Silk paper and presentations

Another busy week working on my Battle of Britain lace panel. I’ve made some silk paper, which I’m using to represent the smoke and flames around the image of St Paul’s Cathedral. I always find making silk paper very relaxing. Assembling all the equipment and finding a spray dispenser that works can be frustrating, but I love the feel of the soft silk as you pull it from the skein and place it on the surface. It also has to be made in a calm mood as sudden movements are liable to displace everything, causing the cushion of silk fibres to blow away in a tangle. I also like the unpredictability of it. It isn’t an exact science and the final results are always a combination of how the fibres and medium are interacting on that day. The piece I made this week is still drying so I won’t know the final outcome until it dries completely and I can remove the outer holding layers of net.

As well as the silk paper, I’ve also been finalising a talk I’m giving at Bentley Priory next week about the old panel and my new ones. Putting that together has been very interesting as I’ve had to think through all the steps I’ve been through and the reasoning behind each decision in order to make a coherent presentation. I’ve also had to choose images to accompany the words and take more photos to fill the gaps where I don’t have an image of what I’m talking about. It has been very helpful to get everything sorted into a proper account and I’m sure it will be useful for talks later in the year as well.