A Fishy Hoop

Now you can see the hoop.  I use these hoops when I teach 'A Taste of Silk Painting' to beginners and they come from the Dharma catalog ready to go.  I use a chemical to set the dye because they do not lend themselves to steaming very well.  I've thought about doing a whole alphabet with them.  Some day!

Fish from my video

This is an 11" hoop that I painted while my friend filmed the process.  It is finished now.  I used the video on my silk powerpoint that I made for a college class.  Now I have to learn how to put the video or the powerpoint on this blog.

In the Process

This is a photo of the previous silk.  I took the photo as I was just finishing the painting.  I used the lines of the silk's design to write my words which was a natural concept.  With the gold writing I chose to color this with purples and dark blues.  Sold!

Gold Writing

Here is my latest silk.  It is not steamed yet, but I have high hopes for the final product.  The resist is an iron-in colored product by Dupont, a water-based gutta.  I put an extra small tip on the tube, which makes it stream in a smaller line, good for writing.  The only tough part about using the colored gutta is that you cannot tell if it has penetrated the silk completely, thus occasionally leaks occur.  That's the serendipity of silk painting.  Yes, the silk has a brocade design.                 11" x 60"   Sold!