Silk Cocoon
I’ve been re-organising my supplies lately, and one of the things I did was put my dyed silk products into one box, and my natural undyed silk supplies in another. While I was doing this I had an idea to make a silky cocoon type pod. I had a look on google images and liked the look of ones which were more fibrey, ‘scruffy’ looking. So I started by really piling the silk on to my resist. I added a couple of bunched up silk hankies, a silk hankie I’d drafted into roving, silk throwster’s waste, schappe silk from wollknoll, different types of silk noil, some coccon strippings. I can’t find my undyed silk carrier rods, but I did find a little bag of ‘fluff’ I’d carded from silk carrier rod scraps a few years ago, so I put that on too. I did a layer of 18.5 Mic Merino on top of the silk, then on one side I lay lengths of white pencil roving. I used 23 Mic Merino for the second layer, and then 2 layers of English 56s. I do like the way it turned out, but I didn’t expect it to be so ‘neat’!
I thought with all the silk I’d piled on it’d be a lot more fibrey, but it does have nice texture and structure and there’s a lot of different shades.
This is a closer look at some texture:
And this is some of the throwster’s waste:
I wondered if some of the texture and features would show up more with a light inside, so I used a bit of sewing thread to attach it to a ceiling light to see:
You can definitely see more, and here you can see the ridges from the pencil roving better:
22 thoughts on “Silk Cocoon”
What a beautiful cocoon! And I like it with the light in too. Yes, a bit eerie, but in a nice mysterious way. How large is it?
Thanks, Zara 🙂
It’s about 25/26cm or 10 inches.
Thanks for giving the measurement in cm too! 😉
you’re welcome 🙂
The textures of the neutral fibers are really awesome, and the illumination highlights the embellishments you worked so hard to layout.
Thanks, Cathy 🙂
I like it with the light in it but it does make me think of the pods in invasion of the body snatchers.
Thanks, Ann 🙂
It does have a sci-fi look to it!
Great textures. I love working with silk. It’s a great idea to light it up you can see so much more. Of that wonderful silk.
Thanks, Marilyn 🙂
Thats some fun and delight, though would agree with shepherdessann 🙂
Thanks, Jane 🙂
Looks great zed, lovely textures. 🙂 It reminds me of some sea creature though I can’t quite think which.
Thanks, Judith 🙂
When I was researching fibres I kept hearing about some mollusc with silky threads, maybe it’s that.
Beautiful shape Zed, very organic looking, it reminds me of a seed pod and using the pencil roving along the length was a great idea too. Any thoughts on what you will use it for?
Thanks, Teri 🙂
I’m just making a few ‘sample’ pieces at the moment for the workshops I’m going to be involved in, to show how versatile felt can be. The idea for this one was that you can still use ‘too much’ fibre and create an interesting effect. I think I need even more silk and a coarser wool for the fluffy/scruffy effect I was after!
I too am surprised at how neat the pod turned out! It reminds me of a seed pod and I like the mottled white/cream colours.
Thanks, Lyn 🙂
It reminded me of seed pods too when I put it on the light.
Zed, I just made a pod with the Karakul fiber you sent–scruffy, indeed! Love it! You could also try Navajo churro.
Yeah, Karakul would give it the scruffy look definitely! I’ve never even seen Navajo Churro here.
Great pod Zed. I love it illuminated 🙂
Thanks, Ruth 🙂