This week I am releasing my new line of handpainted silk scarves. These are luxuriously soft and lightweight and I put a lot of love into painting the artwork!

You can read a bit about the process in my previous blog post, but the short version is that I stretch the silk on a frame, draw the designs using resists, paint the dye on by hand and layer the colors over time, set the dyes, and then wash and iron the silks.

These are best handwashed, but if they get truly dirty, washing them in the washing machine on a delicate cycle is fine. Silks-- especially scarves-- can get wrinkly over time. Ironing them when they are slightly damp will bring out the shimmer and shine.

Prices currently range between 70 and 100 dollars, depending on the intricacy of the design (the exception is the green Elven scarf in this post, which is discounted because it was one of the first I made and was so experimental!). Blog readers can receive free shipping until January 1, 2017 by using the code FIRSTSILKS at checkout; adding jewelry to your order won't add any shipping charges to that order. These would be excellent gifts for anyone who appreciates handmade craftsmandship; these certainly aren't cheap as something you'd pick up at an ordinary store, but you literally get to wear one-of-a-kind works of art! :) 

Now for the fun part!

I am very excited to share the photoshoot for the first two scarves today! Thank you so much to my lovely model Emily for going to the park and letting me poke and prod and direct. She's never modelled before; can we all agree that she's a natural? 

I hope you've enjoyed these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them! Thank you again to Emily for modelling. Keep an eye out out later this week for pictures of the other three scarves!