One off many legends
Updated: Oct 1, 2021
Silk has been a part of our lives for over an incredible 5,000 years. It is currently becoming rarer and more expensive. The discovery of silk fibres is full of legends and superstitions, some are sad, others end happily. The most famous is legend tale of Empress Lei-Tzu, who was sitting under a tree drinking tea. Suddenly a silk cocoon fell into her cup of tea. As this strange-looking white fruit tries to pull its hands out, it begins to separate the fibres and stick to its fingers.
This amazing discovery was noticed by Emperor Huang Di, who immediately came up with the idea that these fibres could be used in the manufacture of clothing. And luxury silk clothing was born! At present, in addition to real silk fibre, synthetic fibre is also combined, which can be found on the label of clothing under names such as organza or brocade. They look extremely similar, but they can offset an origin whose production is the same after thousands of years. The production of this gold in the form of material is extremely lengthy and demanding. It only takes 26 days for a small ant-sized caterpillar to mature and pupate. One cocoon contains about 4 kilometres of fibre, but the best that can be used to make luxury clothing is about 1000 meters. For one blouse we use about 600 cocoons, for a scarf about 200 cocoons.Incredible though? It is also interesting that a large part of the production is done by hand.
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My process:
I wash and iron the silk before use.
Then stretch it on the frame.
Silk must be stretched until completely"smooth"
This way I have the silk ready to paint. I sometimes draw the pattern in a digital program or start drawing by hand directly on the silk.
The drawing procedures are different, once I use a contour, once I paint an abstract without using a contour, or I use wax or salt, or combine everything.
If I use a contour, I have to wait until the contour is completely dry.
The contour must be applied precisely so that I create closed areas, which I will later fill with paint.
I first moisten the larger surfaces with a wide brush and water so that the colours mix nicely into each other. The surfaces dry quickly so I have to adjust the speed of application of paints.
This also applies to large areas such as the background of the pattern.
When the whole surface of the silk is painted = let the colours dry.
Then I fix the colours with steam about 3 hours.
Silk is washed in a water bath up to 30 ° C, in a detergent intended for silk, without the use of fabric softener. Washing so many times that after washing the water remains clean, which means that all the excess colour from the silk has been removed.
Let the silk dry. Last process is hand rolling the silk.
I try to use the best materials and the best procedures for my work and I do it as well as I currently know. I believe that thanks to every single new painting, I am further than the previous one.The energy I use at work is transferred to the work and I hope that it will also pass to the owner, who will enjoy the feeling of wearing a scarf and feel its positive energy.