Silk Noil Scarf/Shawl Printed with Local Leaves [SC315]

Beautifully soft silk noil scarf/shawl, hand printed with walnut, sumac, vitex, continue and black elder leaves, from my own garden our my neighbourhood in south Liverpool [SC315].

The silk noil used in this scarf contributes to sustainability in that it is made from shorter fibres that are leftover from the manufacture of other silk fabrics.. ie fibres which would otherwise have gone to waste.  It is rougher than other silk, does not crease as easily and is beautifully warm in winter, and cool in summer. 

Fabulously versatile, you can wear this wonderfully soft scarf/shawl in a variety of ways.. during the day with casual clothes, or as a shawl in the evening for that special night out. 

In creating this scarf, the silk noil was 'mordanted' with alum to fix the  leaf pigments and then dipped in iron solution to give the leaf prints greater definition.  After placing the freshly picked local leaves on it, the scarf was bundled tightly round a copper pipe and steamed in my trusty aluminium fish kettle for 70 minutes to release and fix the plant pigments. The alum mordant and iron solution dip fixes the dye and pigments naturally in the scarf so that they are light- and wash-fast.

Due to the individual nature of the hand crafted process by which these unique scarves are made, the precise details of the scarf design and colour tone may vary slightly from this photograph.

Approx 172cm x 38cm.

Handwashing's in warm water [30C] with soap only. DO NOT use detergents.

Packaged in an elegant, ecofriendly By Maggie Naturally presentation box.