Water-marbled silk scarves take three days from start to finish...the paint swirling is the FUN part, but that only accounts for about 5% of the time spent making these!  Why so long?  I have to prep the water bath for my marbling trays 24 hours in advance; pre-wash, pre-treat, and iron the scarves; mix and test paints for proper dispersion and flotation; allow 24 hours for drying and paint curing; and lastly heat-set the colors to make the scarves colorfast (and hand-washable...yay!).  Here's some snaps taken in August, 2017 in my Laguna Beach studio...

 

1) Dropping paints on the water tray

1) Dropping paints on the water tray

2) Using custom-made rakes (there's nails under the board) I've pulled the rake towards me and am now pushing away

2) Using custom-made rakes (there's nails under the board) I've pulled the rake towards me and am now pushing away

3) Side-to-side raking across the previous pattern; here I'm going from my left to right with a short rake

3) Side-to-side raking across the previous pattern; here I'm going from my left to right with a short rake

4) Now I pull the rake from right to left, note the tight zig-zag pattern at top of photo

4) Now I pull the rake from right to left, note the tight zig-zag pattern at top of photo

5) Final raking: pulling long rake towards me in a waving pattern

5) Final raking: pulling long rake towards me in a waving pattern

My husband helps me lay the prepared scarf onto the paint: the pattern prints directly onto the silk — only one scarf possible with each paint set-up!

My husband helps me lay the prepared scarf onto the paint: the pattern prints directly onto the silk — only one scarf possible with each paint set-up!