Dyes v Paint in the Silk World

The first two photos are of paint, both are thin consistency and are acrylic based, however, each is different in than the first photo contains paints suitable for silk. The second photo is a high flow acrylic similar to water color and is Not suitable for silk. It contains a higher ratio of polymer, thus rendering a much stiffer feel to that of the silk paint. Silk paints need to be heat set for permanency, the high flow acrylic is suited for other types of art and is much more expensive than silk paints.
The third photo are dyes, these are Jacquard green label dyes that can be set by either painting on or submersing in a solution of dye set, also of the same brand. They can also be steam set. If you'll notice I said green label can be set via the Dyeset solution. To the best of my knowledge these dyes are the only ones that can be set this way, all others, including Jacquards red label Must be steam set and that is another process to be covered at another time, follow the directions for each brand of dyes as to their particular technique for setting.
Another difference between silk paints and silk dyes is that the dyes actually become part of the silk fabric, leaving it with a soft feel ( or hand) while the paint sits on the surface of the silk and leaves it with a slightly stiffer feel. You can tell the difference if you fee both at the same time.
Both dyes and paints can be painted on with the same type of brush, although I wouldn't use the same brushes for dyes that I'd use for paints. This has to do with the fact that paints are polymer based. Dyes can be reconstituted with water if they dry out in the bottle or palate, paints cannot, once they are dry, they are there, not to be moved without scrubbing. Both give lustrous color, both can be mixed to make new colors. What do I prefer? Paints, simply for their ease of handling. And paints can also be used on paper, if you desire. It's similar to liquid watercolor.
Pick your poison for adding color to silks, dyes or paints, it's your choice. Good luck.

Cold Wax, what is it, how it's used.

This is cold wax. It's cold because it's not solid at room temperature like regular wax is, therefore it does not need to be heated to be used. It's the consistency of milk but it can be brushed on plain silk as a mask to preserve white areas or painted on the lines to separate areas of color. But, it has another use. In traditional batik wax is applied over areas of color to preserve the color when successive layers of color ( usually other colors) are applied. Cold wax can be used for this. Let the base color dry thoroughly, paint the cold wax over the areas you want to preserve, let it dry completely, then paint the other color or colors. This wax can be applied in many layers over many colors, as it is in batik. Once you have all the colors applied & dry, simply heat set the silk, between layers of newsprint or old newspaper ( at least 3 weeks old so the ink won't transfer). The wax will melt out of the silk & be absorbed by the newsprint. You need to do this even if you use the cold wax with dyes to get the wax out. Depending on the number if layers of wax used, you may have to repeat the ironing process several times to get all the wax out. The silk should not be stiff once the wax is out. If you use silk paints, you're done, the ironing process to remove the wax also heat sets the paint. If you're using dyes, after the wax is completly removed, set the dyes with your method of choice, usually steaming. The whites of this piece (last photo) were preserved by painting on cold wax prior to painting. At first, when I began using cold wax, I expected it to be much thicker. I was confused by it's thin consistency but as I use it more & mores, I learned to use it as a masking agent instead if a resist in the traditional sense. Keep this in mind when you start to use it. It's thin enough to run until it dries, which takes about 20 minutes or so, and it repels color once dry. It's great used as a masking agent, similar to what one would do with watercolor, but it's tricky to use as a traditional resist to separate areas if color in the serti technique. I hope this helps clear the confusion about cold wax.

Spillage

No pictures this time folks, sorry. This will be short too. I tend to paint directly out of the bottle unless I'm mixing colors. Yesterday I had a brand new, full bottle of black silk paint fall over & spill- everywhere. Fortunately the paint is water soluble so it cleaned up fairly easy but not totally. There is now a gray stain on the painting le

Alternative to Traditional Resist-Stop Flow

There is another way to traditional resist. It's called the Stop Flow method in which the whole surface of the silk is covered with a type of resist allowing for the silk to be painted without the white lines left by regular resists I have discovered a product usually used in the laundry called Magic Sizing. It's not a spray starch but similar. The product is Magic Sizing. Silk artist Karen Sistek developed the method. Simply spray the stretched silk with the Magic Sizing and let it dry. It takes around 30 minutes, depending on the weather. Then draw the image on the silk using your preferred method. And you can use resist on the sprayed silk to define areas with lines.

Click on the link to her method for further details.

Tools of theTrade, Part 2

S-*o, you have the silk evenly stretched on a frame. You've chosen an image to paint. There are 2 basic ways to get ;that image on the silk. You can take the silk off the frame, place it over the drawing, tracing with a pencil. you should secure the drawing to the silk with straight pins or spray the drawing with a temporary adhesive spray so the silk doesn't shift and you get an accurate tracing. Or you can place the drawing under the stretched silk, then trace the image. Trace the image,with this method, with a resist (the stuff that prevents colors from bleeding into each other. let the resist dry, then you can paint when ready. Resists There are 3 types of resists, gutta - a petroleum based product that is squirted onto the silk with a fine tipped bottle; water based resist, the same application but using a water based product; and wax, which must be melted & applied to the silk. I like the water based resists, there are several types.

All but the Magic Sizing are applied by squeezing the resist through a soft bottle with a tiny nib with a small hole in the end. One alternative is water based resist in tube that has the small tip already on it.

Let the resist dry, then you are ready to paint. Just a note on gutta and wax resists, gutta must be removed by dry cleaning. It also requires mineral spirits to thin it so there is an odor. For me, its too much trouble when there are safer alternatives. Wax must be melted in order to go through the silk, unless its cold wax,which can be applied with a brush.Even hot wax is applied with a brush or a tool called a tjaunting, which has a small, brass bowl with a spout. If you choose to use wax, dedicate a brush or two for that purpose since it won't come completely out of the brush, rendering the brush unusable for panting. You have your image on the silk, the resist of your choice applied. Are you ready to paint? Part 3 shows you how.

Tool of the Trade, Setting up - Part1

Every silk painter has their favorite tools. There are some common elements however. You have to stretch the silk fabric on something,you need something to attach the silk to the frame, you have to have something to prevent colors bleeding into each other (unless you want that), you need some way to put the color on the silk, and you need something to put that color into, a palette of some sort. Here are a few of my favorite tools.

This is PVC pipe,it makes a light weight frame, is readily available from the hardware store or home improvement store, it can be cut in various sizes of your choosing and can be taken apart when finished painting for easy storage. The connectors are 90 degrees with 3 ways to connect the pipe. I find the third hole makes an excellent foot for the frame.

These claw hooks attach the silk to the frame with looped rubber bands that go around both the hook and frame.

The last thing to do, other than put the drawing on the silk to paint, is to stretch the silk fabric onto the frame with the hooks. I usually start with the corners, then the centers,and work the rest in. If the stretched silk has ripples in it, you may need to add more hooks to stretch it in those places. Part 2 will deal with getting the drawing or image to paint onto the silk, using resists, and getting ready to actually paint.

Cold Wax means Batik

When I found I could get cold wax I pictured a thicker product, something with the consistency of warm honey. I ordered some. When I came in what I found was a product the consistency of milk, much thinner than I expected. I researched it online to find what I had was the wax used for batik. It didn't need to be heated or melted to be applied, plus is was water soluble. I tried it, applied it with a brush, rinsed out the brush okay. Didn't stiffen the brush at all after rinsing. It spread on the silk more than I wanted. I decided to thicken it with some sodium alginate. That worked better, until the sodium alginate molded- I didn't know I had to keep it refrigerated. Live and learn. Anyway, since then, I've learned to use is not as much as a traditional resist but as a masking fluid to preserve the white areas. For that purpose, it works well. Now I treat silk spin things as watercolors in that I need to preserve the white areas of the painting because, with silk, you can't scrub out whites like you can on watercolor paper. Once the color is in the silk, it's there for good, even if it's not heat set yet. Live and learn. And I learned how to properly use this cold wax on silk for non batik paintings. Just to note, for brighter whites I use an opaque fabric paint in white, in small amounts. It's much thicker than silk paint but is made by the same company as the silk paints so they work well together.

The History of Silk Painting

Silk painting was believed to date as far back as 476 BC, reaching it's height of popularity as an art form in the western Han dynasty, 206BC to 25AD.

Silk was first used as a medium for scrolls, the ink was made from pine soot and animal based glues. Over the years the art developed to include human figures, depicting religious and mythological creatures. The oldest silk painting was found in a tomb form the Waring States period in Changsha, China. It's been around for a while.  Around 300 AD silk painting made it's way to Japan and about 1300 AD artists used color in their work on silk. In the 12th century silk painting spread to Western Europe, by the 18th century the industrial revolution made silk cloth more widely available and the art form spread.  

In Indonesia, the family of the Russian tsar learned batik using wax resists. They brought the art form to France where the serti technique was developed in the 1900s. The popularity of silk painting continued to spread to Great Britain and the USA a by the 1970s. Today the art of silk painting continues, using a multitude of techniques and styles. ( art of silk blog, Chinese silk painting, it's history. WWW.artofsilk.com/blog/news/8245039)

Silk facts

Silk is created from silk worms. This moth is one of the earliest domesticated animals & needs human intervention to survive because it cannot fly.

Silk is created by insects, therefore insects will not eat it. Silk is the strongest natural fiber, for it's weight, it's stronger than steel.  Silk is very absorbent and porous, it can absorb up to 30 times it weight in water and is warmer than wool. Silk weight is called mums (mm) which is a Chinese measure. Silk is archival and was the painting ground if choice before canvas or paper was invented. (Dharma Trading).

Stay tuned for more information on silk painting.

Why Silk?

I consider silk the ultimate challenge as far as a painting surface goes. The fabric is a dream to paint on, smooth, soft, easy-- wait, it's not that easy to paint on. The paint runs all over it, it runs into other areas of paint. Silk is very absorbent and bleeds easily with liquid. What can be done to stop it? This is where it gets challenging.
Painting on silk requires special types if paint, or dyes, along with some special equipment and supplies. I suppose one could use regular artist paints like oils or acrylics, even watercolors, but these mediums do not lend themselves to silk as a painting ground. Silk painting is it's own medium with it's own set of rules, types of paints or dyes, and other supplies and equipment, some of which is foreign to traditional art. Some see it as a craft used in wearable art, scarves, banners, shawls, etc. Actually silk painting is a blend of traditional painting and craft painting for wearable art. Because it has it's own set of rules, equipment and supplies, to me, it poses the ultimate challenge in painting.
I first found it in a local craft supply store back in the 1980s. There was a display of watery paints and a book on how to use them. It looked interesting, so I bought some. However, upon reading the booklet I discovered there was no place in my area to buy the silk or it's unique supplies and equipment for painting, I shelved the idea along with the small jars if paint for a while. Then I stumbled across a book on silk painting, a real, how to book that showed supplies, techniques, the whole thing, along with many gorgeous pictures if equally gorgeous examples painted by the author. In the back if the book I found a list of suppliers, a treasure to someone who wanted to learn but had no place to get supplies. I immediately wrote for a company for their catalog.
I ordered a few things and from there my love affair with silk began.
Since then, some 30 years ago, I've learned by trial and error, through books, videos and now through fellow silk painters ( who've been painting on silk a lot longer than me) in social media. I soaked up information like a sponge. As of this writing I feel comfortable enough with the medium to share what I've learned and so this blog on silk painting was born, to share tips, techniques, successes, failures and other information about the art of silk painting. You will also find links to other silk artists and information about silk painting. Join me on the path. Please enjoy.