Fun With Silk & Sharpies!

For the longest time I've been waiting for the right moment to pull out the Silk and Sharpies again! It's a technique that forces you to slow down and embrace the process; until now my life hasn't allowed that luxury! The whole project reminds me of Mark Lipinski as he advocates for the Slow Stitching Movement... enjoy the journey! So... here is the journey! 

The last time I posted about this technique I was mumbling about using a larger piece of silk and wondered how I might stretch the surface. My buddy Julie Booth (the Queen of using practical supplies you already have on hand in surface design!) suggested I use an embroidery hoop --Bingo! I happened to have a large quilter's hoop and it was a fabulous suggestion.

It's all quite simple for such a cool end result! I stretched the silk in the hoop keeping it taunt. Next I colored random dots using permanent Sharpie markers. Now for the magic - using a small tipped squeeze bottle I dropped Isopropyl Alcohol onto the dots. Immediately the marker reacts and starts to spread across the silk. Now for the slowing down part - you need to keep moving the hoop around the surface until the fabric is filled in. TIP: fold the silk in half so you can cover a larger surface with each stretch! The marker will run onto the underside. 

Once I covered the surface and the silk was dry I restretched and dropped more alcohol randomly across the surface. The second round created more depth to the overall design. This piece is 44" X 43" which is by far the largest piece I've done with this technique. I'm definitely going to keep going as it was fun.... slow but fun! 

My next curiosity is in mixing colors and creating circles inside of circles... if anyone has suggestions I'm all in!