Linda is well known for her beautiful silk scarves printed with leaves and flowers and all natural colours. She brought along examples of the lovely work, and gave a detailed demonstration of how she makes them. The first picture shows a selection of leaves from all sorts of plants and trees, along with a few flowers.
A length of silk, which has been prepared to make it receptive to taking the prints by washing and using soya milk to soak it, is laid on a piece of polythene. Then the leaves are randomly placed on the silk, and another piece of silk is added over the first piece. This is then tightly rolled up over a thick dowel rod and tightly bound. It is then steamed in a fish kettle for around 70 minutes, and when cool is unrolled. The leaves are removed, and excitement rises as the leaves reveal their imprints. It is so surprising that green leaves don't make a green imprint, but have a lovely range of subtle colours.
The dark scarf is made from silk Linda has dyed purple from Brazilian logwood, and similar process takes place by making the silk sandwich, but in this the tannin in the leaves reacts with the tannin in the dyed cloth and discharges the colour, making a negative print, which is very beautiful.
The scarves are air dried, then washed and ironed, and the colours are fast and will not fade on washing. Linda's scarves can be purchased at Hand Pict in Letham, and one or two other outlets, and she also runs workshops if you fancy making you own scarf.
