Silk Paper for felting

In the recent workshop I used silk paper that I made in order to cut out fish shapes for my blanket koi pond.

Many people were interested in how this was done.  By making the silk paper it lets you cut shapes out of the silk that will then felt into the piece without too much distortion.

Here is how you make them

Ingredients:
Silk Roving
Liquid Starch
Spray Bottle
Water
Parchment paper - kind used for cooking
an Iron

Lay out the parchment paper on your ironing board or a towel
Lay out the silk roving on the parchment paper in perpendicular or even the same direction depending on
how you want it to look when felted.

Mix up the liquid starch with water in a squirt bottle.  Spray the silk roving until it is wet with starch.
Lay a piece of parchment paper on top and press it with a hot iron to flatten.

Lay it aside to dry a bit.  Once it drys a bit, Iron it again so its totally dry.  Then you can peel the silk paper
off of the parchment paper and store it until needed.

I make quite a few sheets at a time so I have them ready.

You can also do this with silk hankies if you like.  It makes them easier to deal with when laying them down.

The starch dissolves in the felting process and washes away.  This is a picture of the silk shapes before felting during layout. And after they have been partially felted.