On the layer palette, select Layer 1. Use Noise and Gaussian Blur with the same settings as before. Slightly lighten the foreground colour. I used R 86 G 110 B 232. Use Image/Other/Hot Wax Coating. Use the two colour adjustments again, as before, and with the same settings. The slightly lighter colour helps to separate the two layers of our rosette, but even so we need a drop shadow to make the smaller on stand away from the outer ring.

Still with layer 1 selected, take the Magic Wand and click in the image outside the rosette. Use Selection/Invert. You will see that the circular selection seems a lot wider than the inner ring, so use Selection/Modify/Contract set at 7.

Use Image/Effects/Drop Shadow with the settings shown on the right. Your image will now look like the one below.

Select Layer 2 on the layer palette, and add noise as before. Use Gaussian blur again, but change the radius to 1.7. The outlines are narrower in this layer and the higher blur degree loses too much of them. Once again lighten the foreground colour a little. I used R 124 G143 B 236. Use Image/Other/Hot Wax Coating and use the same colour adjustments again.

Select, invert and contract the selection, just as you did for Layer 1, and add a drop shadow with the same settings. Save your rosette again.

Change the foreground colour to a golden yellow. I used R 239 G 221 B 97. On the layer palette, click on the button at the bottom left corner of the palette frame, which adds a new layer. OK the dialogue box which appears, and you will now have Layer 3 added, and selected as the current layer.

Use the shapes tool and on the control palette set shape to circle, style to filled, and you can leave outline width at 3 because that does not matter. Place your cursor right in the centre of the rosette and draw a yellow circle which covers up the rather untidy centre, but leaves the inner ribbon folds showing. If it is not quite in the centre, use the moving tool to adjust it. Save your image again. Your image should look like the one on the right.

With layer 3 still selected, use Image/Noise/Add. Set uniform noise at 25% and click OK. Use Image/Blur/Gaussian Blur set at radius 1.7.

Lighten the foreground colour slightly. I used R 242 G 237 B 110.

Still on layer 3, select the Text tool and click in the centre of the yellow circle. In the text dialogue box set Times New Roman, bold, size 48, check antialias, centre and floating. Type the figure 1 and click OK.

Do not deselect the figure 1. If it is not quite centred in the yellow circle, select the moving tool, place the cursor inside the figure selection and hold down the right mouse button. You can then adjust the figure's placement. Still with Layer 3 current and the figure 1 selected, use Image/Effects/Cutout with the settings shown below. Use Selection/Select none.

Change the foreground colour to white and still on Layer 3, use Image/Other/Hot Wax Coating.

Use Colours/Adjust/Hue Saturation and Lightness with Hue 0, Saturation 100 and Lightness 15.

Use Layers/Merge/Merge Visible. You will have just one layer, Merged, and you can now use the moving tool and move the whole rosette to the top of the image space. Your whole image should now look like the one below, and all we have left to do is add the two ribbons which hang down below it.

Open a new image, 300 x 300 with the same settings as before. If you do not have the rulers visible, go to View and check Rulers. If they are not showing in inches, go to File/Preferences/General Program Preferences/Rulers and Units and change Display units to inches.

Select the shape tool again and on the control palette set shape to rectangle, style to outline and outline width to 3. The background colour should still be set at the light blue we use in the petal, but if it is not, reset it to R 122, G 211, B 244. Click on the small right-angled arrow beside the background/foreground colours to reverse them, so that the light blue is now the foreground colour.

Place the cursor in your new image so that the hairlines on both rulers are at 1 inch. Left click and drag till you have a rectangle 2inches deep and 3/4 inch wide. Use the rulers to guide you to get the size right.

Now take the erase tool and carefully erase the bottom line of the rectangle, leaving the top and the two sides intact.

Now take the line drawing tool and on the control palette set the Line Type to Bezier and the Width to 3. Using the rulers as a guide, place your cursor in the centre of the rectangle vertically, and half an inch up from the bottom. Left click and drag to the bottom left corner of the rectangle. A thin black line will appear. Left click once near the bottom of this line about 1/16 inch towards the centre of the rectangle, and do the same again near the top of this line. The line will curve, and after the second click it will become light blue and match the rectangle outline. Do the same again to make a curved line from the same point to the bottom right of the rectangle. Your shape should now look like the one on the right.

Use the Fill tool set at solid colour and left click in the centre of the shape. Because of the anti-aliasing which makes the shape lines smooth, but gives several shades of colour in the outline, the fill will not quite reach the outline. Click again in the gap between the two to make the shape solid.

Use Image/Noise/Add and add Random Noise at 30%. Now use Image/Blur/Motion Blur with Direction set at 90 and Intensity set at 5.

Set the foreground colour to the royal blue we used at the beginning (R 32, G58, B214). Use Image/Other/Hot Wax Coating. Use Colours/Adjust/Brightness and Contrast with Brightness at 3 and Contrast at 25, to give you the ribbon shape on the right.

Now all that remains is to add this ribbon to the rosette. With the magic wand tool, click in the area surrounding the ribbon. Use Selection/Invert. Use Selection/Modify/Contract set to 2 and Selection/Modify/Feather set to 1. Copy the ribbon to the clipboard (use the copy button or Edit/Copy).

Click on the frame of the rosette image, and paste as a new layer. The ribbon will appear on top of the rosette. Rotate the ribbon, as you rotated the petals at the beginning, but set the rotation at right, free, 15. Use the moving tool to pull the ribbon down to its correct position at the bottom of the image, and then on the layer palette drag its layer to below the merged layer, so that the ribbon moves behind the rosette.

Paste another copy of the ribbon into the image on its own layer, and rotate this one left, free, 15. If it is above the rosette, drag its layer below the rosette. The rosette seems to stand away from the background because of the effect of the hot wax coating on the outlines, but the two ribbons each need a shadow. Make one of their layers current and use Image/Effect/Drop Shadow with shadow colour black, opacity 75, blur 12 and the two displacements at 4. Repeat for the other ribbon, and your rosette is finished and the final version can be saved.

You can make bigger or smaller rosettes, change what goes in the middle, change the colour, the number of rows of pleats, or even use the same method with different colours and rotation to make something like this surreal sunflower.

© Carol Brooksbank 2003
This tutorial may not be copied to any other website nor distributed in any way. It may be downloaded for personal use only. Links to my tutorials at http://www.caroluk.co.uk/tutindex/ are welcome.

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