Creative Process
Debby’s inspiration comes from many sources: architecture, skylines, colour in both nature and in the modern world.
Using these ideas as a starting point Debby sketches out her designs to calculate the quantity of silk threads needed. She then winds the silk to the required length – up to 250ft of silk can be needed to weave a run of scarves – the silk threads are then dyed using colour and lightfast acid dyes.
The silk is immersed in to the dye and simmered until the intensity of the colour is to Debby’s design. The threads are plaited and tied to create distinctive layers. This way of dyeing, almost painterly in effect, ensures that no two lengths of silk will be the same.
The woven silk is very fine in texture, on average 100 threads are used per inch. Each strand has to be threaded individually on to the loom before the weaving can begin and a hand woven scarf can take up to two hours to weave. In addition to this, however, the preparation for every length of silk can take up to two days.
