Hello! My name is Jean Bathke, and I am fortunate enough to be located in lovely Santa Cruz, California. In 2002 I learned to paint on silk; prior to that I had been working with cotton and traditional Batik methods for creating design. Already understanding the basic concepts of textile dyeing, I checked out a book about silk painting techniques from the Santa Cruz Public Library and went from there. This is how I learned.

Over the years I have found I really like to use the Jacquard dyes; they are easy to work with and give me the option to use a fixative/dye set rather than steaming. I’ve gone through my share of last-step design-fixing disasters... these days I simply paint a diluted mixture of the Jac Set on a section and know the section is protected from bleeding. This really helps when I am painting something and wish to keep the background white-there is just no room for error when dealing with white. I also have found that I prefer to mix my own palette using simply the Jacquard magenta, yellow, cyan, and black... and a color wheel. In this way my color choices can be quite deliberate, as well as simple and clean.

For stretching, I use a few wooden frames for the silk blanks, scarves, and garment blanks. Bigger pieces, like sarongs or yardage, require a suspension system I can rig nicely using the chinese silk hooks, ponytail elastics from the drug store, and bungee cords.

Inspiration comes from my incredibly lucky life by the sea, the koi in my tiny garden pond, and the inevitable change of the seasons. I sell my things online at www.DoubleLuck.etsy.com
. As always, thanks.

Jean Bathke
Double Luck hand-painted silk
Santa Cruz, California
www.DoubleLuck.etsy.com
double.luck@yahoo.com