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Silk Paper

I am hooked on creating silk paper- so crazy am I that I had pounds of silk hand dyed to support my habit and yours!!LOL. What you don’t have the silk paper habit …. yet!

While in Houston Festival Liz Kettle did a silk paper demo during her Open Studio in the Cloth Paper Scissors section of the vendor floor- We had several converts who ran down to purchase a silk pack, stencil brush and textile medium. And for those of you who already purchased your supplies in Texas – SHOW ME YOUR SILK PAPER!! Please email me photos and I will post on the blog- what did you make with your silk paper?

I was asked to post a tutorial on how to make silk paper- here is the way I was taught. I am sure there are other options, comments, and recommendations- please add them via comments.

Step One: The materials

A pan that has a lip on it, you will use liquid and want to contain it. For demo purposes I have used an alumium cake pan. Also, silk, stencil brush ( any brush will work, but I like the stencil brush), textile medium, 2 small jars, netting/tulle.

making-silk-paper-textile-medium-stencil-brush

making-silk-paper-textile-medium-stencil-brush

Cut a piece of netting that is the length of the pan and twice the width of the pan. Lay the netting on the bottom of the pan.

making-silk-paper-pan-netting-step-one

making-silk-paper-pan-netting-step-one

Place the silk roving and or hankie thinly on the netting.
dry fibers on netting

dry fibers on netting

At this time you can trap some sequins, threads etc in the silk,  just make sure that you have covered top and bottom the extras. Fold the netting over the top. This will keep the brush from pulling the silk up and out of the pan!

In one of the jars mix a drop of liquid dish detergent and mostly water.  The 2nd jar will be a mixture of textile medium and water. The more textile medium the stiffer the silk will be- more water the softer the paper will be- but remember to not go less than 50/50 textile medium/water or it won’t stay together.

making-silk-paper-with-textile-medium

making-silk-paper-with-textile-medium

First use the liquid soap and water to wet the fibers using the brush to work it in- be rough not dainty.  Then work in the textile medium. I have been known to flip the silk over and work both sides.  Work the materials for 5 minutes and then hang the piece (with the netting still on) so air circulates top and bottom in order to dry quicker. Use a drip pan or paper underneath so the floor doesn’t get wet- this stuff doesn’t come up with soap and water… ask me how I know!
When the silk paper is dry the netting will peel right off.
silk paper- completed and dried

silk paper- completed and dried

And here are the new Artistic Artifacts silk packages used in our silk paper making arti parti
making-silk-paper-kits

making-silk-paper-kits

To purchase all the supplies for silk paper making flip over to ArtisticArtifacts.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Fiber, Shows, Travel, Tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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