2011 Maiwa Textile Symposium Workshop

Karen Selk
$295 (Includes $120 Lab Fee) Three full days
October 17 - 19 (Mon - Wed) 10am - 4pm
Maiwa East - 1310 Odlum Dr., Vancouver, Canada Class Limit 16

Silk felt. Silk paper. Silk fusion. By any name it is exciting and beautiful, innovative, rich in lustre, with a smooth or textured surface. A spectrum of unspun silk fibres is arranged and fused with an adhesive medium to produce a “felt” of varying thicknesses. Silk-fused fibres can be crinkled while wet and they will hold their shape. Other fibres, feathers, and ribbons can be incorporated into the silk felt. It makes a perfect canvas for machine- or hand-stitching, quilting, three-dimensional sculptures, jewellery, wearable art, book coverings, collage, and almost any project imaginable.


Participants will make numerous samples and then move toward patterns for hats, bags, or boxes. Embellishing techniques and ideas will be applied to the completed project. The possibilities are endless with this new medium. Karen joins us from Salt Spring Island.


Karen Selk

Karen Selk has been a textile designer and artist since 1972. Her primary focus has been weaving and fusing felt with silk. As managing director of Treenway Silks, she designs and develops new yarns, fibres, kits, and colour palettes. A former director of product development for WomanKind.com, she also organizes and leads textile and cultural tours to India, Bhutan, and Laos.

A quest for knowledge of all aspects of silk has taken her throughout Asia researching the history and heritage of silk traditions. She teaches and lectures worldwide and has produced numerous magazine articles, an educational poster about the life cycle of the silkworm, and a silk fusion DVD. The cloth, culture, and people of other countries as well as the life in her own garden are the source of Karen’s creative spirit. www.treenwaysilks.com