Is Silk Fabric Organic, Sustainable, and an Eco-friendly Option?

-
Thousands of Silkworm Cocoons
(Photo courtesy of A of Doom) 
When I started painting on silk, I gave little thought to it's original origin.  And now that I am pretty firmly entrenched in using reclaimed silks in my art, I find that while I personally know I do my best to stay eco-friendly - I have wondered about the processes used to manufacture silks! 

I happened to run across a great post from www.organicclothing.blogs.com about this exact subject.  They supply a LOT of great information.  

 I'd highly recommend reading their post "Raw & Organic Silk: Facts behind the Fibers" if you're at all interested or concerned about buying silk fabric or goods. I'm going to be sharing their post with my students.  

 They also have a lot of other informative articles - overall I'd say they were a great resource!

 OH, and my conclusion to the question I posed (is silk fabric organic, sustainable, and eco-friendly?), is a big MAYBE.  Yes, much of it is... but not all.  And probably less-so when gotten from large manufacturing facilities.   However, when gotten from thrift stores - that's about the best eco-friendly source I know!   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Grew Up Near Renton Washington, Maybe You'd Remember This!

-
Image
Vintage Sears photo courtesy of Anne Garber's Pinterest page . I grew up in the Seattle area - moving around a bit, but staying within the general area.  One of the things my family liked to do, was visit Newberry's and Sears in Renton, WA.  I have VERY fond memories of the candy counter at Sears - where a kid with a quarter could buy a little bag of candies...yum! Newberry's Soda Fountain Photo courtesy of The Daily Journal.com Newberrys had a soda fountain (cafe) which was my mother's favorite place to get a hot dog - because they made buns out of folded, toasted bread.  But my very favorite thing to do - was to play on the cement turtles outside.  There were little turtles and big turtles.  You could step from turtle to turtle and climb the big ones.  They were there for years, after newberry's left..and even after Sears left.  Then they disappeared. BUT guess who I found on the grounds of the Renton Highland's Library??...
Read more

So You Want To Make Your Own Vertical Stovepipe Steamer?

-
Image
I wrote a post on my other blog several years ago, but was just asked to create a new document for the Silk Painters group on Facebook.  So I thought I'd share it here! Making your own Stovepipe Steamer is relatively easy to do and certainly cost effective!  To buy one new (and made specifically for silk paintings) will easily cost you over $1000 bucks.... but making one yourself can cost under $100 (mine was less than $50!). I've had several people ask: Why do you want a Stovepipe Steamer?  Can't you just use a pot and steaming basket on your stove? Both are good questions! Yes you can use a pot and steaming basket on your stove.  But I personally, don't care for the idea of the chemicals/dyes/etc being in my kitchen. They are NOT good eats (to borrow from Alton Brown). Plus if you use a steaming basket in a pot, you have to constantly watch the water levels.  And you don't have a lot of space, which means you're probably only steaming 1 item at a time....
Read more

So you're thinking of making your own World Globe Bowl or Lampshade?

-
Image
World Globe Bowl So you're thinking of making your own World Globe Bowl or Lampshade? (a series of 3 tutorial posts explaining how to select a World Globe, make a lampshade, and make a bowl). I've done alright making World Globe Lampshades and Bowls for my business Re-covered Treasures (see my blog  www.Re-coveredTreasures.com and my Etsy store ReCoveredTreasures4U ).    But over the years I've received lots of questions about how to make them, so I thought I would share that information. World Globe Lampshade with crystal trim So this post will be the beginning of a basic tutorial on how to choose World Globes to make World Globe Lampshades and Bowls,  which I will then do a follow-up posts on how to actually make the lampshades and bowls. The first question I always get is "where do you find all of your globes?"   There are a ton of places to find globes:  Garage Sales, Thrift Stores, Friends & Family, Antique Store...
Read more