Rose Monzyk: Silk Painting

Last but certainly not least, we are finishing up our posts about some of the crafters at Silver Dollar City. Today we share about a woman who paints on silk.Rose Monzyk started off with oil painting but realized it was getting more difficult to make a living selling her paintings. She had always loved fabric and wanted a way to make art that was more useful. She had the idea of painting on silk for a couple years, but she didn’t jump into it until she gave herself permission to ruin a few pieces of silk. She taught herself through trial and error, and she has now been hand-painting silk for seven years.Rose was so kind to talk with us while painting her silk even though she likes to focus in on her work. She starts off with a water based resist that will wash out later. She free-hand draws the pattern she wants onto the silk, and the resist acts as a dam for the color. Rose is inspired by flowers (maybe because of her name). When planning to paint a scarf, she doesn’t start with the pattern she wants to paint but asks herself, “What color do I feel like today?” She doesn’t start off with the “thing” to paint, but she starts off what what color she wants and figures out something that is that color.By using various concentrations of dye and water, she is able to get variations in colors on the silk. If she wants to change the color even more after painting, she can just add more water to thin it out. When she is done painting the silk, she lets it dry and then steams it before washing. The silks can then be hand-washed or dry cleaned.We stood and watched her paint for awhile, until we felt like we should move on to some other crafters. We checked back regularly to see her progress.Beautiful!Rose also makes hats and started making them even before she started painting silk. She got started making them for herself because she couldn’t find any small enough for her at the store. She has even won awards for some of her hats.