Category Archives: Care of Silk

Care of Silk, Techniques

Removing Goofs on Heavy Silk

Here is a wonderful conversation over heard on the SPIN facebook page about how to remove unwanted spots or bleeds on very heavy silk. Thanks Don Baker and Marcia Ferris:

So on round 4 I finally penetrated the 12 Momme silk Resistad lines spread a bit but all in all I think it is a go, except for where my brush jumped and where I did not close my gutta lines at the short end of the horse shoe. Not really sure how one would get very fine lines on thick silk. Is there a way to resist fine lines on thick silk? What is the best way to remove unset Camelia DuPont 474 – Alcohol and water and q-tips?

Like ·  · 25 minutes ago ·
  • Marcia Ferris likes this.

    • Marcia Ferris Are you talking about the small red spot in one point? Can hardly see it. Now if I lived down the street I would bring up some Decolourant and with a Q Tip dab the smallest area and then dry and iron. If that did not work, Jacquard discharge paste might. Only the smallest amount. Alcohol is so scary. It spreads so fast and may go too far.

      17 minutes ago · Like

    • Mark as Spam

      Don Baker Yes, that is the spot. Decolorant and discharge paste. Sounds a like a great couple of tools to have in my box. Will have to pick some of that up. I may sleep on it and might do number 5 tomorrow. I am very glad that the banner is 20″ x 24″ so I have only used about a yard of silk. But I really don’t want to do this again..One more time and I wont have to trace it. I will remember!

      12 minutes ago · Like

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      Don Baker Would Reduran do it Marcia Ferris

    • Don Baker I think I will make one more that will be perfect and I can use these as fancy napkins when we have company. LOL
Care of Silk, Gutta

Wash Your Silk Before Working It

Fiona Stolze

Wash Your Silk Before Working It

It’s always a great idea to wash your silk before working with it for a few reasons.

  • it removes the gum from the worms and coccoons
  • it removes all starches and chemicals used in the preparation of the silk
  • it allows better application and absorbency of the dye
  • it allows the gutta/resist to work better

Happy painting!

Tags: degumming, gutta, resist, silk, wash

Care of Silk, Uncategorized, Washing Silk

Great Post on Taking Care of Silks

This is from Melissa at Tangible Dreams

Washing and Ironing Hand Painted Silk Scarves

I was busy today doing the washing and the ironing. Sounds awfully domestic, doesn’t it? Except, what I was doing was the finishing work on the batch of hand painted silk scarves that I’ve been working on. They’ve been pre-washed, then dyed, then steamed. One last bit of work, and they are all set to go.

When the scarves come out of the steamer, they are kind of cracky-crinkly (Yes, that is the technical term. At least it is now.), and still have bits of salt on them. They’re pretty, but don’t have that lovely flowing and shining texture that you expect from silk.

So, the next step is to wash the scarves. I put them into lingerie bags to keep them from tangling too badly in the wash. (I learned that one the hard way.) I don’t put more than 3 or 4 scarves in a bag, and try to put like colors together on the off chance that the dyes run into each other.

This stuff helps keep the excess dyes from transferring to the silk. You can also use Synthropol. I put in about 1/4 cup for the wash load. The washer is on hot, and is set to the delicate cycle.

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