Butterflies in blue

My good friend Tracey has a butterfly obsession, so spurred on by her enthusiasm (it's very catching!) I decided that butterflies would be my ongoing theme for this year. Butterflies are such a fantastic source of inspiration, they have it all, shape, colour, texture. Coupled with this and to keep the Norfolk theme going, the swallowtail butterfly is a native species so looking for a local connection is always a good starting point.. However decided to keep the swallowtail shape for later and began a project for a butterfly scarf. So sketchbook at the ready, here goes...

Played around with shapes cut from card.

Page for swallowtail shapes.

Playing about with a piece of painted silk.

My idea is to dye a length of silk using steam fix dyes, which give a lovely soft handle to the silk, and overprint using silk paints mixed with a thickener. I made my printing blocks from foam sheets, it's easy to cut, and stuck them onto some odd bits of wood that I had lying around. It was easier to paint the thickened colour onto the block with a brush which gave the added bonus of brush marks. This project is ongoing so I'll keep you posted!