Silk Fusion

The Fiber Arts Alliance group in Asheville, NC had a very inspiring meeting this month. Deb Brown did the program demonstrating how to make something called silk fusion. Being a lover of silk, this really caught my eye.  Deb started with silk rovings; a roving is a cleaned strand of fiber from which threads and yarns are made. They take color beautifully as you can see in the picture below.
To start: Wear rubber gloves; lay a piece of wax paper or plastic down first, followed by a piece of tulle. The fibers come next and in no particular order. It's fun to mix several colors together.

Place the rovings so that are around 1" high. It seems way high but wait and see.

Cover the rovings with a second piece of tulle.

Mix 3 parts water to 1 part textile medium; drip over the top until the rovings are wet. A word about textile medium; it can be found in craft stores, it's the binder in fabric paint which allows permanent bonding heat set.

Using your hands, smooth the wet rovings over.

At this point, you can add glitter and other types of small glitz to the surface.

It looks better of you smooth out the glitter.

Lightly sponge over the top to remove the excess medium.

Let dry before removing the tulle.

This is a piece of finished silk fusion. It can be cut into shapes, stitched by hand or machine and while wet, molded into shapes. It's very versatile and interesting.

Deb shared her notebook of techniques with us, what a great idea!

A great meeting as always