Open Studio Holiday Sale!

Please join us if you can!The studio is in Chino Hills, CA.  Please RSVP to hillary@hillarymiller.com for headcount and address.

Tallit, Tree of Life in Blue

Tallit, Tree of Life in Blue, Hand-Painted Silk, 24 x 72

Please click on image for larger view

Challah Cover Painting Workshop

 These beauties were painted by participants at Congregation B'nai Brith Santa Barbara. 

Each one as unique as the person (or group) who chose the design, and painted.

 Click on an image for a larger view.

New Tallit

Dragon Tallit II, 24 x 72, Hand Painted Silk
A true celebration of life and prayer!

Mt. Sinai Tallit

Warm earth and pink tones. 14 x 72. Matching kippah and personalized bag.

Sunflower Scarves

Two New Scarves! 11 x 60 inches, hand painted silk

New Challah Covers

Peace any way you look at it, #1

Peace (Up and Down), 11 x 60, Hand-painted Silk

This is actually the first silk piece of this design, it preceded the rainbow version by some months. Here's a fun fact to know and tell: a word or words that are the same upside-down and right-side-up are called ambigrams. Not to be confused with palindrones, something of which my father is an expert. His creation for my second son: Sail, Elias!

My father adds the following:

Two points please,

1. Ambigrams were celebrated in 1961, of course.
2. The first son's palindrome is more elaborate providing you accept CA for California:
Did Isaac nix a tax in CA as I did?

Cherry Blossom Tree of Life Tallit

A new tallit (Jewish prayer shawl).
70 x 22 inches, hand-painted silk.
This piece is available at Dayenu, Judaica at the JCCSF, a Jewish gift store inside the Jewish Community Center right in the heart of San Francisco.
For purchase, you can give them a call at (415) 563-6563.
Click on image for larger view

New Challah Covers

Here are the latest designs for my challah covers. These cover the sabbath braided bread, adding some visual beauty to the celebration of the day of rest. 17 x 17, hand painted silk. You can see other designs on my challah cover page.

Your Art

This art work is a silk wall hanging, around 19 x 36, commissioned by the famous poet Jill Levy, who wrote a poem entitled "Your Art," and had this vision of her work and my art work working together to create this work of art called "Your Art." I think it works, don't you?

Silk Collage

Hannah's Challah Cover

Brad's Challah Cover

These are two challah covers (sabbath bread covers) that were commissioned as gifts by my sister-in-law Betty Ann for her friend's twins B'nai Mitzvah. Each piece contains work created by the child, and then complementary pieces painted by me. I have also calligraphied the blessing over bread, the child's name and B'nai Mitzvah date. All the pieces have been sewn together to create a challah cover about 16 x 20 inches.

Starry Night

Starry Night, 43 x 72, Silk Dyes on Silk Fabric.

Here is the finished tallit (Jewish Prayer Shawl). I posted the watercolor sketch of this piece on 3/20 (about three posts down). It is 43 x 72, silk dyes on silk fabric.

Green Silk Scarves

Two new scarves, 11 x 60 each.

Silk Scarves

These are 11 x 60, and each one has unique salt texture, created by different kinds of salt thrown on to the wet dyes. $65.00 each. Email me to purchase (click image for larger view).

New Silk Prayer Shawl

Eden Tallit, Hand Painted Silk, 14 x 72
This is the finished piece from my "Calligraphy on Silk" posting of December 4th.

Calligraphy on Silk

To prepare the silk, so the calligraphy letters won't spread, I apply a layer of Jacquard's No Flow mixed down with some water. Then, I thicken up the silk dye with some Pebeo Soie Thickener. I've got a template underneath the silk for placement of the letters (and so I don't forget any). I use a flat brush, creating thick strokes with a flat stroke, and thin lines with just the edge of the brush.
This Hebrew calligraphy is the traditional blessing said when one adorns a tallit, or Jewish Prayer Shawl: "Blessed are You O Lord, our God, King of the Universe Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to wrap ourselves in tsitsit."
The calligraphy in the context of the almost-finished prayer shawl.

Silk Painting Demo - Part 6

Here's the piece, "Earth and Sun Tallit" all finished. It's been hemmed, button holes have been sewn in the corner areas, and I've tied the "tsitsit" on the corners (click image for larger version).

The detail shot shows the Hebrew writing and the cool salt texture in the border. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the demo. If you have any questions about getting started, just let me know. Happy painting!

Silk Painting Demo - Part 5

The painting is finished and dried. Now we're going to steam it, a process which will permanently infuse the dye into the fabric, making it colorfast. The artwork is layed flat on two layers of unprinted newsprint paper, and rolled up (I've got a PVC pipe that I roll it around to ease the job.
When it's all rolled up, I use masking tape to hold it closed and to seal up the ends.

Here are the components of my steaming system. Thanks go to David Ludwig for sharing both his silk stretcher and steamer system with me. I've placed the rolled silk into a pair of tights (the tights legs are one inside the other), and tied it on to a piece of wooden dowel. The bottom of the steamer is the fry-daddy (an electric fryer), and the top is the stove pipe behind the table.

The stove pipe sets into the electric fryer, which I will fill with water and use as a steamer. Hang the roll of silk into the cylinder of the stove pipe, and rest the dowel on top. Place a clean, folded towel on top of the stove pipe, and dowel, as you see in the next photo.
The old chair with no seat has straps attached to it, which holds the stove pipe in place, just in case someone isn't careful or there's an earthquake. I steam the silk for two hours. Then I throw it into the washing machine to remove the gutta and any excess dyes, and iron the piece until it's dry and beautiful. If you'd like more detailed information on the process, just email or send me a comment.

The next and last installment of the demo will be....The Finished Piece! Stay tuned!

Silk Painting Demo - Part 4

As promised, this part of the demo shows how lovely salt technique is on silk. On a wet, just painted area, toss, throw or sprinkle regular ol' salt. You can also try rock, margarita and kosher salt for some interesting variations!

Above is a close-up of salt applied in the multi-colored section on the left. It has already started reacting and will dry soon.









The entire border of this piece is painted in a multicolored wash, and after painting a foot-long section or so, I throw on the salt, and continue on to complete the border.


Here's a couple of close-ups after the salt has dried and been brushed away. It's unpredictable, and varies with the wetness of the silk, the kind of salt, and, of course, the weather...












In the next installment, I'll show you how to set the colors permanently into the silk, and finish off the piece.