I recently wrote about using watercolors to create abstract landscapes. My purpose was to try the technique on paper and then try to translate it to silk and nuno felt. I experimented with a variety of small samples, the largest being 10″ x 13″.

My first attempt, I soaked 3mm silk in soda ash solution and placed it on white paper. I then mixed up a paste of fiber reactive dye with a bit of water and used a palette knife to apply the dye paste to the wet silk. I used dye colors pewter and daffodil. I added water with a spray bottle and with a paint brush. The photo above on the left shows the silk drying on the paper backing. The photo on the right shows the paper underneath after drying.

The picture on the left shows the silk after rinsing and the silk after nuno felting with fine white merino. It still is a landscape but I lost so much of the lovely green color. I love the paper that was underneath but the end result is a bit disappointing. I will be still using all these samples and adding further dye, paint or stitch so don’t worry, they will be improved. And I will see what other surface design techniques will give the end result I want. But I forged on trying to get a better result from the beginning.

The next step was to try painting the dye with the silk laid out on plastic. I covered my print board with plastic and laid wet silk soaked in soda ash on top. I used the same application with a palette knife and adding water as needed to spread the dye. The photo on the left is after applying the dry. The center photo is after the dye has dryed in the silk and the right photo is after nuno felting. This was a bit better and I can see the landscape in this result. I kept track of my results by taking photos, pasting them in my sketchbook and writing out the process for each piece. I also kept a running list of “what ifs” and further ideas to try.

Experiment number three was to nuno felt the silk first. The left photo shows the white nuno felt (a bad photo), the middle is after applying the dye and the left is after rinsing. The dye does not move very easily on the felted silk compared to plain silk. Therefore, the dye doesn’t spread as much. This is still using fiber reactive dye, so I asked myself “What about acid dye since now I have added wool to the equation?”

I think you can tell from looking at the results from left to right, there is some improvement in keeping the color in the end result.

I got a little off track here as I next decided to try felting some paper and see how that worked. I used small pieces of Kitakata handmade paper that I already had on hand. The photo on the left shows the felted paper. I got in a hurry and the paper didn’t felt in as well as I would have liked. But I decided since these are mainly samples, it didn’t matter. Forge ahead! I soaked the nuno felted paper in soda ash and then added fiber reactive dye for the landscape. I continued to use the palette knife method of dye application. The photo on the right shows the piece after rinsing and drying. My next thought was “What if I used the nuno felted paper but painted it with watercolor and didn’t rinse it out?”

I nuno felted more paper on to the merino and added the watercolor paint with the palette knife. I forgot to get a photo with the paint still wet. The photo on the right shows the dried result. The interesting thing with this one was that the water I applied above the horizon line (and none below) caused the water to seep into the dry paper moving most of the paint below the horizon line. Interesting end result though. Work upside down the next time?

 

In the middle of these experiments, I helped a friend with how to dye cotton fabric. She had not dyed before so we had a fun afternoon playing with dye. I had my pieces of silk ready for nuno felting and I thought I would dye some a very light blue for sky colors.

This next piece has the blue silk,  nuno felted first and then soaked in a vinegar solution to get ready for acid dyes. I applied the dyes as usual, forgot to take a photo and then steamed the piece to set the acid dye. The dye shifted all over the place and the end result looked nothing like the original application of dye. It still looks like a landscape, kept the color better but I didn’t want this much shifting of the dye.

So I tried a second one with blue sky silk and acid dyes. It’s not a good photo because of the glare but you get the idea of what it looked like after painting with dye. I picked it up, did not think to put it on a tray or flat surface and the dye came pouring out and the landscape was lost. I just rinsed the piece and you see on the right, that a slight amount of dye took without steaming. That gave a nice misty background that I decided would work for depth.

I then added watercolor of Payne’s Gray and Quinacridone Gold Deep in the usual manner. I let the watercolors dry and didn’t rinse as this will be a wall hanging and will not be washed. This is getting a little closer to the outcome I want.

Next up was to treat the silk as if it was a silk painting. I stretched the silk over a wooden frame and used tacks to attach it to the frame. I then applied the dye with a palette knife and added water. The edges were a bit tricky as I didn’t have any gutta resist to keep the dye from spreading but again, it’s just a sample. Then I decided I could dry/heat the silk without removing it from the frame with my heat gun. Oops, I burned a hole in it. Perhaps next time, I will let it dry and then iron it. Or I could use silk paints and the proper resists. The right photo is the piece after nuno felting. Still looks like a landscape and I don’t mind the edges.

I still have quite a few ideas to tweak the process and I want to try adding more on top of the results I have shown here. I am having fun experimenting and perhaps one of these days, I will decide to make a bigger piece once I have an end result that works for me.