Post by caterina on Feb 11, 2022 10:13:20 GMT
Hello.
I wanted to try how eri silk felted if laid out in bigger amounts, so I prepared two samples:
1) a very thin layer of carded natural white Cheviot batt, and natural Eri silk in three colours, pure white, golden white and the red one
www.dropbox.com/s/wx1a3rn51zimhlf/img_20220210_101416.jpg?dl=0
2) two layers of natural white merino wool 23 mic, and bigger amounts of the Eri silk in natural colours as above.
www.dropbox.com/s/qho5icaock0cagz/img_20220210_110420.jpg?dl=0
I measured the samples before wetting them: I am guessing now that it was not the right way to measure them, as they splayed out as soon as I wetted and pressed them :-) so the number 1) ended up being kind of bigger after rolling than when dry, lol. Not very useful measurements.
Anyway, when still dry, they measured
1) 20x19 cm or 8 inches x 7.8 inches
2) 26x28 cm or 10.8 inches x 11 inches
The Cheviot was harder to felt, I am still not happy with it, I think that it needs more rolling, whereas the merino felted so quickly by comparison. Also, the Cheviot developed holes: I needed to lay it out a bit thicker, but I almost never wet felt batts, so I am still not very good at judging the right amount. I was aiming for very thin, but without holes!
I am thinking about candle holders covers, so I wanted light to pass through, but no holes (I have a lot of small glass jars to upcycle, because my kids eat quite a lot of a chocolate spread that comes in good unbranded glass jars,we have tons in the house, and I mostly just put them in the recycling bin. They eat 2-3 jars of that per week! ).
1) size after rubbing and rolling 21x18 cm (!!!)
2) size after rubbing and rolling 20x24cm
The silk, in any of the two amounts, felted beautifully, quickly, without any fuss. After a minimum of rubbing, it was already well attached to the wool.
I got the best results, I believe, with the merino wool: the silk got a lovely texture, because the merino had more shrinkage.
I need to rewet the Cheviot and roll it some more and see what happens..maybe I can still add some more wool to close the holes?
Eri silk is fantastically shiny and quite soft, and the lenght of the fiber was more or less like that of my merino, maybe a trifle less.
Here are the two final samples:
www.dropbox.com/s/0p6lxgyiq2ub3bu/img_20220211_092512.jpg?dl=0
I think that I would like to use Eri silk in a range of projects.
I also found the time to research more on the different kinds of silk, it was very interesting.
I wanted to try how eri silk felted if laid out in bigger amounts, so I prepared two samples:
1) a very thin layer of carded natural white Cheviot batt, and natural Eri silk in three colours, pure white, golden white and the red one
www.dropbox.com/s/wx1a3rn51zimhlf/img_20220210_101416.jpg?dl=0
2) two layers of natural white merino wool 23 mic, and bigger amounts of the Eri silk in natural colours as above.
www.dropbox.com/s/qho5icaock0cagz/img_20220210_110420.jpg?dl=0
I measured the samples before wetting them: I am guessing now that it was not the right way to measure them, as they splayed out as soon as I wetted and pressed them :-) so the number 1) ended up being kind of bigger after rolling than when dry, lol. Not very useful measurements.
Anyway, when still dry, they measured
1) 20x19 cm or 8 inches x 7.8 inches
2) 26x28 cm or 10.8 inches x 11 inches
The Cheviot was harder to felt, I am still not happy with it, I think that it needs more rolling, whereas the merino felted so quickly by comparison. Also, the Cheviot developed holes: I needed to lay it out a bit thicker, but I almost never wet felt batts, so I am still not very good at judging the right amount. I was aiming for very thin, but without holes!
I am thinking about candle holders covers, so I wanted light to pass through, but no holes (I have a lot of small glass jars to upcycle, because my kids eat quite a lot of a chocolate spread that comes in good unbranded glass jars,we have tons in the house, and I mostly just put them in the recycling bin. They eat 2-3 jars of that per week! ).
1) size after rubbing and rolling 21x18 cm (!!!)
2) size after rubbing and rolling 20x24cm
The silk, in any of the two amounts, felted beautifully, quickly, without any fuss. After a minimum of rubbing, it was already well attached to the wool.
I got the best results, I believe, with the merino wool: the silk got a lovely texture, because the merino had more shrinkage.
I need to rewet the Cheviot and roll it some more and see what happens..maybe I can still add some more wool to close the holes?
Eri silk is fantastically shiny and quite soft, and the lenght of the fiber was more or less like that of my merino, maybe a trifle less.
Here are the two final samples:
www.dropbox.com/s/0p6lxgyiq2ub3bu/img_20220211_092512.jpg?dl=0
I think that I would like to use Eri silk in a range of projects.
I also found the time to research more on the different kinds of silk, it was very interesting.
