In an effort to lose some weight I’ve been hitting the treadmill for an hour a day at least 5 days a week. In order to stay interested and entertained while I’m walking, I’ve been watching episodes of The Quilt Show. Each episode is around 54 to 56 minutes and it’s been GREAT! I hit my step goal and I learn something at the same time. The only drawback is that I want to try every technique I see! That can be draining on the quilt budget…but I did spring for the starter kit to learn how to do silk fusion.

Tamara Leberer was a recent guest on the show and she was essentially making fabric out of dyed silk. From that fabric she made beautiful mosaics on black fabric. The dyed silk is so vibrant against a dark background. I loved the blue and orange colors she was using on the show but the starter kit only included a green and a maroon color. You can see Tamara’s work here:

http://www.tamaraleberer.com/silk-fusion-artwork.html

I sat down to work on the silk fusion piece last week. I haven’t made anything with the piece yet because I’m waiting for inspiration to strike on a design. I’m open to suggestions!

This is the kit which included the silk roving, a paint brush, a mesh screen and textile medium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The silk roving is unbelievably soft and vibrant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The process goes like this – you put one piece of mesh screen on top of a piece of plastic or something to protect your table. Next you carefully pull out thick strands of silk and lay them on top of the screen horizontally. You can mix and match and even add Angelina Fibers to it if you wish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you layer strands vertically across the horizontal ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you are happy with that and have the silk thick enough so you can’t see through it anywhere, you place the second screen on top and then paint over it with warm water and liquid dish detergent. The silk fibers have to be very wet in order to accept the textile medium that will come next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the first side is good and wet, flip the whole sandwich over and paint the other side. Next the textile medium is applied in the same manner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the textile medium step is complete, the piece has to dry overnight. The next day, you peel away the screens and are left with a beautiful piece of silk fabric that is your own creation! Peeling away the screens is tough work…that textile medium is like glue and it takes a little elbow work to get it separated.

The back and front look different and I haven’t decided which side I like best yet. This photo doesn’t quite show how pretty the colors are in the piece due to the lighting in my kitchen. The poor lighting makes it look like bacon! This is the front…

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the back…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m still contemplating how I will cut this up and use it. For sure it will be on a black background but whether it will be mosaic or some other design is yet to be decided! I’ll keep you posted! Have you ever tried silk fusion or a similar process?