieve a better balance.  No, it's not perfect, but I don't want to overdo it...though looking at this photograph, I think I'm going to have to take a little more off the top.   While I was at it, I removed some of the edges of the Ogura beneath the constructed fabric, because it looked far too straight and orderly for this piece.  Then I took a heat gun to the Lutradur, again, removing the solid straight lines at the edges, as well as adding holes to the lutradur, reflecting the holes in the tissue paper, which are made by letting drops of water fall onto the pulp, apparently.  I also tried to heat the constructed cloth, but it didn't want to melt, so it will have to stay as it is.  It, too, has unfortunately straight edges, but there's not a lot I can do about it.  It's really too heavy for this piece, but it is what it is. 

I now have some more decisions.  It wouldn't be a bad thing to add a border, but I'm not sure that I have suitable fabric.  I will probably add some stitch, perhaps echoing those strong central colours in the background.  I'm happier with it than I was, but I'm not convinced it'll be worth having after all that... we'll see, I suppose.  It actually doesn't matter much : I've learned things, today, or at least been reminded of them, about combining fabrics and paper, about balance, and above all, about attention to detail.  I think this was done during a workshop, and probably flung together to see if it was possible.  As a learning piece, it's fine, but it is a salutary reminder that rushing is Not A Good Thing.