Silk Banners- Day 3

On day 3 of the banner residency, we started adding the color. The color is added using different colored procion-mx fiber reactive dyes. Once the dyes touch the silk, they start to spread through the fabric. This spreading occurs because of capillary action. Capillary action is the same thing that helps a tree pull water all the way from the ground to the leaves at the tippy-top of the branches. This is also a reason that it was very important for us to make sure we made our resist lines solid on day 2. The resist lines are the only things that keep a color from running into another section and blending with other colors.

Before we started painting, it was important to plan out where we wanted our colors to go. We colored a copy of our designs and also placed colored paper directly on the silk banners to get a feel for where to paint the dye. Color is one of our elements of art and we use it, along with our principles of design, to create an interesting and visually pleasing composition.

 

We wanted to make sure each banner could stand on its own, as well as work with the other banners to create a complete piece of art. When choosing where to place our colors, we wanted to make sure to repeat the colors several times throughout the banners . This helps to create unity, and balance across the composition. It can also create rhythm that carries the eye from one side of the artwork to the other. We also wanted to make sure to create contrast by placing light colors next to dark colors.

Contrast, Unity, Rhythm and Balance are all principles of design. If we did not have them, our artwork might look too heavy or too busy on one side and empty on the other. If every banner had different colors, they might not look like they belonged together, as a unified work of art. If we put too many light colors in one area or dark colors in one area, the shapes and lines of the design might not stand out, which could make the design confusing. 

Mrs. Graf getting in on the action. This is her orange helicopter.



The kids did a great job of applying the color to the artwork and helping to make good color placement choices.

Once again, we had some wonderful parent volunteers that came in to help. We couldn't have done this without them.