Silk Painting Workshop

Yesterday, Grace and Jack went to an all day Art Workshop that I'd organised for a group of home-educated children. We booked the hall, asked one of the home-ed parents to lead it, bought the materials and away we went. We plan on having these about once a month, as of next September. Today it was silk painting.

Some of the boys discuss their designs.


Patience helps one of her sons draw out his design with a special pen, the lines will form barriers to the ink. Patience is from Ghana. She gave her name as Patience when she came to live in England, but it's not her given name. That's unpronounceable by us. We've tried it and we just can't do it, sadly. But she likes the name Patience too! So do I!

Patience tells us many outrageous stories about life in Ghana. She is a very good storyteller. At the end of each of her stories she always throws her hands up and says, 'That's just the way things are in Ghana!' We LOVE those stories.

This is the outline for Grace's butterfly.

Grace and Jamie-Leigh have to dry their outlines so that they provide a good barrier to the ink.

The silk is then stretched over old cereal boxes and the ink is dropped into the spaces with a paintbrush. The kids also tried the 'scrunch technique' on some silk handkerchieves.

Here is Elizabeth with her painting.

Jo is talking to some of the kids. Jo is an actual real-life artist! She works in glass normally, but she led this silk-painting class for us.

This is Jack's creation, which I guess we will frame somehow.

And here is Grace's. They all had a fun day!