Silky Yule Wreath

Looking for special holiday wreaths to light up your holiday decorations?  Why not give this Silky Yule Wreath a try.  You'll love the festive nature it adds to your home.

Materials:

• Silk hoop
• Plastic drop cloth, newspaper,
• Rubber gloves
• Green Label Silk Dyes: Carmine Red, Viridian Green, Turquoise, Citron, Black
• Jacquard Gold Permanent Water Based Resist
• Resist applicator bottle
• Silk-painting brush (get the smallest size)
   

 Instructions: 

1. Put plastic over your work surface. Add newspaper on top of it to catch drips that might pool up on plastic. Pools of paint tend to get on your elbow and your project. Eek!
   
   
   
    
2. On two opposite edges, put a piece of cardboard to raise your hoop, so that your silk does not rest directly on the work surface.
   
   
   
    
3. Use gold resist to draw the wreath’s outer outline. Don’t worry about it having the actual exact shape of leaves’ edges. Just make a rough outline. When drawing, hold the applicator bottle plumb, with its tip resting gently on the silk, and  squeeze just a bit as you gently draw the tip across the silk (see pic for correct position ).
   
   
   
    
4. Outline the wreath’s center.
   
    
5. Draw inside lines, including a few holly leaves with berries. Note that all my lines connect. (Resist lines are easier to see in the pics below that have dye colors added.) All lines should be unbroken. They should also never end mid-space. Dye spreads so much on silk that you need resist lines to contain it. The smallest gap lets the dye bleed. It is kind of like drawing yourself a picture in a coloring book.
   
    
6. Draw your bow.
   
    
7. Check and reinforce your lines. Are there any little gaps? Do any lines end mid-space?
    
8. Let the resist dry.
   
   
   
    
9. Get out your silk dyes and smallest silk painting brush. Put on the rubber gloves.
   
    
10. Start with Citron. Work quickly: You want a color still wet when you blend another color into it.
    
     
11. Add your turquoise. Feel free to add some to one or two yellow areas, so that the two colors blend (overlap). Here is a pic of Citron and Turquoise blending
    
    
    
    
    
     
12. Add Viridian Green, again blending it into some Citron or Turquoise “fields.”
    
    
    
     
13. Mix a bit of Black with Viridian Green. Use this dark green to fill in the outer background. Don’t worry about mixing an exact shade. You just need a darker background to make the wreath “pop.”
    
     
14. Paint your bow red. Then mix a bit of black dye with red dye to make a very dark red. Use this dark red to shadow the bow, letting the colors blend.
    
    
    
     
15. Attach a string to hang it on wall. Or rest it on windowsill so sun shines through it like stained glass (though I imagine sun fades it). Or display a contemporary way: Lean it against a vase. (For indoor use only.)
    
     
16. Enjoy unique holiday décor!