Martha Andreatos

Artist Bio:

Artist Martha Andreatos lives and produces her wearable art in Atlanta Georgia. As a textile artist, Martha works with all types of fabric, from comfortable fun cotton to luxurious silks.

Martha had worked with block printing and hand painted designs on cotton clothing for many years. Recently, she has expanded her art to include silk painting. As a breast cancer survivor, she was introduced to silk painting in an art therapy class for cancer patients. It was love at first paint stroke.

Silk is luxurious to wear, and expresses the color and vibrancy of the designs like no other fabric. Her commissioned work can be viewed on her website at www.SilkArtandDesign.com

Silk Painting:

First, the silk is stretched tight over a frame. Then, a "resist" is applied. This resist acts as a little dam for the dye. French dyes are then applied and blended to achieve different colored effects. The finished piece is then heat set using a steam process. After steam setting, the dyes become both light and color fast. Silk can then be either hand washed with gentle soap, or dry cleaned.

I use Tinfix dyes and Jacquard dyes. My style of painting is very "wet on wet," so I love DuPont Dilutant and the flow it gives to the dyes. Sennelier Clear gutta is my favorite resist. I could not live without my stove top steamer. My favorite type of silk is Charmeuse. I use mostly 15 x 60 scarves in the 19.5 Charmeuse. I feel it is the most luxurious. I was using 14mm Habotai for my paintings, but have recently started using Charmeuse in my framed art as well. I also like the Charmeuse ties.