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?

     

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?

More Hand-Painted Silk Scarves

     I made the first two hand-painted, one-of-a-kind silk scarves shown in this post at the week-long "art camp for grown-ups" class I mentioned in a previous post. The Asian-influenced design in apricot and sage green was a learning experience on several levels. One of my first attempts to draw a design using resist to prevent the dyes from running together, it also was a hopeful stab at mixing colors to match outfits without having them in the room with me for comparison. Both the main colors are some favorites in my wardrobe, and I was thrilled when the results looked perfect with all the outfits I had in mind.

     The nighttime scene with moon and owl also arose from a desire to practice using resist to "draw" on white silk, then to paint inside those lines, and finally to fill in a freer style background. Two techniques produce the sky in the scene: some of the areas allow the colors to run together on their own, which produces uneven--sometimes jagged--lines while other areas used a quick rubbing technique Donna Kassab taught in the class to achieve blended tones (click on this, or any, photo to see more detail). The "stars" are simply dots of resist on the white silk before painting.

     The fuchsia and orange scarf began as a disaster. In the class, the result of painting the background waves of color was (in my view) garish. Believe it or not, the colors are considerably toned down now. Although some classmates liked the original, I decided to remove some of the dye right away and washed out the color 3 or 4 times. After the scarf dried, I took it home, uncertain how to finish it. Once I had all my equipment and supplies collected at home, I decided to use resist to draw sort of day lily type flowers in the corners and painted them with coordinating colors. I also restored some of the orange tones in the background. Sorry I don't have a better photo; I gave a couple of scarves away to relatives on a recent vacation, and this one was snapped up before it had posed properly. You see it here on the stretcher frame my long-suffering husband helped me make. The silks must be suspended and stretched for the painting and drying processes.



     Finally, the green/purple/yellow scarf, another version of my "Colorburst" design, is one of two I made for a friend who wanted to purchase a green toned scarf for a gift. She wanted some greens in the Colorburst design, but was somewhat vague on details, so I made two for her to consider. I don't have a good photo of the one she chose, but this is the other--the first scarf made entirely on my own at home. What fun all these projects have been!

Question of the day: Can you tell that my love of color is a key factor in my enjoyment of both silk and landscape painting? How does color bring joy in your life?

Silk Painting Classes--a Heavenly Week

     Earlier this month, I took a whole week of silk painting instruction with Donna Kassab at the John C. Campbell Folk School near Murphy, North Carolina (yes, Rosemary guessed the location in her response to the previous post). It was glorious! Given my love of fabrics and color, silk painting is an art form that has intrigued me for some time. So it was a thrill to have an excellent instructor for a week of classes at this top-notch "art camp for grown-ups". Also a treat: my long-suffering husband, Mark, consented to go along and took a beginners class in throwing pots on a pottery wheel.
     We painted on 22" square plain white silk scarves and learned several different techniques for manipulating the dyes and creating designs. The photos here show my husband's favorite scarf--the purple, blue, and turquoise impression of the ocean--and the first scarf I made in the class--bright red-orange hibiscus (or whatever flower they turned out to be) with a soft sea green background. In a wonderful way, the dyes diffuse into the silk, only partially under the painter's control. For some designs, we used a resist called gutta to outline areas, which prevents the dye from crossing the line of gutta. Both of these scarves employed gutta in their creation, though in somewhat different ways. Even with gutta, results can be a delightful surprise; other results, of course, are less delightful, but take the piece in new directions if the painter remains open and flexible. As Donna often reminded us, "There are no mistakes in silk painting--only design changes." 

     Among the 12 or 13 varied classes offered during our week at the Folk School (from blacksmithing to pottery to quilting to mountain-style fiddle playing), our silk painting teacher and my husband's pottery teacher were two of just three instructors who were chosen to give open demonstrations during free time. The group photo shows our teacher, Donna Kassab, explaining the process of painting a silk scarf. Her husband, Magdi (in the cap), who helped Donna and our class members every step of the way, and my husband (in the charcoal grey fleece) are among those watching the demonstration. Note the frame Magdi made, on which the silk scarf is stretched and elevated for the painting process; the above photos of my scarves were taken while the pieces were still on the frame to dry. Once the scarves are dry, the dyes must be permanently set by a steaming process (a separate, chemical process removes the gutta, when used). For Donna's demonstration, all of the silk painting students had hung the pieces we had made to that point around the room, as you can see in the photo of a bulletin board.


     In future posts, I will tell you more about the equipment, dyes, and processes we learned and show you more of the scarves we made. There is also much more to tell you about the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Question of the day:  Let's dream a little: If you had the time, resources, and energy to go anywhere for a creative or other learning adventure, what would you do?