How do I clean my cushion covers?
For those of you looking for cushions on the shop, I am sorry but at the moment they are only available at live events.
If you are able to spot clean the area with a cool damp cloth soaked in a weak wool wash solution, try that first.
Otherwise, place your cushion cover in a zipped laundry bag to prevent damage to the trimmings and wash on a cool wool wash cycle 20’ or 30’ preferably. pull cover back into shape and leave out to dry, preferably lying flat and out of direct sunlight.
Steam iron the cover, do not get hot iron near pom poms as they are polyester and will melt.
How do I look after my silk scarf?
Silk scarves are a beautiful and luxurious item and properly cared for should last for many years.
I would recommend hand washing your scarf in a mild, hand washing detergent,
Dry flat on a clean bath towel and away from direct sunlight.
Iron on a medium setting, either under an ironing cloth or hold the iron a centimetre above the fabric and gently use the steam from the iron to relax the scarf. Do not iron hand rolled hems as it can flatten them which will flatten them.
Store your scarves folded in a draw, which will keep them from becoming creased or distorted. Scarves are often displayed on hangers in shops but it is not a good way to keep them. If you have spent a lot of money on a silk scarf it is an investment that will last for many years if properly cared for. Try not to lay anything on top of them as something weighty might cause permanent creases over time.
If your scarf gets wet whilst being worn, do not be tempted to wring it out as you might damage the fibres. Lay the scarf flat on a towel and dab away the excess moisture. Your scarf will not suffer any damage from rain water, but you might want to give it a light hand wash with a hand wash laundry detergent.
Do not spray perfume onto your scarf or on your neck as some chemicals in perfume might have an adverse affect on the colour of your scarf. Spray scent behind your ears so that it doesn’t have direct contact with the silk.
So, why are silk scarves so expensive?
Pure silk is a natural, rare and expensive fabric that is mainly produced in China and India by a method known as sericulture. Silk has been in production in China since between 5,000 and 3,000 BC and didn’t reach India until 140AD. The silk Road as it was known enabled merchants to travel and export the beautiful fabrics which became a luxurious commodity but it also enabled people to smuggle silk worms from China to India. The majority of silk is produced by a particular moth larvea, Bombyx Mori, which produces the silk thread to create it’s cocoon, before morphing into a moth. The cocoons are boiled and the silk is wound onto reels. The reels of fine silk thread is then woven. There are a number of silk weaves available that are very different from each other, Habotai is a very light fabric, Shantung silk is almost paper like with a matt, slubbed surface, Twill is a heavier weight silk with an obvious weave structure and is used by a number of scarf companies. I chose to print on medium weight 100% Silk Crepe de Chine, which has a particularly soft feel against the skin and a beautiful drape.
The fabric is shipped to country in which it will be printed made in to saleable products such as scarves and clothing.
Silk takes dye extremely well, to produce beautiful vibrant colours, and also has often has a beautiful sheen that makes colour glow and reflects light onto the skin.
My scarves are digitally printed in the UK with designs that I have painted by hand and are then digitised to enable them to be printed. Digital printing applies traditional fabric dye to the fabric but is less harmful than traditional printing methods because there is far less wash off of harmful dyes and chemicals into the water system. For me though the digital printing enables me to recreate my artwork with all the tones and gradiants that it contains.I am always thrilled by the quality of the printing when my scarves arrive from the printers.
Where do your designs come from?
I am mainly inspired by the natural world, particularly plants and flowers but I really enjoy travelling and seeing different architecture, art and I am always fascinated by how colour reacts in different light. Blue can look quite cold in English day light but nearer the Mediterranean, it glows.
Unfortunately I can’t capture the magic that enables that to happen but it hugely inspires my work. I love colour, it is very important to me to use colour in my work.
My recent visit to Charleston House has also had a huge impact on my colour ideas because the house has been hand painted by Vanessa Bell who used hand mixed colours. With an artist’s eye she created a colour palette, which works beautifully in English light and in a cottage with low ceilings and small windows. The colours are heavily textured when you see them in real life, it wasn’t something I had appreciated when I had seen photographs. It is the texture that gives the colour life. The garden, is well worth visiting too, the planting is exuberant and full of colour combinations that are staggeringly beautiful.
I love travelling and I try to be disciplined and take drawing materials wherever I go, but I will always have my phone at hand to take hundreds of photo’s. Even if I don’t use those drawings immediately, they become an important resource of inspirational material that I can revisit and use at a later date.
Is a silk scarf good for your hair?
Apparently because silk has super smooth fibres there is less friction on your hair, which causes less frizz and damage to your hair. By all accounts silk and satin are particularly good for people with curly hair. I have thick hair and I have found also that silk hair scrunchies do stay in my hair very well, where as I would have expected the to slide off and I am experiencing less hair breakage that with a normal hair band. Sleeping with a silk scarf on your head or using a silk pillow case is said to protect hair from damage.
