Silk Mill #3 - Work in Progress

With Silk Mill #1 and Silk Mill #2 finished, I still had some great images from my photos shoots of the former Ashley and Bailey Silk Mill that I wanted to work with.  I remain deeply fascinated by the idea of a structure that is in transition and partially open to the elements, where the blue sky shows through the empty portals of the windows.  I chose a photo that I thought beautiful, and felt had a lot of potential for expressing my enthusiasm.

I love the strong lines and vertical thrust of this image, and fooled around with it digitally until I had reached this black and white rendering, which I had converted into a thermofax screen.

I used dark brown textile paint to screen the image onto cotton fabric.  I like the stark, graphic simplicity of the images on plain white fabric.  I really love the movement and emotive potential of the image screened on fabric that I had first painted with earthy, brick red mottling.

I also reduced the initial photo and had it printed as a repeat on silk yardage by Spoonflower.  I put it all up on the design board and lived with it for a bit while I contemplated further design possibilities and color schemes.