Painting silk

[Ksandra]

Anyone done it before? (sometimes I'm surprised at the info I can get on bg lol)

I am going to start working on a sewing project soon, and I know I won't be able to find the pattern I want, so I figure this is a good time to start learning how to do my own.

I have no idea where to start on learning, outside a few youtube vids. Brands I should look for? tutorials? tips? halp

[moonstone]

Long time lurker of BG but I figure I'll help out on this one. No personal experience with it but my mother is an artist and gave me some of the basics which you can cross reference with your other research.

You want to stretch the silk out and pin(/tack) it to a hard surface as in wood. Styrofoam is a no, cork-board might work but the ridges on the back might mess with the paintbrush applying the paint (paper between the two may create the buffer to work out).

For starting off you want to buy paint made for silks for the best effect. If you have time and want to experiment with water colors and oil, you'll get a different effect (I don't know what).

Resist silk painting is also a thing where you paint what you don't want colored( to keep the white/edges).

You'll want to let the silk dry after you're finished, this could take an afternoon or day depending on the humidity.

Once its dried you want to roll the silk with tissue or maybe paper into a 'scroll' for lack of a better term. This is then wrapped in aluminum foil to completely encase it (like a potato).

Steam the silk painting above some boiling water for (she had forgotten 30 min~ 2hr), in a strainer or some catch for it.

Once it has been steamed, let the aluminum foil cool then unwrap the silk and iron it.

Fin.

Brands and other such things are a loss to me, but this should be the basic concept.

*Edit forgot to Note you want to paint with something that wont snag the silk. A soft brush will work, or a q-tip, or she even recommended an eye dropper if you want to go crazy.

[Ksandra]

Thanks! I didn't read anywhere about the rolling + tin foil, so that's awesome!

By chance do you know if this is something that should only go on white silk? The one I need to make is going to be flowers on pink, and I don't know if I should buy pink and just dye the flowers on, or white and dye the flowers + the rest pink.

[moonstone]

I'd assume you could do this on any silk color, but then you'll be running into mixing color issues. I did technical theater for a while and most of what I know is light based which is different than paint which surprised me when I was learning about it.

So I'd get white and do the extra effort if you want this to be a one shot deal and basic learning experience. If you think you'll be doing this a lot get both and see the effects and what you like better.

[Ksandra]

kk ya I may get some swatches and just test it on both. tyvm for the info!

[edit] just to get an idea btw. We're going to Blizzcon this year and I am tempted to turn my daughter into this when we go:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E4IDeddRCb...FemaleKid.jpeg

luckily the flowers are fairly simple, so hopefully it won't be too hard. We shall see though ahahaha.

[gt_killa]

http://www.youtube.com/user/yanghaiy...rch?query=silk