A variety of silk painting techniques is used when embarking on a silk fabric painting, much the same as when beginning any painting. Instead of canvas, paper and paint, one paints with fabric dye onto stretched silk, using various methods. It is not unlike painting with watercolours onto paper in that "washes" of dye run across the silk and can be overdyed after being chemically set.
Fabric dye may also be mixed with a medium, such as sodium alginate, to
produce a thick paste, which may then be screen-printed onto the surface
or painted with a brush, like acrylic paint; this silk painting
technique is not widely known. |
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Most silk painters stretch the silk on a frame, outline a design or image with a water-resistant barrier (gutta) and then "colour in" the design with various dyes, which then require chemical or steam fixing.
I rarely work that way, preferring to use a more spontaneous, painterly
silk painting technique. Frequently, I work with no set idea of how the
piece will turn out, but with broad concepts and a feeling about the
subject matter. |
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I work standing up at my printing table, which is about the same height
as a kitchen bench, so quite comfortable. I work fast, from all
directions, expending a fair bit of energy, which results in the design
achieving a sense of movement and repetition of marks and colours. So I
don't know if you could call it a silk painting technique as sometimes
the materials used are merely incidental to the artwork.
Quite often I also use a silkscreen to print images previously blocked
onto it with wax, emulsion or film. For an impromptu result I might mask
off sections of the screen and block it with stencils cut from
newspaper or even an actual spray of leaves, depending on the effect
that I want. |
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If I am printing an overall repeat design, then I need to be more
disciplined and work out a system so that subsequent colours will
register in the right spot.
The use of gutta is a common silk
painting technique, used when painting on silk to outline an image or to
prevent colours from running into each other, but often I just use it
for line and movement.
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Did you then spend hours winding the silk onto a cotton reel? If the
chrysalis had been left to emerge as a moth it would have eaten its way
through the cocoon, leaving a large hole and cutting the thread into
tiny pieces.
In China and India, where much silk is grown
commercially (mostly using the bombyx mori moth), the cocoons, once
completed, are immersed in boiling water so this doesn't happen.
Selected pupae are allowed to turn into moths for breeding purposes.
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Once unwound from the cocoon and twisted in strands, the surfaces of the
silk reflect light in ever-changing ways. Once woven it is a glamorous
fabric, long wearing, with excellent wash and light fastness properties.
Silk
also has low conductivity properties, making it warm in Winter. In
Summer its water absorbent characteristics mean that it is cool - an
almost perfect fabric!
For many years I have been searching for a woven silk-cotton
mixture fabric which would be suitable for dress or shirt fabrics in a
hot climate. In 2008 I found Daisy, a lovely lady who lives in Sichuan
Province, in China. Daisy was able to send me smallish quantities of
exceptionally beautiful 50/50 habotai woven silk/cotton. Fortunately,
Daisy and her colleagues and family survived the recent earthquakes so
she is still able to send me fabric for silk painting and printing.
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I am so happy about this (and relieved at Daisy's continued safety of
course!) as the fabric is perfect for clothing in a hot climate like
Tropical Australia - or for Summer anywhere. |
The hygroscopic qualities of natural cotton as well as its strength,
wash and light fastness make it a perfect partner for combining with
silk. The handle of the silk/cotton fabric is soft but crisp and it
drapes beautifully.
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Although I like the idea of using natural dyes, on the whole they are
not light or wash fast - so it's a bit pointless when my work is mainly
about colour!
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Natural indigo is an exception to this and reasonable results can also
be obtained with saffron and cochineal as well as tannin (tea) and rust. |
If you are reading this and would like share your favourite
tried-and-true natural dye recipe or silk painting technique please go
to
YOUR pages
and share?
Details from Jill's silk paintings
About dyeing
Silk designer scarves
Tropical textiles
Art in Tropical Australia home page