Many people ask me how I paint my floral challah covers, because silk behaves very differently from paper or canvas. The paint can spread quickly in the fabric, so the technique you use really changes the result.
Over time I developed a few different ways of painting flowers on silk. Each design uses a slightly different approach depending on the effect I want.
Usually the process starts with an idea or a color palette I want to try. I paint the first piece, then I decide whether it becomes a design I reproduce or if it stays a unique piece.
Some designs are easy to reproduce. Others are too spontaneous, so I prefer to keep them as one-of-a-kind challah covers.
Flower Field – my best seller
One of the designs people order the most is the Flower Field floral challah cover.
For this one, I prepare the silk first. I apply a product that closes the fibers of the silk so the paint doesn’t spread inside the fabric.
Once that layer is applied, I can paint on the silk almost like watercolor on paper. The paint stays where I put it instead of diffusing everywhere. This makes it easier to paint small flowers and details.
The Flower Field challah cover is also easy to adapt to different colors. Some people ask for warmer tones, others prefer cooler colors, and I can adjust the palette without changing the overall design.
Shabbat Garden – Traditional silk painting
The Shabbat Garden floral challah cover is painted using the classic silk painting method.
The flowers are larger and the colors are mostly in purple tones.
First I draw the shapes of the flowers using gutta. Gutta is a resist that creates lines on the silk and stops the paint from spreading past those lines. Once the gutta is dry, I apply the dyes inside the shapes. The color spreads naturally in the silk but stops at the gutta lines.
This technique creates soft gradients inside the flowers while keeping the shapes clear.
Poppies – A freer technique
The Poppies floral challah cover is painted in a much looser way.
First I paint the entire background with washes of color. Because the silk is still open, the paint spreads a bit and the background becomes slightly blurred when it dries. Once that layer dries, the silk is more saturated and the paint doesn’t spread the same way anymore.
Then I paint the poppies on top. The flowers stay more defined because the background layer has already sealed the fabric a bit.
Deciding what becomes a design
I don’t plan a whole challah covers collection in advance.
Usually I have an idea, I paint it, and then I see how it turns out.
If the piece works well and I feel I can reproduce it without losing the feeling of the painting, I add it to the shop as a design people can order again.
But sometimes a challah cover is too complex or too spontaneous. In that case I keep it as a unique piece.
That’s also something I like about working on silk: even when I repaint the same design, every floral challah cover ends up slightly different.
