A Banner Weekend

I have had an interest in silk painting for a number of years, primarily due to the absolutely stunning banners I have seen displayed at Pennsic. Earlier this year, I decided to bite the bullet and stop stalking the art form and picked up a silk painting set from Dharma Trading and got promptly to work! Wait, that's not right. I got promptly to work... moving in to my new home. As you can imagine, there were a few other pressing things that needed to be addressed before I could get comfortable with my kit including getting everything moved and arranged, preparing for Pennsic, going to Pennsic, then coming home to a time-consuming disaster at work.

Thankfully, the dust has settled.

A member of the Philippian Sisters of Perpetual Scholarship is being elevated to the most noble Order of the Laurel at Coronation this year. As part of the pageantry, I tasked myself to stop procrastinating and start painting! Our patron saint is known by the arms: Azure semy of oak leaves inverted Or, a bend wavy argent. Using those arms combined with our own badge, (Fieldless) An acorn gules charged with a bend wavy argent, I was able to create a design that would be both challenging and classy, yet not so difficult I couldn't finish it in time.

I used several references to teach me the proper sequence of events, including 20' Up! Making and Flying Silk War Standards and How to Paint Silk Banners: A full Achievement for an SCA Pelican. The tools used an 8mm Habotai silk scarf that was 15 by 60 inches. I washed it with Synthrapol as recommended, then let it air dry. When I was ready to begin, I ironed it on a silk setting and set it aside for the design phase.

Using my cutting board, I laid out a length of MÅLA drawing paper and started constructing the rough shape of the banner. From the top, I left a few inches of material for the seam allowance, then proceeded to place the acorn wavy and the wavy dividing line. I created a semy of oak leaves out of printed pictures and tiled them down the main part of the banner until the end. After the design was complete, I laid the silk scarf over the top of it and proceeded to pin and stretch the material so I could trace the design with a pencil. The process wasn't as time consuming as I had feared, so I laid out a second scarf just in case the first was somehow damaged.

The process of stretching the silk was a bit more entertaining. A few weeks prior, my Lord and I built a frame out of 2x4 material and placed upright nails every two inches along the side. I initially used binder clips and rubber bands to stretch the silk, but since I was going to be painting to the edges (design change!), I replaced that with cotton thread along each point. Once the scarf was fully strung to the frame, I began working with the resist. I tested the pressure needed on a paper towel and went from there. I found it somewhat awkward to hover over the leaves so I used my yard stick rested on the frame as a means to keep my hand steady.

I was a little worried to begin the process of applying the dyes, but after several checks of the gutta outlines I bit the bullet and started with the red acorn and gold leaves. I used the Jacquard dyes and the bamboo brushes to apply the dye. My observation with the process is that it took a little more dye than I thought and it worked best if you painted slightly away from the gutta line and let the silk wick the color to the edge so as not to overpower the resist. While applying the red, a small flick of red dye landed in the wavy line, but it was barely noticeable so I proceeded with the gold a bit more cautiously and less energetically. After the red and gold dried, I moved on to applying the blue dye. I found the process to be a bit daunting due to the amount of detail work needed in the negative space around the oak leaves. I worked from the wavy division down to the end as quickly as I could to try to (unsuccessfully) avoid drying lines. I decided to go with it and use the same pattern around each of the oak leaves which created a subtle dragon scale pattern.


Overall lesson learned -- work quickly in big areas. I have read in several accounts that a wide sponge or brush should be used to cover large areas and I may try that for the next application and just accentuate the leaves with a narrow line of dye. I may also try using just the clip method, but I have to admit I kind of enjoyed stringing it to the frame. When applying the blue, there was a noticeable sag of the materials and I wonder how the rubber bands would have worked instead. I can't wait to start my next batch of silk painting projects!

Finished banner still attached to the frame.

The banners in use for Mistress Crespine's elevation.