It's all in the Details

Next Wednesday we will talk about putting details into our silk paintings.

When using gutta it is hard to get fine details, yes you can get and area and fill it in with color, but something with a fine line or a small detail becomes more of a problem with the gutta and the applicator tip, no matter how fine.

These are Pigma brushes.  They also come in pens with a variety of fine tips.  They become permanent on fabric after they have been heat set with an iron.  I have used them on both cotton and silk with very good results.

 This is a butterfly without any detailing.  His antenna looks non-defined and his eyes are a problem.

 These butterflies have similar problems.  The little guy on the right needs some legs as well.

 A few dots on the antenna and and some legs makes him look better.  also the eyes got a touch up too.

 This is another kind of fabric pen.  It does not run at all on the silk, especially when sou have a painted layer underneath the pen stroke.  I did all the black eyes with the pen.  Much easier than trying to do it with the paint as they are small dots.

 Inktense pencils are wonderful!  you just color them on and dampen a bit then iron and they are also permanent.  Just dampen don't over wet the area.

 This flower center has no detailing on it just the gutta and Seta Silk.  It has been heat set with an iron, washed and ironed dry.

 This flower center has been detailed with Inktense Pencils and a little water then ironed to set.  I have kept two flower centers to demonstrate on in class so you can see the difference the detailing makes.

 Sodium Alginate is a great product to make a thickened paint or dye; however if you just need a tiny bit of thickened dye rather than mix up Sodium Alginate I use a few drops of clear Aloe Vera gel it works great the make a thickened color to brush paint on a few details.  The small bottle is Sodium Alginate mixed with water.  I will bring it for you to try.

 Here we have appliqué being used to detail (and cover runs)  It is a great way to give a silk painting lots of punch.  You will see examples of this on Wednesday.

 

Next Week try and have your silk painting ready to give it a bit of detailing.  I will have pens, pencils, and paint there for you to use.