My range of handpainted silk wearable art consists predominantly of scarves, large and small. All my silks start out white before I begin the hand-painting processes.
Here is my lovely assistant, Jasmin, wearing a silk chiffon floaty top. These tops have open sides and can be worn knotted at the side bottom edge (to create a wide ‘armhole’ as in the photo) or left unknotted so the garment is very floaty.
Here are 2 more floaty silk chiffon tops … these formed part of the collection for my exhibition, “Autumn Riot” at Fox’s Gallery, Bathurst, March 2012
Many people are afraid of silk, thinking they’ll need to have a garment dry-cleaned every time they wear it …. with my silk garments, machine-washing is fine, as long as the care instructions are followed. I buy different varieties of white silk, and machine wash everything before painting … if the more loosely woven silks (such as silk chiffon) are going to shrink, they will do so in this initial washing process.
I hand-paint the silk lengths using special silk dyes, and allow to dry overnight. Often I also paint a second layer of colours, which creates a beautiful overlay of random designs.
The next step in the process is the fixing of the dyes. I use a long floor steamer which sits on two heating elements. Water inside the steamer is brought to the boil. The lengths of silk are rolled between cotton sheeting around a wooden pole, then the whole roll is finally wrapped in another layer of sheeting. The roll is then placed in the steamer, steamed over the boiling water for a minimum of 3 hours, then unwrapped, and the silk hung and allowed to air dry overnight. Then it is finally time to create the garment/s.
Care instructions for looking after your silk garment or scarf
Garments: Note: if your garment has a fringed edge, place an elastic band around the fringe, to stop the fringe tangling in the washing process.
Fringe tied with elastic band
Then place your garment in a laundry/lingerie bag and cold machine wash using the Gentle/Lingerie cycle of your machine, right through to the end of the spin cycle … I use Softly detergent (plain Softly, not the one containing eucalyptus or other additives). When your machine is in the rinsing cycle, you may find that the rinsing water is lightly coloured … this is because any silk garment or silk fabric purchased anywhere in the world will usually lose a tiny amount of dye when washing … don’t worry, this is perfectly normal and will not detract from the overall colours in the garment.
After washing, lie your garment on a towel, then roll up the garment and towel together to form a ‘sausage’ … press the sausage to remove any excess water.
Allow your garment to dry out of direct sunlight
1. Lie the garment flat on a towel or sheet, making sure wet silk does not touch wet silk … you can also place a towel or some clean sheeting inside the garment to achieve this.
2. When dry, if your garment needs ironing, lightly spray it until it’s touch-damp and then iron using the Silk setting.
Scarves: If your scarf has fringed edges, tie an elastic band around the fringe (same as for garments .. see above photo). Half fill your bathroom sink with COLD WATER and add approx half a teaspoon of plain (unscented) ‘Softly‘. ‘Swish’ the scarf around in the soapy water. [The water may colour slightly but this is normal.] Rinse in COLD water until all traces of soap have gone. Shake out excess water (do not wring) then lay scarf flat on a towel in the shade until damp dry. Steam iron using the silk setting.