Bruce Johnson Charlie The Juggling Clown
Creating Happy Memories that Last a Lifetime
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Creating Customized Silk Scarves
By Bruce “Charlie” Johnson
Sometimes
a silk scarf has a surface treatment.
Wash it in a gentle cleaner like Woolite.
Then iron it to remove any wrinkles. Transfer your design.
Place your
paper design on a hard surface. Lay
the silk scarf on top of it, stretch it, and secure it by taping it place.
You will be able to see the design through the scarf.
Using a pencil trace the design onto the scarf. Stretch the Silk
Stretch
the silk on a frame that can be supported.
When you are painting you don’t want the silk to touch any other surface
or the dye will go through instead of staying in the silk.
(There are gaps between the silk fibers which are what makes silk screen
printing possible.) For a
small design in the center of a scarf you can stretch the silk on an embroidery
hoop. For larger designs on an
eighteen-inch scarf you can use a square quilter’s frame.
Both styles have an outer layer that slips over the fabric holding it in
place. For a thirty six inch-inch
scarf or a flag, I use wooden stretcher bars available in art stores and secure
the silk with masking tape. Be sure
to cover the wood with masking tape first so any dye that gets near the edge
does not soak into the wood. (If the
dye soaks into the wood you can’t use it on other projects because the dye may
leach back out onto the fabric.) After the
silk is stretched on the frame, I use wood blocks to keep it up off the table. No Flow
A problem
with silk painting is that the dye tends to bleed by being drawn along the
fibers. You can prevent that using a
product called Jacquard No Flow.
There are two ways to use No Flow.
Both methods use a paint brush to apply the No Flow to the silk fabric. The first
method is to paint it along the edges of an area you want colored.
Then when you apply the dye it will spread until it reaches the No Flow.
The No Flow works as a dam for the dye.
This works well if you want a solid area of color that does not connect
with any other area of color. The second
way to use No Flow is to apply it to the area you will be painting.
Then you paint directly on top of the No Flow.
This works well if you want to do any blending of colors, if you want to
do fine lines, or if areas of color will be touching each other.
No Flow
needs to dry before you continue to the next step.
It will be shiny when you paint it and almost disappear when it is dry. Apply Color
The fabric
dyes in the marking pens can be heat set using an iron.
Place a piece of paper or second piece of fabric over your silk scarf and
iron it. Be sure to
lay the finished scarf flat while it cools.
If you fold it while it is still warm you will set the creases in the
fabric and will need to iron it later to remove them. Normal
silk dyes are set using either steam or special setting solutions.
I found that setting solutions remove excess dye and if there is an area
left white the solution may tint it.
Applying No Flow to white areas before using a setting solution helped to
prevent this. There is no problem if
using the steam method of fixing the dye. Other Methods
I have
found the above method to be one of the easiest for single silks with a simple
design, but other methods are possible.
If you want to learn more about silk painting, classes are available
although it may take some detective work to locate one.
The first silk painting class that I took was part of a community college
continuing education department. The
instructor specialized in silk fashion accessories.
The second silk painting class that I attended was part of a kite making
conference. (One traditional style
of kite developed in If you
would rather invest your money instead of your time, there are people who will
do silk painting for you. Purchasing supplies
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