Mielke's
Fiber Arts, LLC Your Central Wisconsin source for weaving,
spinning, knitting, crocheting, tatting, bobbin lace, felting, dyeing, and
locker hooking equipment, books, and supplies.
Also called "bells".
Each cap weighs approximately a half ounce. Caps are made by de-gumming
cocoons and stretching them open over a frame to dry. Each cap is made of
numerous cocoons. They can be stretched out in a sliver to spin, or
stretched very fine for un-spun knitting.
Silk "Hankies" Similar to the caps or bells (sold above), hankies are made by de-gumming
cocoons and stretching them open over a frame to dry. Each hanky is made of
numerous cocoons. It can be stretched out in a sliver to spin, or
stretched very fine for un-spun knitting. Weights listed are approximate -
because of the nature of the hankies, it is not always possible to separate them
into exact one ounce increments.
Approximately 1 ounce...$5.65 #119509
Approximately 1/4 pound...$22.50 #119509
Silk Carrier Rods These rods are the end product of the silk reeling. They are cut into 1” x 5” pieces. They can be dyed, carded into batts, used for paper making, felting and even spun into yarn. Natural,
undyed.
$2.25 per ounce. #119510
Silk Carrier Rod Experiments
By Jill Laski
I have been having a great time experimenting with the different techniques for using these rods. They still have sericin in the fiber so my first foray into the silk rods was to grab several handfuls of the rods and immediately put them into soapy water, then shoved them into a crock pot with dissolved baking soda to degum them and simmer them for a while. I rinsed them (not gently) and put them back into a pot with vinegar and dye.
The colors are beautiful but the degumming and my not so gentle treatment of the rods created a batch of silk that was similar to silk noils. I carded them into batts with wool, lovely yarn.
So, my next approach was to sort out the rods, remove any short pieces and gently open them up, removed any pods and soaked in soapy water. Then I put them into the dye pot.
They were wonderful and the rods stayed together. After the rods dried, I spun a small skein of yarn by peeling the layers and spinning from the top of the rod. Meanwhile, I put some of the dyed rods into a degumming pot of baking soda and soap. The dyed silk became very shiny and “silk like” but the rod shape disappeared into a mass of short fibers and the color changed dramatically. Even better to card into batts than my first attempt as these were not as tangled and I did not need to run them through the carded multiple times.
In conclusion, I would recommend first sorting the rods and opening them up. Avoid trying to completely straighten. Refer to the far right rod on the photo above. Then put them in soapy water to soak. Then:
1) If you want to use the rods as a carding silk I would degum them first and then dye them.
2) If you want to use as a yarn, I would probably dry them and spin into a yarn, degum and then dye it.
3) If you love color change surprises, then after the first wash, dye it, spin it then degum it. Remember to always rinse in vinegar after the degumming process to neutralize the PH.
Mielke's
Fiber Arts, LLC
