Drawing a Border
You can do the border freehand, which is easier but unlikely to result
in a straight
line if you are new to gutta work, particularly as there is a need to
draw slowly. Make virtue
of your shaky hand and let it curve and zigzag into a pattern.
To achieve a straight border:
- Start with the side of the silk closest to you, and turn the frame
around as you go
to make access to each side easier.
- To make sure your border meets at the corners instead of crossing,
measure your
chosen distance in from each side and make a little mark on the silk at
the point
where the two imaginary lines would join.
- Measure and mark all four corners.
- Place a large ruler against these marks, parallel to the edge of the
frame and hold
it firmly in place.
- Rest your pen against the ruler so that the nib is leaning outwards
and touching
the silk about 0.5 cm away from the ruler. This will stop thee gutta
from travelling
under the ruler and smearing.
- Start from a corner and draw a line to the mark in from the next
corner. Try
to draw the whole line along one side without taking your pen off the
silk. It is
surprisingly hard to do this, so do not worry if you cannot manage it at
this stage.
- Turn the frame around, replace the ruler and draw the line from the
corner you
just reached, to the point in from the next corner.
- Repeat until all sides have a border.
- Check that there are no gaps where the corners meet.
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