0 replies
  6. admin
    admin says:

    Just acid dyes – I’m working on a tutorial page for wormspit.com – I’ll put up a note when it goes up. The dye color is Jacquard’s Brilliant Blue.

    Of course, the reeled silk contributes, too – because of the structure of the filament, it disperses light differently than spun yarns. The same depth of shade on spun silk looks a little more… pearly?

  7. admin
    admin says:

    I got out of doing it – I just got to the point where it was running me ragged, and it wasn’t making any appreciable amount of money after all the costs were figured in.

    I can still sell small amounts as a hobbyist; it just means that I pay taxes on my supplies now, instead of charging taxes on my products. I don’t have anything made up, though.

  8. admin
    admin says:

    I love the flies – I almost wish they made them for jewelry or something, instead of all hooks! What I’m going to do, is frame a couple of them; I figure they’ll be good examples for talking from, as well as attractive on the wall.

  10. admin
    admin says:

    Thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing how it works for the flies – they’re so different in structure than anything I’ve seen before. It really brings out the sheen of the flat silk.

  11. jellybean71
    jellybean71 says:

    which is easier to tablet weave with? Reeled or spun? And how much would you charge for a batch of that blue and white? I don’t know you charge … by yard or by weight.

    (I would rather give you the money than some nameless corporation)

  13. admin
    admin says:

    Hmm… “easier” is kind of hard for me to judge. I’ve only done one project with reeled silk warp, and it was wonderful, although it did tend to shred a little. It weaves very smoothly, but needs a warp spreader to reduce abrasion of the threads behind the tablets. The spun silks are tighter than what I’m making with the reeled silk, and that helps. They all weave easier than cotton, because the smooth surface reduces the turning friction.

    I don’t sell my hand-reeled silk. With the hand-reeled stuff, I figured out what I’d be making if I price it anywhere near the price you can get from Habu – and it worked out to something like thirty cents an hour. I haven’t figured out a pricing strategy based on a decent hourly rate, although I have traded some small amounts of the reeled silks to other artisans for their work. Ironically, I pay almost as much per kilo of whole cocoons as I do for a kilo of spun silk – a kilo of cocoons yields about 4 or 5 ounces of raw silk, which loses about 1/4 of its weight after degumming.

    Spun silk is much less expensive than reeled. I get Bombyx silk by the kilo from India, spun to my specifications. My vendor there does really beautiful work. I would be willing to sell you a couple of skeins of that, if you want – it would have to be by weight, because I don’t know the exact yardage of their skeins. I could dye the blue for you, but the natural silk color is a creamy slightly off-white color. I haven’t yet experimented with peroxide to see if I can get it to go totally white. Right now, I only have 2/30’s. In the natural, I’d be willing to sell it for $15/100grams; I’d have to tack on a couple of dollars for dyeing per skein if you want it in a color I’ve got. I’m not sure what the skeins weigh, but it’s pretty close to an ounce I think.

  14. esmerel
    esmerel says:

    Those colors are gorgeous – they almost cry out to be made into jewelry of some sort, but then I’d be terrified of breaking it because I am one of the clumsiest people ever.

    Or weaving, or.. wow, I just want to stare at it. 🙂

  15. admin
    admin says:

    Hee. I find myself just holding the spools, tipping them back and forth to see the sheen on them. I’m such a magpie for shiny things! Not very helpful as far as getting something productive done, though.

  16. shadowduchess
    shadowduchess says:

    I was thinking that when I was looking at them, I had to keep getting S to turn around and look as I was just blown away by how exquisite they were.
    *nod*
    I think that’s a great idea, framing them both for example and their loveliness.

  19. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    silk and salmon flies

    Michael your silk and their colors are so impressive. It’s folks like you that help to make dressing flies an art form. Thank you Michael for material, support and kindnesses. Paul Martin

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