So I decided that if I’m going to make these cute and little flowers I was going to have to use the proper silk for the job. I hate when I get myself in so deep that I start to question my ability to even swim! I’ve been staring at the photos so very long and I just knew I had to try some different silks.

So I went online and searched out the filament silks. I would prefer to have ones without twist but really hard to find.

I started with Kreinik because that is where I have purchased all of my silk so far. I have vast quantities of the stuff but it’s just not perfect you know. They did not have anything that I don’t already own.

Access Commodities has what I need but I can’t order it from them directly. They are helpful enough to post a list of US suppliers though. Some appear to be better stocked than others. There is nothing that I can just go to and get the silk though.

I placed an order with the Mad Sampler on Christmas Eve. They shipped it out on Christmas day! I was quite pleased with their prices, low shipping charges and  really fast service. I did not do too well with the colors though as it is really difficult to tell what is what on their website.

I will visit a large shop in MN next week to get more silk and hopefully many color charts for future use. I have started the comparisons and hope to have a perfect idea of what I need by the time I travel next week.

All of the tests are with filament silk. What I need to do is wrap small pieces of parchment (vellum) and a wire with the silk and then form it into petals. It is not quite as easy as it sounds but the end result should shine and have nice even lines to it. There are also petals that are stitched and petals that are just silk over a wire framework and I’m sure that different silks will have different applications with this project. I also intend to use up all of the existing silk as well.

So the results:

Kreinik Soie Perlee which is now Serica = This is a three ply tightly twisted silk of small diameter and what I’ve been using for the stitching parts of the project. I have not liked the look of it laid flat on petals and it is rather a bother to tease out the strands.

Trebizond Twisted Silk Thread = This is also a three ply twisted silk but about twice the bulk of the previous choice. Really easy to tease out the strands and pretty easy to wrap onto the petal and I’m happy with the result. Once the strands are teased out you have an exceptionally wavy thread and each ply consists of about six untwisted threads. The wave is not noticeable once the petal has been wrapped but it seems to create a visual bulk and dimension that adds appeal.

Au Ver A Soie – Soie Ovale = This is a flat untwisted silk and although it is very pretty it is also difficult to work with as the petal wrapping took significantly more time because the silk wasn’t grabbing the parchment like it should when it’s being wrapped. The end result was pretty but time consuming.

I think I will have to complete one whole flower with each of the silks and see how I feel about them at that point! And then I can really go shopping….