When it doesn't quite work

I'm working on a new piece that will be given as a thank you gift. These always make me nervous because I worry that the person who commissioned it will hate it or that the person receiving it will hate it. It's easier sometimes to paint and experiment and if it turns into something that sells it's great, but there's no expectation that it will.

As usual, I started with washing, then stretching.

I started drawing the resist lines and adding in dye. But, this one started out looking a little messy. The resist lines didn't hold and there was a lot of bleeding.

After trying to work with it for a while, I decided to take it off the stretcher and rewash. I washed out all the resist and hopefully whatever was in the silk that kept the lines from holding.

I kept working at it, adding layers on layers.

Here it is now, just about ready to steam.

Made a bunch of new products on zazzle. Then I realized that I took a bunch of pictures of a square floral scarf I made this summer. I had been thinking that these would be some nice cards, but I haven't made them yet. For now though, here they are...

Florals

Here are some examples of my floral scarves. I'm influenced by nature and I love color. In this photo you can see especially how the light makes the silk shimmer. A couple have not yet been steam set or washed so if you look closely you can see the resist lines.

Dying Velvet

I spent some time painting on silk/rayon velvet burnout scarves. Here they are drying. I love these color combinations and the steaming really sets the dye and makes the colors come alive. These scarves are 14" x 72" inches. Putting on the dye is more free form and sometimes it's hard to predict what will happen. But that's part of the fun too.

Enjoy!!