My first attempt at making silk paper

13th June 2013

Sonja has told me she has been unable to post a comment on this blog so I asked my son for help!
He says the problem has been sorted, so if you would like to post a comment or ask a question please do.

Yesterday I was a little excited about my stall at the Craft Fair and posted the wrong date! It should have been 21st July. (a senior moment!!)

Today Anne returned my Unit 2 together with very helpful feedback. I promptly booked Unit 3.

Today I rinsed the scrim that I dyed yesterday. These are the results, the first photo when wet and the second when dry.

The colour changed slightly and next time I must add only a tiny amount of blue as the purple is too dark. The scrim is a lovely texture and I am looking forward to stitching it.

Then the postman arrived with some silk tops I had ordered.

 I subscribe to the Colouricious website and each week Jamie Malden introduces a textile artist.( I discovered Anne's work this way) Last week she introduced Isobel Hall who showed how she made silk paper without mess!! Of course I wanted to try it so found a site that stocked the tops required. As soon as I unwrapped the parcel I had the iron out, the water spray and baking parchment. I took photos during this very enjoyable process.

This shows 2 varieties of silk. The silk on the left is Throwster's Silk and is long strands which can be added to the paper. The silk on the right is Silk Cocoon-pure silk in the gum- which is used to make the paper. 

I began the process of teasing the silk, dampening with water spray and laying it on the baking parchment. I had 3 fine layers when I decided to try adding some daisies that I had pressed a couple of weeks ago. (another first)

I then added 2 more fine layers to secure the daisies. 

I was really pleased with my very first piece of silk paper and it was such an enjoyable process, next time I am going to try adding some of my Merino fleece.

This paper is thick enough to stitch-I think- will tell you when I have tried!