Deep Rose and Grey Hand-Painted Silk Scarf--Where Design Ideas Come From

Deep Rose and Grey Scarf before steam setting or removal of the gutta resist

     This 11" x 60" hand-painted silk scarf in deep rose and grey with white outline flower design sold so quickly after I completed the final finishing steps that I only have mid-stage photos. I think that's a happy reason for the lack of a better picture to show you! When the piece was completely finished, the colors were more intense, and the white outlines purer and brighter. 

     I'm often asked where I get ideas for my landscape paintings or hand-painted silk scarves. So, here is the story of the genesis of this scarf design. 

     Each of the scarves I make is a one-of-a-kind original. Although I sometimes adapt a previous design in a new color combination or use a motif from a previous scarf in a new way, there are never two scarves exactly alike. In fact, the nature of the hand-painting process makes creating duplicates impossible. The dye flows or blends differently each time; my free-hand sketching with the gutta resist turns out differently; etc.

     For scarf ideas, I keep a file of pages torn from magazines, catalogs, and other sources to page through to get my creative juices flowing. Sometimes, an unusual leaf or flower in nature or something in one of my own photos sparks a design element idea. I also have notebooks with rough sketches or descriptions of ideas that cross my mind. For this rose and grey scarf design, the initial source was a catalog picture of a black knit top with a large white abstract snowflake outlined on the front. Usually I outline motifs in gutta and fill in with a different color or colors than the background. This is the first time I have "drawn" with gutta resist on the blank white scarf but did not fill in the design to contrast with the background. Instead, the white outline stands out against a solid two-color scarf.

     The grey dye used had recently arrived from my supplier, Dharma Trading Company, with a couple of other new colors I'd ordered, and I was eager to try them. Rather than a single background color like the knit top in the catalog had, I thought I'd make a few bands of grey alternating with cranberry or burgundy. Another new color in my order was a darker burgundy with more of a brown undertone than I had expected. So, as I experimented on scrap white silk, I added enough light rose to the burgundy to make a color I liked with the grey.

     So, a new, one-of-a-kind scarf was born. I'll definitely use elements of this design again in other colors, with other motifs, or maybe similar motifs in different sizes or a different layout. Stay tuned. There are always more ideas in my inspiration file and design doodle and thoughts notebooks than there will ever be time to make.

Question of the day: Do you sometimes wonder how ideas for some of your favorite art pieces came about?

     

Purple Tulips on Blue Background, a Hand-painted Silk Scarf

Blue hand-painted silk scarf with purple tulips

     Newly completed, this 11" x 60" hand-painted silk scarf features purple and purple-variegated tulips on a rich medium blue background. The clear green leaves add even more versatility in terms of coordinating it with various outfits.

     For those of you who are interested, I'll outline the steps of the painting process for this scarf next.

     After some careful study of tulip photos in botanical books and referring to some outline drawings (free for anyone on the Internet), I drew my own outline designs of stands of tulips on heavy paper in the exact size of the intended scarf designs--one for each end of the scarf. Then, using the drawings as a guide, I "drew" onto the scarf with a small squeeze bottle of gutta--not an easy process (see more about gutta below). The blank white scarf is stretched on a frame while I work on it.

Closer detail of one end

Closer detail of the other end

     Once the gutta dried, I painted the first layer of color in the outlines of the leaves and the solid purple tulips. Next came gutta-drawn details inside the outlines (to divide the individual tulip petals and the various leaves from each other). Then I added further layers of color to deepen the tones, shade some areas, and differentiate the details (the French silk dyes I use stay semi-transparent up to 6 or 7 layers of color). The variegated tulips required smaller strokes of color which were then blended out with a water-soaked brush.

A different view of the scarf

     In these photos you see the scarf completed up to that point. The final steps will take several more hours of work. I will wrap this and four other hand-painted scarves in separate layers in heavy newsprint (very carefully to avoid steam-set creases) for an hour or more of deep steaming to set the dyes. 

     Then I'll remove the gutta resist that outlines the design. Gutta (a rubber based resist) protects a design or separates areas from each other, preventing colors from running together. It can only be removed by dry cleaning or (what I do) soaking in a jar with naphtha. Finally, I'll wash the scarves in a special, gentle liquid soap, dry, and press them. Whew--one-of-a-kind, hand-painted silk scarves ready for someone to wear.

Question of the day: There are many styles of blog posts. Mine combine photos and a fair amount of text. Are you a blog visitor who prefers to look at photos quickly and maybe a sentence or two, or do you enjoy more text for the times you are interested in some explanation?

"Sunset Hues" Hand-painted Silk Scarf

"Sunset Hues" just taken off stretcher

     "Sunset Hues" is an 11" x 60" hand-painted silk scarf in warm red, orange, purple, and yellow. It would look lovely on a dress or top in any one of those colors, and would be stunning on white or creamy neutrals.

Another view of "Sunset Hues"

     This scarf project flowed fairly easily in the angled soft striped design I had planned, unlike some that have evolved far from my original vision (the aqua scarf called "Floating", for example). The main decisions involved first, whether I wanted the colors to blend into one another with soft edges or whether I preferred some harder, jagged edges. The second choice concerned the location and depth of the colors. Some colors required several layers of dye to achieve the desired depth. I use the French-type of silk dyes, which require steam-setting before washing or wearing the scarves.

     The first layer was painted quickly with wide foam brushes wet-on-wet. In other words, I brushed clear water on the entire scarf on the stretcher, then quickly painted one stripe after another, blending the edges by rubbing with the brush or a damp paper towel. Done quickly enough, this technique results in soft blended edges.

Close-up detail

     Since I had decided to have some harder, jagged edges, the next layers of dye went on after the first layer was completely dry. The dyes act differently on dry silk, producing the interesting, sharper edges you see in the center section of the scarf.

     These photos were taken before the batch of three newly painted scarves were steam-set, and washed. So, the scarves are not quite as soft, nor the colors as vivid as they will be when all those (important, but less fun) steps in the process are finished.

Question of the day: What is your favorite accessory? I enjoy wearing scarves, but earrings are a must for every outfit. 

Hand-painted Purple, Yellow, and Green Silk Scarf with Clematis Flowers

     This hand-painted 11" x 60" silk scarf was inspired by the lovely flowers on clematis vines. Of the various varieties in our botanical reference books (oh, the gorgeous photos!), I decided to represent one with six-petal blossoms in shaded purple tones. My silk painting technique, using French-style dyes, does not allow for perfection in reproducing nature exactly; the results are more free-form or impressionistic. But these flowers look more like the photos than some (for example, I used a different approach for an earlier scarf with a loose painting technique; they are not meant to be like any "real" flowers).

     Rather than describe all the details of the process, I'll summarize and readers who want more can follow links to more extensive explanations. To avoid pure white gutta outlines, I painted the entire scarf with pale yellow and yellow-green, wet-on-wet, before any drawing and let the piece dry. Then, with preliminary sketches as a guide to shape and placement, I lightly drew in the flowers and leaves with a water-soluble fabric pencil and then traced the design with gutta resist.

Closer view of design details

     The flowers and leaves took several layers of dye to gradually deepen and vary the shades and tones. I used a permanent fabric marker for the vines and a few other small details.

     Painting on silk is always a discovery process, and I am still learning and growing in the art. This particular scarf turned out well, I think, and I am using a similar approach to create an autumn leaf design. Stay tuned.

Question of the day: For scarf wearers, what sorts of designs do you like best: flowers and other themes from nature, abstract, geometric, or other?

Ocean-Inspired Aqua, Blue, and Purple Hand-painted Silk Scarf

An 11" x 60" one-of-a-kind, hand-painted silk scarf

     This ocean-inspired aqua, blue, and purple hand-painted silk scarf, 11" x 60", was a delight to paint. I used French-
style silk dyes and began with diluted blue and aqua to paint the large middle area in pale shades, blending well. Just as a clear sky shades slightly from a truer blue appearance overhead to a more aqua look nearer the horizon, I used blue in the very center and shaded to aqua further from center. 

     Of course, I was not trying to make a realistic ocean and sky picture, but hoped to suggest them. In the second stage, I used stronger (much less diluted) hues and began to work on the very ends. The mottled areas result from liberal doses of kosher salt--salt draws wet dye up to create random jagged patterns. What is the area meant to represent? you may ask. I had some thoughts, but mostly wanted some variety in the look of the ends of the scarf. People who have seen it each have their own ideas: currents deep down, the ocean bottom, coral, the movement of sea creatures. Take your pick; it's fun to imagine what shape and texture could represent.

Seen from another angle 

     Working up from the ends, I laid in wavy strips of various shades of blue, aqua, and purple, along with some deep rose. I had some of these shades premixed and ready; others resulted from the colors overlapping and mixing on their own or from adding subsequent tones over the first layer of color. 

     When I approached the "sky" area, I used gutta as a resist (more information here) to draw wiggly outlines for a suggestion of currents and waves (click on any photo to enlarge). Once the gutta had dried, I could continue to create undulating watery tones--using gradually lighted versions of the colors. Since French silk dyes are transparent up to seven layers of color, I could add and modify any of the hues until the result felt right.

The earlier silk scarf, made in my class

     When I originally learned the art of silk painting from Donna Kassab at the John C. Campbell Folk School (see posts about the class here), one of my first silk scarf creations (and still a favorite) was a 22" square ocean-inspired piece. That design sparked the long scarf shown in this post. The square piece looks odd in the photo because it had just come off the stretcher on which we paint on silks (it doesn't actually have a scalloped hem). My favorite aspects of French-style silk painting are the intense colors and the element of unpredictability in the process. Every creation feels like a discovery.

Question of the day: What colors and color combinations are your favorites?

Three Hand-dyed and Painted Silk Scarves

     Although I have enjoyed making 22" x 22" square scarves (earlier scarf posts here), I wanted to make long scarves even more. However, it took awhile until I had room for the long stretching frame required to work on them. Here are the first to be completely finished; each measures 11" x 60". 

     Each one was an experiment, as I am still a learner in this art form. The yellow and dark blue scarf was free-painted with no resist to separate areas of color from one another. I first painted the entire scarf deep yellow, let it dry, and then lightly sketched the lattice design in water soluble fabric pencil before painting several layers of deep blue dye in all pattern areas.

     Gutta resist defined the patterns on the other two. The brown, turquoise, and blue color-block scarf first got a coat of very light (watered down) brown overall. Once it was dry, I used a water soluble fabric pencil to mark off the areas according to a scale model design I had sketched out ahead of time. I followed the lines with gutta resist, applied fairly thickly, and let that dry well. Finally, several layers of each color filled the blocks according to my plan. I am pleased with the design and plan to make it again in different colors, maybe pink, rose, blue, and purple.

     The flower design began differently with free-form flowers brushed on the white scarf. Then, I outlined the designs with gutta, staying mostly on the edges of dyed areas to avoid all-white outlines. I deepened the colors within the lines and added a few extra details in the petals and centers. The blue and green background was the last step and gave me fits because of some wayward drips and streaks. Once dye is on the silk, it is there to stay--virtually impossible to remove without streaking the areas around it. So, I gathered up my courage and tried brushing on just water to blend everything, adding just a bit of dye to vary and blend the background colors. Whew! It turned out pretty well compared to the earlier unsightly spots.

     If readers are interested, I will post more in the future about the various finishing steps involved in steam-setting the French dye colors, removing the sticky gutta, washing and ironing the completed scarves.


Question of the day: Do you enjoy experimenting with new crafts or art forms--even the painful parts of watching things go wrong and learning from the process?