Scenic Silks

Barbara is a Wirral based artist and textile designer maker. She was introduced to batik during her teacher training in Liverpool in the 1970’s, and has continued to be inspired by the creative possibilities of this medium.
She uses the ‘tjanting’ tool to dip in hot wax and draw her own unique designs on a range of silk scarves. The heavier weight twill scarves are dyed, then waxed a second time using a brush, to resist the next dyes, so creating a vibrant depth of colour. The scarves go through a steaming process to fix the dyes and increase their vibrancy. Barbara also creates original designs on ties, with a multi-layered process using fabric crayons and mono-printed acrylic fabric paint.

In her scarf designs Barbara draws inspiration from a theme such as 50’s fashion or art deco, and she often incorporates designs sketched in museums. Each season she makes a ‘mood board’ of current fashion colours to keep aware of trends.

She took part in the 2008 Independents Biennial and in ‘Hospitality Reviewed’ this year, where she incorporated batik into one of the collaborative textile projects. She has worked on commissions for clients in the UK and US.

www.scenicsilks.co.uk
barbara@scenicsilks.co.uk