Pongé-Silk

Pongée is a flimsy unruffled silk. In every meter of 90 cm wide Pongée 5 are inweaved more than 10.000 meters of silkyarn.

There are different kinds and qualities of silk

One meter of Pongée 5 weighs about 20g.

One meter of Pongée 6 weighs about 24g.

One meter of Pongée 8 weighs about 32g.

The heavier the silk, the more intense is the colour.

Chiffon is a gossamer transparent silk. Sometimes it is called Gaze.

What do you have to do to paint a scarf? The workflow and the time you need depend on the pattern you choose.

		First of all you have to tighten the silk onto the wooden frame.
		When you choose to work with salt, you first put water on the silk and then you apply the colours. Even when you work “wet on wet” you have to work quick to avoid drying borders. As long as the silk is still wet, you spread the salt everywhere on the scarf you want to have it. The salt soaks the moisture and creates characteristic patterns on the silk. The colours float gently into each other.
		If you choose the Gutta-Perchta-Technique, you first have to draw the pattern onto the fabric.
		After that, you have to wait until the Gutta-Perchta has dried. When it is dry you can start to colour your drawn pattern.
	Afterwards you take the scarf from the frame and iron the Gutta-Perchta-Parts from the backside of the fabric.   Now you have to fix the colour on the fabric. You have to roll it tightly into paper and to put it into the steam-Fixer. There you have to fix it for two to three hours.
	To avoid problems with condensed water, you better wait for several hours before you take the paper-roll out of the steam-Fixer. When you’ve unrolled the paper and have taken the scarves, you have to wash away the excess colour. After you have done this, iron the scarf and the work is finished