Classes
Silk Painting Classes
I love to travel and teach! I've taught classes in Hawaii, Park City, Mendocino, Aptos, and Vancouver. I offer classes in silk painting and bias garment construction from absolute beginners to advanced students. Ask about setting up a class in your studio.
Classes are offered at the beginning and intermediate levels. I provide all the materials necessary to paint two scarves for each student. Dyes, salts, diluants, brushes, aprons, gloves, silk, hand cleaner. No art experience is necessary. I also teach an advanced hand painted garment class in which students learn to develop a textile design, paint the fabric, and make a bias-cut garment. Students can also paint a silk charmeuse top or larger scarf for an additional fee (my cost for the item) according to what I have in stock.
I talk about color theory as it applies to silk dyes (CMYK for my liquid dyes), brush care and technique, and how to create texture within color. I also cover basic safety and how to set the dyes, though I set the two scarves after class.
Beginners create scarves using freeform design or representational designs without resist lines similar to the ones shown on this page. Second time beginners are welcome to use resist to create their own designs or ask me to assist with a simple resist drawing. More advanced students may want to work with resist or dye thickeners to create a motif such as a floral or ginkgo or monstera motif.
Beginning level classes without using gutta resists:
Introduction to dye flowing on silk
Brief discussion of dyes and their properties
Creating colors from the basic Magenta, Yellow, Blue and Black
Overlay of colors on the silk
Modifying texture of color with water, alcohol and salt
Moving color and resisting color with water and alcohol
Plaids, modified stripes, free form, and loosely drawn tropicals are the primary motifs
Advanced Beginner level without resist:
Shaping and moving color with water and alcohol
Applying fields of color for the primary motif then applying the backgound and reshaping motif
Painting on top of the background and fields of color to create a motif
Line building by applying new colors
Line building by moving the darker shades with water or alcohol
Intermediate level using water-based resists:
Creating a design with resist
Learning to control resist flow for consistent lines
Determining density and color selection for resist lines
Using resists to create an abstract design
Intermediate to Advanced level using resist techniques:
Using colored resists as an element of design where the resist complements the background
Using colored resists in a way that downplays the resist by blending into the background
Scribble method of creating a gestural design
Watercolor techniques in silk painting
Advanced garment creation (3 to 5 day workshop for advanced painters only):
Discussion of types of silks, draping, silk weights as relates to the garment type
Working with pre-made silk garments such as tank tops and kimonos
Developing a draped neck garment
Silk design layout considerations for garments
Selecting a garment pattern, selecting the silk, determining the placement of the motif
Photos below are my work:
Jacket from Scarf
Flutter top
Capelet
Bias Blouse
Man's Shirt
Possible garments are from the following patterns (shown above):
Creating a bias-cut jacket from 2 squares (usually 40” and 20” squares of yardage)
Creating oval flutter tops from yardage (1 yard of 54” wide silk)
Creating a capelet from a single square scarf (45” square finished scarf)
Bias cut dresses and tops from yardage (30-40” wide yardge 45 to 54” for top) using the method of making a tube of bias cut fabric
Man's shirt (3 yards of 36” silk broadcloth)
For More Student Work Click this photo:
For more silk painting information, I think the best book on the subject is Susan Louise Moyer's Silk Painting for Fashion and Fine Art.
An excellent guide for bias garments is Bias Cut Blueprints by Julianne Bramson and Susan Lenahan.
