Silk Painters International - SPIN

Wax versus other resists:
Most resists work well, using wax as a resist is a personal choice. I use wax because it holds up to my painting process which requires using many layers of dye, water washes, and rubbing alcohol washes. The disadvantages of using wax are removing the wax with an iron when finished with the painting, dry cleaning after the silk is steamed and washed, and there is a learning curve using the hot wax.  

EXAMPLE
I begin painting by adding layers of dye. The more layers of dye the deeper the saturation of color, the heavier the silk, the more dyes you can apply. In the photos, I have 4-6 layers of dye that I have painted on the silk; each layer has to be dry before I can rework the area.

To create the texture of a leaf, I use a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water to paint onto the layers of applied dye, often reworking after the water mixture is dry. When finished with the desired look of a leaf, I paint with the rubbing alcohol around the applied dyes to create the shape of the leaf, using a blow dryer helps to dry the area when the desired shape is complete.

Applying beeswax with a bamboo brush to this finished painted area preserves the leaf design from dyes spreading into it allowing for the background to be painted. While painting around the finished waxed leaf design, the dyes flow up to the wax and stop.

When the painting is finished, I remove the wax by using an iron to heat the wax between two sheets of absorbent paper on both sides of the silk. The painting is now ready for steaming. Photo below shows a finished leaf painting.

More information: csutherlandart.com