Silk Fusion & Paper Making

Festive decoration making very often leads me to explore new textile possibilities.  This years inspiration came from a most enjoyable autumn visit to Whitchurch Silk Mill, where the delights of silk 'fusion' were brought back onto my radar.   Also called silk 'paper' making, while this lustrious and tactile medium is very much made in the fashion of paper, the feel is by far more of a textile.  Making in earnest this month has been a very creative and fun experience, with the added bonus of mega colour fixes! 

Tussah and Mulberry silk tops are both suitable for silk fusion and are available from specialist sellers in an array of colours.  I spent some very enjoyable hours online shopping for a vibrant selection that I knew would be equally joyful in my fingers.  Mulberry fibres are generally considered the better quality of the two and as the fibres that are finer and longer than Tussah they generally make a thinner fusion.  Tussah tends to produce a more sturdy product and is therefore more suitable for projects that require some robustness.

The creation process starts with laying a piece of plastic on a working table and a piece of netting on top of this - I used floor underlay as my base which had the added advantage of a little padding.  Then the silk fibres are layed down onto the net so that they overlap.  Fibres can be laid in a structured fashion as in felting with an even layer in one direction and then at right angles to the first layer.  I found that this made for a paper that was certainly sturdy, however, a bit too flat for my liking.  Aiming for something a bit more vibrant, I found putting down a single layer that overlapped at all sorts of angles worked really well - as long as I ensured that there were no sparsely laid patches. 

The next step is most important and not to be scrimped on - wetting out the silk.  It is vital that this is done thoroughly to enable the fabric medium to penatrate through all the fibres and thus hold it together.  A dot of washing up liquid in the water helped with this.  

Another layer of net was added on top before wetting out to hold the silk fibres in place.

The silk sandwich then needs to be turned over and the wetting process repeated on the other side.  

I made a point of tucking in stray fibres at this point to get the maximum amount of serviable fabric for the first project I had in mind.  The edges can be left wispy, however, for a more organic piece.

Then to add the textile medium, of which there are various options depending on what the fused silk is to be used for - there's also the option of watering the medium down.   

Again, it's important to make sure the medium penetrates all the layers for the best finish.  By the time I got to this stage I usually had a complete white-out which thankfully disappeared as it dried.

The drying proved to be the part that took the most experimentation - November rarely has good outside drying days in the UK!  Hairdryers spoiled spoiled the finish and drying on plastic was a complete no no.  

I found that what gave the best result was draining excess liquid on a on old picture frame with a piece of net stapled across.  I then laid the damp silk on netting and then on an old towel on a warm surface until it was completely dry.

It's best to wait until the fused silk is completely dry, at which point the net easily peels away from the back - I did spoil a few pieces with my impatience!  The fusion at this point can look quite textured - depending on how flat it was dried.  

There is also a final step of sealing the textile medium with a warm iron.  While this is not vital for all decorative projects, it gives a smooth finish with a sheen that was perfect for my first projects.

And so after many hours of damp hands and dripping fibres, I started creating with my treasured pile of silk fusions.  I backed pieces with silk organza and free machine stitched with metalic thread before cutting into strips - these hard won creations may well be found handing in my studio way beyond the festive season.  Plus I reckon that despite the winter drying challenges, I will be silk fusing aplenty over the months ahead and I will be offering this this as a subject specific workshop at my Spring Farm studio in January.