I attended an encaustic painting demonstration given by Rosemary Barile, a member of my Eldorado Arts & Crafts Association. She talked about incorporating composted silk and silk with a copper patina in her encaustic paintings. Since I love to dye silk scarves, this was something I couldn't wait to try.
On Thursday I wrapped a silk scarf around a copper pipe and tied it down with sinew. Pickle juice was poured over the silk daily.
On Friday I cleaned out my refrigerator and collected an assortment of fruits (tangerines, limes) and vegetables (romaine lettuce, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, green onion, celery, cucumber, parsley and ginger). Saturday I added what was leftover of a jar of red cabbage. This bag has been left outside in the sun.
Silk with Copper Patina
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| Start of silk wrapped on copper pipe. Held in place with sinew, then soaked with pickle juice. |
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| 24 hours, silk with copper patina |
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| 48 hours, silk with copper patina. |
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Day 3, silk with copper patina.
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| Day 4, silk with copper patina. |
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| Day 5, silk with copper patina |
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| Day 6, silk with copper patina |
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| Day 7, silk with copper patina |
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Day 8, silk with copper patina
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| Day 9, Copper Patina Scarf. |
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Composted Silk
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| Start of composted silk, 70 degrees. 4/22/11 |
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| 24 hours, 54 degrees. |
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| Day 3, 55 degrees. |
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| Day 4, 53 degrees and rainy |
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1 week. Smelling and decomposing. 74 degrees.
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Day 24, 5/16/11. Dry, with not much color on silk.
Experimented was ended. Critters pulled out the silk. |
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