The Silk Spinner's Studio

From her home studio in Cambridgeshire, Bernie Witchalls specialises in working with silk. Using a traditional spinning wheel, she hand-spins silk fibres to create luxurious lace weight yarns that are used in her own fibre arts projects or to supply other crafters.

Exclusively for the Stained Glass Museum, Bernie has created a range of beautifully hand painted pure silk scarves, using dyes to explore the visual effects of colour and light as diffused through glass. The natural sheen and fluid movement of silk allows for a luminosity of colour; the silk dye and salt technique Bernie uses creates loose oscillating patterns that reference spilled coloured light from stained glass windows.  Each scarf is individually painted and completely unique.