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I work with clients to determine what they wish to accomplish with a piece. Does it refer to a particular season? Will it be used commemoratively? What is being celebrated? Then I work with texts, ideas, and images, distilling them into a scheme. I then send something in sketch form to be discussed and perhaps refined. When an idea is accepted I draw it up full scale on paper and transfer the image to silk stretched on a frame. However, the work is freer if it can be painted directly on the silk without first being transferred.
Dyes spread on silk like wet watercolors on paper. If a hard line is desired, it is necessary to use gutta, or resist. The resist line separates the colors like leading in a stained glass window. After the resist dries, color is applied and built up in layers until the desired effect is achieved.
Next the silk is removed from the frame and steamed for several hours to set and intensify the color. It is then ready to be washed and hung, or cut and sewn into a garment.
The Visual Choir - An article on the theology of making art for worship
