Welcome to The Boomer's Backyard....

Written by:  Klaire of Mystic Silks
http://www.mysticsilks.etsy.com

"Silk Creations: How Do You Do that?"

I often wonder if the general public knows what goes into creating a silk scarf, silk painting, or silk pillow.

All the silk material, after it is ordered and arrives, needs to be washed in a special soap to remove the residue from the silk worms. Then the silk is rinsed, dried, and ironed.

The next step is pinning  fabric tabs to the length and width of the silk piece I am working on, then stretching and pinning that piece, or pieces of silk on a wooded frame using those tabs of fabric. Gee, are we done yet? No.

OK, the silk scarf, painting (to be), or silk pillow case is now ready to place a design on. I use a medium called 'gutta,' to create a design. This could be a butterfly, bluebirds, or some other design that has inspired me. The 'gutta,' helps to keep the dyes in the areas, that I desire them to be(sometimes) I say sometimes, because the dyes go where they want to, and the steaming process causes them to move  even more freely, where they want to be. In this step of the process, the 'gutta' has to dry for twenty-four hours.

OK, the  outline of  the design has dried. I decide which French dyes(colors) I want to use. I place the dyes in small containers, and use a small artist's brush to place the colors into the places I've outlined with the 'gutta.'  For an example see "Picasso's Moon" Silk Painting at http://mysticsilks.etsy.com
This step in the process takes a steady hand, a clear mind, no phone calls, kids crying, or interruptions. Depending on what the design is, this step can take one day, to up to a week, or month to complete. Again the dyes, or paints used in the design, need to dry for another twenty-four hours.

I usually create up to six articles, before I go onto the next step.  You mean we're not done, yet? No, there's still more.

The Steaming Process: After the designs have dried, each one is placed between folds of cloth or butchers paper. No article must come in contact with another. Why? Because the dyes will flow from one piece to another if they touch during this process.
After layering each article, (usually six), then the whole group, is rolled around a wire cylinder. This cylinder is placed  onto  a platform to keep the hot water off the rolled fabric cylinder, and placed into steaming vat of water.  The steaming sets the dyes deep into the silk fibers, and makes them permanent. The steaming takes two hours to accomplish setting the colored dyes.

And no, we're not done yet. Isn't this fun, though?

After the steaming,each silk creation is then washed in special soap, rinced, then ironed. Now, at this point, the silk scarves, are--DONE!
However, the silk paintings need to be mounted. I use a sturdy foam board , cut to the size of the silk painting. The silk must be hand pinned to this board---sometimes taking up to 1, 000 plus tiny pins.

After mounted , then the frame is placed around the painting, and it's ready to hang and display. A lot of work, but oh, the outcome is so awesome. See "Her Majesty, the Monarch" at my 'etsy' shop  http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6866898

The silk pillow cases, need to have the sides sewn, and a pillow insert placed inside. I have those displayed on my 'etsy' site, too.

OK, now we're done,  that is until I get bitten by the inspiration bug again, and then the whole process begins again.

Please visit my silk creations, all lovingly made, and just for you!

Mystic Silks
http://www.mysticsilks.etsy.com

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