This was one of my favourite techniques that we explored in class, no big suprise there… it incorporated two of my favourite fine arts, drawing and painting.
It was really rather remarkable though, how easily the silk dyes and drawing medium (gutta) were to use. The dyes were almost magically intuitive, flowing into the silk and filling up the space made by the gotta outline with ease and fluidity. The transparency of the silk made it simple to transfer the sketches I had made onto the fabric (I had searched Pinterest for a few inspiration images). The colours of the dyes were simple to mix and the intensity of them could be simply diluted with water. A sprinkle of salt over the wet dye also made of a lovely, watery effect.
Once the fabric dyes had set for a few days and dried throughly, I ironed my pieces on the silk-setting, making sure to sandwich them between two scrap pieces of fabric, so as not to ruin my iron or ironing board. I then ran the art under water to rinse off the gutta and ironed the silk one more time to make it all smooth. I am really pleased by how well these items turned out and I am planning on buying the supplies to continue to practice my skills in this area.
