Monday, July 16, 2012

Discharge Printing on Dark Silk

I just finished these discharge prints on black silk scarves.
This black dye has blue-ish undertones in it--so it turned out kind of like a
dark-field-cyanotype-batik effect. When the printed fabric is held up to light,
it is even more beautiful. I got to be more painterly in my working back selectively
into the first round of printing on the silk, as I discovered accidentally what would
further lighten the printing. The black dye is likely an acid dye, as it is hard to
get a solid black dye on silk. I plan to continue experimenting with dyeing
and discharge printing on different weaves of silk, since I have always loved
silk fabric.