My Art Education

I hold a bachelor’s degree in art history and a master's degree in communication from Boston University and acquired all my skills and the joy of silk painting and sewing silk mainly through intensive workshops, classes, and internships. I have taken several fabric painting and dyeing workshops at the Pro Chemical and Dye Company. I have learned studied with established and innovative silk painters; Suzanne Punch, Jan Janas, David Higgins and Natasha Foucault and interned with Lisa Michaels of Very Eclectic Clothing, who creates very fine silk painted garments and quilted jackets.

Since 2002, I have been a member of SPIN (Silk Painters International), and I have participated in many of their educational events and conferences for many years learning a variety of techniques and applications, gutta resist, thickening dyes, batik, no flow and many more. 

More about Nicole

Today you can purchase my work at The Cambridge Artists Cooperative in Harvard Square, Etsy shop, here and by appointment in my studio at Gorse Mill Studios in Needham, MA. I also participate in numerous juried art and craft fairs and open studio events throughout New England.

My art studio is located at Gorse Mill Studios and participate in Open Studio events there. I was the lead art teacher in an afterschool program in Arlington, MA and previously taught arts and crafts to elementary school aged children at the Cabot After School Program in Newton, MA. I offer silk painting to adults and arts and craft lessons and classes to children in my studio in Needham through my education program called Nicole’s Art Spot. 

My Silk Painting Process

All scarves and garments are individually hand-painted on 100 percent silk. I paint on white silk that I purchase from Thai Silks and Exotic Silks Co. Most of my silk scarves are already hand-rolled.

First I stretch the silk on a special frame that has adjustable wooden panels, that have special pin hooks that hold the silk tight. I use a combination of techniques to create my scarves, from a fluid watercolor method to a more controlled resist technique.

Using a watercolor brush, I paint on the silk using silk dyes by Jacquard red lable or MX Reactive Dyes made by Pro Chemical and Dye Company. Silk dyes are diluted with a solution of water and isopropyl alcohol to obtain lighter pastel tones. When the dye is applied to untreated silk it will run and spread in beautiful but unpredictable ways. Sometimes I sprinkle salt or alcohol onto the wet dyes to create starburst effects after the dye dries. Sometimes I lay the silk flat and paint using thickened dyes.

But gaining real control, when I need it, requires the use of a resist of some sort to either create a linear barrier or simply restrict the flow of dye within the silk. A common characteristic of silk painting is the use of a clear gutta resist line to delineate areas of color, which sometimes gives an almost mosaic effect. I use a water-based gutta called Resistad. I gain more control when I pour the gutta into an applicator with a pipette with a nib of a size suitable for the width of line required. Then I draw my lines on the silk the same way you might use a pen, making a barrier in the fabric that the dye cannot pass. This process is the known as the Serti technique, or faux batik, and I create many of my most complex designs this way. I also use soy wax to create similar effects. 

Sometimes I apply a clear or colored resist (made by thickened dyes) to the white silk to control the flow of dyes or as a highlighter in my designs. I reapply lines of clear gutta to dry dye color to create interesting effects and depth. After the dye has been properly set through steaming, I remove the gutta or resist by washing with synthrop0l detergent, which removes excess dye from hand dyed fabrics. A defining line that is the color of the original fabric remains.

I also use thickened dyes to control the flow of my designs. I thicken my dyes using a print paste made from sodium alginate, a gum extracted from the cell walls of brown algae. Sodium alginate is often used in reactive dye printing, as a thickener for reactive dyes (such as the Procion cotton-reactive dyes) in textile screen-printing. Alginates do not react with these dyes and wash out easily.