Tit Birds scarfs - which one do YOU like?

Painting Birds. 

I love painting birds, and tits are so adorable that I can not stop working on tit-themed scarfs!
I'm testing new ways of painting now, trying to decide if I like them better with white outline or with additional black lineart.

Tit Birds With Red Berries neck scarf 

This one is slim, with fiery red berries. I re-painted it recently, so I have some new photos. 

Tit Birds & Berries on Etsy - this one is ready to be shipped right now!

Tit Birds & Berries on Etsy - the 160 x 28 cm size scarf, slim and long.

Tit Birds On Blue

Re-painted last month. I like how subtle the color set is.

Tit Birds on blue - ready to be shipped on ETSY

Tit Birds in Blue - subtle and blue, very very blue :)

Tit Birds On White (my favorite!)

It took a lot of work, to paint black outline on such a bright background (very tiny and very dry brush painted extremely slowly) but the effect is almost comic-like.

Tit Birds In Snow on Etsy - my favorite!

Silky touch: lightweight and semi - transparent. Tit Birds In Snow

How do you like my designs?
Let me know in the comment!

As always, you can find all of my hand painted silk scarf on MinkuLUL Etsy shop HERE!

From sketch to scarf - creation proces!

Working with customers

This is probably the best thing about my job - silk painter - I am creating wearable art for ppl from around the world. I mean it! I had my scarfs sent to USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, RSA, China, Russia, all of the UE countries and so on and I appreciate every order I get. But sometimes the fun begins one step before painting. Sometimes I get to work with my customer on a custom scarf.
It is amazing, to have your ideas talked over with someone living in the other side of the globe. I am sitting here, in cold Cracow and there is someone thousand miles away, creating with me.

The Peacock Feathers scarf - custom order

Peacock silk scarf - on ETSY here!

It started with an Etsy message.
Nice lady inquired about a custom scarf for her mother. We decided on a size, silk type, an inspiration and color set, so I could present her with first sketches.

VERY rough sketches for the Peacock Feathers silk scarf - colored pencils

She chose one of the designs and told me what needs to be worked on. Based on her ideas I drawn bigger, more detail sketch.

More detailed sketch for Peacock Feathers silk scarf

We talk a bit more about colors. It was vital to my customer that the scarf will be vivid.

Once the design was accepted, I started painting.

Painting the custom order

It all begins with a gutta outline. The Peacock scarf is so big, that it took all of my studio!

It's me, MinkuLUL with the Peacock Feathers scarf

Here you can see half painted scarf. It has to be ironed, washed, put on stencils one more time and... yes, painted again, so the outline will be colorful. It enriches the design if you use colors instead of just leaving it white.

Huh, half done!

So here it is! Ta-da! 

As Sheldon from BBT says "Short form of Ta-ta-da-da!"

Close - up for the Peacock Feathers silk scarf!

Peacock Feathers silk scarf

Peacock Feathers silk scarf - on Etsy HERE

Wanna work with me on a custom scarf specially painted for you?
Please visit my ETSY shop and click the REQUEST CUSTOM ORDER button or just drop me a line in the comment and I will gladly contact you.

White Tree of Gondor - updating the design

I took some time to update the design for my White Tree of Gondor silk scarf. I hope you will like it!
This hand painted silk scarves is my absolute favorite, as I am a huge LOTR enthusiast :D 

On Etsy!

 

Mucha Rose silk scarf - the 3 days painting process

So here are some pictures I've taken during the painting of the 'Mucha Rose' silk scarf. This one is in Art Nouveau style, very complicated and it takes me 3 days to paint.

DAY ONE

This is only to make the lineart - the gutta outline.

 Doing the outline with gutta is the hardest step. Lots and lots of gutta goes into this Art Nouveau picture.

DAY TWO

 Painting begins! Adding the first layer of paints takes the whole day!

 After the gutta had dried, I painted the face. This is probably the most challenging part, and it has to be done just right.  Then comes painting hair :) How I love her hairstyle :)

The girl is ready, now come the flowers! It takes the whole day to paint the scarf with the base colors. 

DAY THREE

The silk paints are heat fixed and then the scarf goes for it's first wash :) Now the fun with the outline begins!

Painting the hair and eyes with deep brown is a delicate but rewarding work. I think the outline makes the picture come alive!

...and the 'Mucha Rose' silk scarf is finally ready!

As you can see this scarves is based on Alphonse Mucha art, I recreate his models with additional design to create a scarf. This is one of my favorites still really I feel more like a carpenter or as a student of great master when I paint it.

Peacock scarf and... how to pimp up your close up?

Peacock silk scarves with lighting effect - thank you Photogramio! 

Recently, I have found a fantastic webpage called Photogramio  for editing photos. It's user panel is very cool, try it! :) it looks like a old - fasioned photo studio and it add effect similar to Instagram.

I had a great time playing with it and now I wanted to share with you one of the photos of my ready-to-go Peacock scarf.

 Edited close-up of  Peacock scarves and the un-edited photo.

The picture was first re-sized in GIMP (from 350dpi to 72dpi which is a standard monitor resolution). Then the picture was brightened - up a little with contrast and brightness options.

The Photogramio was used to create the lighting lens effect. I like it as it makes the picture more umm... magical -I suppose - is the word I am looking for ;)

Please let me know what do you think! 

I am testing this edited picture now as a front photo for this ready to go silk scarves. I am very curious will it affect Peacock scarves popularity? 

Kimono inspired silk scarf FREESIA

New silk scarf - Freesia - this time inspired by Japanese art of Kimono painting.

Handpainted silk scarf Freesia on Etsy

This scarf is something new for me as I am under an influence of... 'Shogun' by James Clavell. I looked into Kimono desings and was swept off my feet! Again, Japanese art, style and perfection made me speechless.

This orange & white scarf is decorated with Freesia flowers and bordered with coral - orange outline. I was pleasantly surprised how beautifully the silk works with a dark border - the draping of the silk is much more visible.
I am going to explore this Kimono inspired idea for a scarf design some more this winter. I'd love to make a series of different colors and flowers... and I think the next one will be hollyhocks!

Hydrangea scarf... or Hortensia scarf?

Hydrangea or Hortensia? How is this flower called in your country?

Silk scarf Hydrangea - or - silk scarf Hortensia on ETSY

This silk scarf was designed for my closest friend on her birthday... and it took me a YEAR! Oh yes, full year, from last July... but I am satisfied and she really likes it so I figure it was worth the wait :) The scarf is in turquoise - blue - grayish colors with white details and white border (oh yes, inspired by Japanese Kimono Art).
This Hortensia scarf is painted on Habotai Light (5mm natural silk) very delicate and a bit glossy. Hope you will like it!

PS in Poland we call it simply Hortensia. You would not believe it how popular is this Japanese flower in our country gardens :)

Fire and ice... on a silk scarfs!

Here's two twin silk scarfs from my collection. Fire and ice, ombre red and ombre blue, both with white swirls representing dancing of flames or dancing of frost. I really hope you will like it!

Hand painted silk scarf - FIRE SCARF 

 

Hand painted silk scarf - FROST SCARF

 

As you can see both designs have the same general idea, it's a quite simple idea but lots and lots of painting. 

 

I am really proud of the ombre effect, it lets you to choose the exact tone of color that will be complementing your outfit. You can wear it as a dark or very bright scarf - whichever suits you more at the moment.

 

The Frost scarf (or Snow scarf) was created first, this late winter. The Fire scarf (Flame scarf) was created as a custom request for a very nice person from RPA.

Ready to go scarfs - 21th of July

I love creating new designs and new scarfs, but sometimes I need to slow a bit in creating process and just practice my manual skills.



I took this week of designing and focused on painting! This gives me such a joy :)

Here are some of this week READY TO GO silk scarfs on Etsy:

Hand painted silk scarf 'Peacock'

Hand painted silk scarf 'Trees in Blue'

Hand painted silk scarf 'Rohan Horses'

Hand painted silk scarf 'Violet Sky White Tree'

Hand painted silk scarf 'Celtic Wolfs''

If you find something that you especially like, rest assured that the scarf will be sent to you in 24 hours :) 

Most of my scarfs are still made to order, which takes me from 3 to 5 days, depending on the complicity of the design. 

If you wish me to design something special for you, let me know!

Black and White Feathers - silk scarf

This is my second hand - painted silk scarf, done in monochrome and inspired by Art - Nouveau style and feathers. I really hope you'll like it! I'm thinking of creating a series of this type of hand painted scarves, what do you think?

Hand painted silk scarf Feathers in Black and White

I didn't even realize how fun it would be to paint... I am an always have been a 'milion-color' artist, if you know what I mean ;) but lately I am drawn to this type of art.

Here's my Etsy Black and White treasury collection with items connected by one topic: feathers! If you follow the link you'll get the clickable version and you'll be able to reach each one of this great arts