Week 1

Painting on Silk

BY NANCY REYNER | from Acrylic Revolution

illustration

This week, you'll learn to paint on silk which you can then use as a banner, fabric installation or wearable art. Dye works well on silk, but is not as lightfast and stable as acrylic. This technique demonstrates how to use acrylic on silk for durable, lightfast, washable color, while maintaining the softness of the fabric. You can also try this technique on fabrics other than silk.

Materials

illustration silk fabric

illustration embroidery hoop or other fabric support

illustration fluid acrylic paint

illustration Golden's Specialty Acrylic Polymer GAC 900

illustration brush

illustration palette knife

illustration optional: Golden's Acrylic Flow Release

illustration

1. Secure the silk

Secure the silk to a stable surface to make it easier to paint and to control your brushstrokes. The method you choose should be temporary; use pushpins, staples, fabric tacks on stretcher bars or an embroidery hoop.

illustration

2. Prepare your paint

To keep the fabric from stiffening, dilute your fluid acrylic paints with 1 part GAC 900 to 1 part paint. This will also make the paint launderable (with the heat setting described in Step 3) and keep the fabric soft. If these qualities are not important for your work, you can use acrylic paints straight.

illustration

3. Paint on the fabric and heat set

Using the paint mixture made in Step 2, apply to the dry silk using a brush. Let the fabric air dry to the touch, then use one of these heat-setting options: Iron for 3–5 minutes on medium-hot (or longer if you need to use a cooler iron), heat set for 1–2 minutes at 300ºF (177ºC) in an oven [or 4 minutes at 250ºF (121ºC) for more delicate fabrics, heat set in a commercial clothes dryer on medium/high for 20–40 minutes or a household dryer at high temperature for 40–50 minutes. Let the paint dry thoroughly at least 4 days before washing. Hand-washing and drip-drying is better than using a washing machine and clothes dryer.

Tip

If you want to control the bleeding or spreading of colors, use Acrylic Flow Release. Dilute it with at least 10 parts water to 1 part flow release. Then, either mix the flow release into your paints and use this mixture on the silk, or apply the flow release directly to the fabric and paint while it is still wet. Experiment to get the effects you want.