Felting Silk ?

Felting with Silk Fibres

Are you having trouble making your silk 'stick' ?

Silk fibres are long and smooth and triangular in shape. This makes them slippery and gives them lustre.

Wool fibres are made of layers of 'scales' which cause them to be dull and allow the fibres to shrink.

This diagram from 'Chemistry of the Laundry' is a magnified sketch of

a) Wool  b) Mohair c) Cotton d) Silk e) Linen

The fibres with more surface texture, felt better than those with smooth surfaces.

If you can imagine meshing these wool and silk fibres together, it is fairly safe to say the only ones with real grip will be the wool fibres.

So, when you decorate with silk, the trick is to place down your silk and then lay down a very fine cobweb of wool over the top to 'anchor' the silk fibres into place.

(Nobody sneeze or move quickly or you'll blow it away !)

But beware, too much wool cobweb will suck the silk into the wool and you will lose the silk's lustre.

These silk roses are nuno felted onto cotton voile.

The rose was a circular twist of silk.

The ripple effect has been caused by the wool fibres pulling and anchoring the silk on the surface into place.