Wet felting silk

[flicstarstudios]

Hello all,
I have a question about whether I can felt mostly silk?

I bought silk laps from FibreFusion here in Aus and I have used it with some pre-felt to make a scarf.

What I'd like to try now is to make a scarf that is more silky and less felted wool - say 90% silk, 10% merino.

If I lay out the silk laps for a scarf and then lay wisps of merino on top (going in both directions) would it felt? Or would it just end up a big wet stringy mess?

Thanks in advance!

[zed]

It should be possible, but you'd have to be careful with the layout of the laps because of their 'structure', ie, ithe kind of loose 'layers', so while the bottom 'layer' would definitely attach to the wool, any upper fluffy layers might not. (I just tried some synthetic type of laps yesterday and that happened.) If the laps are stretched out so they're not too thick it shouldn't happen. Do you have enough to try samples?

[Shepherdess]

Yes this will work I have done this. You end up with a really cool cobweb piece. Yes, do not make the silk to thick so the wool can get to all of it to attach. I did it with many many silk hankies stretched out. Silk laps were not available at the time. I can't find a picture. they must be on one of the older computers.

[flicstarstudios]

Okay, coolio!

I'll give it a go and let you know how it turns out.
Thanks

[flicstarstudios]

It worked! I ended up with a really fine and delicate cobweb silk scarf. It's almost too delicate. But it definitely felted and is now a piece of fabric. Very interesting. Thanks for your help!

[zed]

I'm glad it worked out
If you're worried it's too delicate, you could re-wet it and full/shrink some more.

[Shepherdess]

The one I did ended up like a fine lace shawl. You needed to be carful with it in the same way.

[MTRuth]

I'd love to see a photo of it please

[flicstarstudios]

I will try and post a picture:




If that doesn't work, you can see it here:

flicstarstudios.com/2013/04/25/very-delicate-silk-scarf/

The photos aren't great because I took them with my ipad so they're a bit blurry.

I think I will wear it like a 'necklace' more than a scarf.

[jufergu]

I like scarves without too much bulk in the summer. They look nice and are not so hot. This one looks great.

[zed]

You matched the colour of the wool to it well, and it's really shiny!

[MTRuth]

Wonderful, the colors are great.

[Shepherdess]

It looks great. It looks like a continues circle, is it?

[flicstarstudios]

Yes, I'm really into infinity scarves at the moment, so i joined the ends together after I had wet it down. It makes it a bit tricky to felt.
I use bubble-wrap. I have a layer on the bottom (bubbles facing up), then the scarf loop. I put a layer of bubble wrap in the middle of the scarf - a long loop of bubble wrap with bubbles facing outward. Then I roll. Hope that makes sense - hard to describe.
I'd really like to do a mobius scarf - loop with a twist - but I haven't worked myself up to doing that yet. I don't think I can be bothered faffing around with the bubble wrap :-)
If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear.

[Shepherdess]

you can leave the ends of your scarf unfelted and then join them after the rest of the scarf is done. It is not that easy to keep the ends dry and unfelted. another way is to wrap the bubble wrap around the join so when it folds it doesn't matter.