Prayer Flags Phase I - The Silk Painting Process

Prayer Flags are a project that I've been wanting to take on for about six months. I figured it was the perfect way to merge my silk painting (the flags), sewing (the hems and casings), and crochet (the cords) passions into one project. Having the idea was great; my challenge was how to implement it.

You see, we're in a one bedroom apartment, which isn't exactly the best place to set up a silk-stretcher. I don't have the cash for studio space, and the raw silk I use is too delicate for pushpin stretching. I didn't want to use embroidery hoops because flags are traditionally square, and I would waste too much silk creating squares in round frames.

My husband came up with the novel idea of using a scroll frame from my cross-stitch kit to stretch my silks. I could then run my resist lines for each panel, paint within the lines, temp-set, and scroll my way to the next panels. It sounded too good to be true.

So on 17 Feb 07, I started sketching my panels. I decided on three collections of flags, all based on contemporary womyn's spirituality: (1) Feminine Animals, (2) Goddess Imagery, (3) Symbology. I figured four flags per collection would be a good start.

Once I had my sketches done, I got my paint spread together, loaded up my scroll frame, and started painting. This was, admittedly, a tedious process. I worked the panels in pairs. Each time I had to scroll, resist, frame, trace, paint, and then give a temporary heat set with my blow dryer. Once I got through all the panels, I could finally do the heat-set and wash.

All in all, I was impressed. I now have a full-length silk scarf that I am somewhat hesitant to cut up and turn into prayer flags. The scarf itself is a work of art; it has an overall femme theme to it that I like.

My takeaway lessons for this part of the project:
1) Don't use a .09 nozzle, because it leaves too heavy a resist line for such a small (6" x 4.5") canvas
2) The instructions lie. You can't color water-based resists and expect it to hold the color. My initial resist lines were black, but when I did the final wash, it rinsed right out to create a classic white line. It still looks good, but I was trying for black.
3) Silk paintings are near impossible to photograph
4) All the photography doesn't really matter because I can only publish 5 images per blog anyway

It was an overall good start to what promises to be a fun project. Next step: go get some silk needles, learn how to use the rolled-hem foot on my lovely Janome, and get some hems on these panels!