i always associated fortuny with pleated fabric, not knowing much else about them. after receiving some small gifted pieces from phyllis, i was amazed by the strange and unfamiliar technique used in this print. (shown front and back) ... at first glance the design appears to be a woven damask, but looking closer it is obvious that the fabric is a solid twill and the design has been produced by layering pigment and dye perhaps in combination of screen printing and hand painting. and after some research it is apparent that the technique is not exactly known. it is indeed unique.
my limited experience with prints has at least left me with enough knowledge to recognize the difference in nature between the colored areas of the design, the lighter greenish part is much stiffer and the pigment lies on the front surface, probably applied over the gold hand dyed/painted ground. on a whim i asked myself what if (?) i draw dots and fill them in so the colored area spans both the soft and hard surfaces of the design. i was guessing that they would absorb the color differently. they did as the gold sucked up the ink and the pigment print ...which has a metallic nature...resisted a bit. two tone dots. very cool and just another layer of pigment. i think it fits the fortuny mood of the fabric.
i also tried it with other colors. and lines. a sort of resist technique using the nature of a pigment print.