Hand Painted Silk

I spend most of my writing and posting time focusing on our soap business, but the passion of my heart is time designing and painting silk scarves. This was not something i ever imagined would be part of my artistic expression. But in 2002 while i was still working for Metro health Medical Center there was an amazing program that allowed employees to benefit as well. Tucked in the rehab unit was an artistic program that helped people who had traumatic injuries, and strokes to help to heal my using their hands in artistic expression. The art therapy unit would write a grant and have an artist in for a month to run classes with the patients. The added benefit was the opportunity of employees to take a class. Over the months several friends talked me into attending these classes…. basic hand building pottery, collage, bead stringing jewelry, watercolor. It was fun, and i learned what i liked and what i was not good at. Then came the announcement of silk painting. I bristled, because painting was not a strength… but loyal to those employee friends i went. And i discovered I liked it. In fact I was so excited by my results that i spent money and mail ordered the supplies. Everyone got a hand painted scarf that Christmas.

Trying to paint silk at home was tough…. having a 6 ft long frame seemed to only work best on the porch in the heat of summer. It was a phase… and soon the supplies were packed away in a box and i moved on to other things.

Fast forward to 2010 when our world fell apart I opened that box and thought maybe i can find a way of making some money by painting scarves. Fast forward to our first studio and the space to spread out and paint, and my passion exploded.

Silk begins as white. My technique is to put my drawing on the table first, then lay the silk over it, holding it down with masking tape. The lines are traced using gutta resist. These lines will remain permanent to the design, and when processed will be permanent. The idea of the gutta is to act as a boundary so colors dont bleed into each other. Once the resist is completed the silk is stretched on a frame. I use pvc pipe to make my frames. The silk is held on with rubber bands and safety pins. With the silk elevated (not tight) painting can begin. Once the painting is completed and the silk is dry I roll the silk into newprint, and the bundles get wrapped in an old quilt and put into the top of a steamer to process. The paint and the resist required heat and steam to set them permanently. Usually its an hour and a half steaming. The silk is then unwrapped, washed and ironed – and ready to wear. Color fast! Hand washable.