Birds in my hedge progress

The morning light seems to be best at capturing some sense of depth. Still quite a way to go

Birds in my hedge scarf

I got one of my friends to hem the silk, I sized it yesterday.



This morning I painted the birds in the hedge right next to the window where they are.

I had to stretch the silk across my book shelf which was actually the perfect length.
I took the picture with the panorama setting as it is too long to get in the frame otherwise.

Sumi study of birds in the hedge

I got some new ink from a friend who went to China.




So to try it out I did a short study of the birds I'm planning to paint on silk.

One of the aims of sumi-e is to use different shades of ink across the composition. In order to achieve this, 5 bowls of lighter shades are mixed before hand. I only used three here.




The darkest shade is in the ink stone itself and I diluted it in varying quantities to get the light shades. Then it's a case of loading your brush correctly to get the best mix of shades in one stroke.

Painting on silk again

I've had a modicum of success now, I prepared the stretched silk with fixative, let it dry overnight and the excessive bleeding of ink has stopped. I'm going to steam it tonight then wash it to see if the ink stays as dark.

The trick is to keep a pretty dry brush. This composition wasn't that great but I wasn't expecting it to work so hadn't planned a good one.

Sizing the silk

It seems there is a solution to the silk bleed problem. People who paint with dyes on silk first 'size' the silk with various chemicals. These agents fill the gaps between the fibres and stop the spread of ink. After it has been steam set, the sizing is then washed out if the silk. Also the silk should be stretched on a frame.

I'm not sure on the traditional Japanese sizing recipe, there was mention of a specific ratio of alum and glue but I'll be happy if I can find some commercially available solution.

Silk follow up

I ironed and hand washed the squares without the ink washing out.

Reading a little more about other silk painting I'm going to try wetting the fabric before painting next time, this could help prevent the ink bleeding.

Painting on silk

I bought some silk to paint on, it was used in China for sumi-e before paper was invented. I chose an off white raw silk with great texture.

There is not much info online about painting sumi on silk, most of what I found was using modern paints and resists. So I cut two squares and gave it a go. I used the bird I had just learnt.




I had put a felt blotter under it but it still bled a lot. With the next one I put carlton roll over the felt under the silk and it absorbed the excess ink much more readily. The second one did bleed but not as much.








Now I'm going to iron these and wash them to see if they become colour fast