Silk: painting vs dying

Perhaps the biggest difference between dying and painting silk is in the setting process. Paints are set by dry heat, either an iron or in the dryer. Dyes are set with wet heat. This can be dying a solid or kettle (mottled) scarf in a pot of simmering water to which the dye is added. It can also be a scarf decorated (painted) with dyes, then wrapped carefully and steamed- either in a vegetable steamer or in a specially made steamer.

One can use techniques such as serti with either paints or dyes. Serti involves drawing lines with a resist (called so because it resists the dye or paint, forming a barrier) One first draws the design with the resist, and then fills in between the lines with color. The resist can be black, metallic, colored, or clear (which is removed after adding color, leaving behind lines of white). When coloring in the design, one can blend colors together, shade, and apply salt to alter the appearance of the color. One can find inspiration for designs from stained glass windows, to quilts, to children's coloring books.

For a less structured design, one can also apply random patches of color to the silk, then sprinkle with salt for a lovely effect. The salt really makes the effect, drawing color into intricate patterns as the dye or paint dries. The finished effect can be like a sunrise or a swirl of mist.

I prefer paints over dyes for working more intricate designs (ie serti), just because the steaming process seems a bit intimidating. I have read many warnings about how it must be done just so, with no droplets of water forming on the silk, and no dye seeping through the wrapping. The one thing dye does have over paint is that it does not leave a feel on the silk, while paint does- the transparent paints only slightly, but the opaque paints, noticeably.

Many artists use silk to paint on, and the effect is really spectacular. The artist in the video is using the serti technique.