12.04.2011

tussah discovered

not all silk labeled tussah is of unknown wild origins; sometimes it is from the ricini or muga silkmoths. muga silk is a champagne hued silk which can be spun from a lovely soft cloud of fiber into something shimmery with warm tones. the ricini silkmoth produces both red eri silk and white eri silk, the former producing a mushroom hued fiber with lots of sheen.


i happened across 100 grams of both the muga and red eri silk from a fiber seller at plying the arts, last august. i chose to spin them up on my jay spindle, then plied together. right now i'm allowing the fiber to rest in it's spun ball form for a couple of days before i skein and give it a bath to set the twist.


the feel is so soft, so delicate, and the sheen is alluring. i enjoy spinning silk by drop spindle and it is a good use of time when things are slow.

9 comments:

  1. I didn't know about this other kinds of silk , very interesting.
    I love how you made the balls, it is so intricate and so pretty. If I had balls like this I would hardly be able to destroy them by knitting!

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  2. it's one of my favorite aspects of using a turkish spindle; a nicely wound ball of yarn when you're done. i have a couple of them around, usually spun singles waiting for their partner.

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  3. oh, they are so-o gorgeous. I am spinning tussah/camel on my kachula now but I have a terrible time plying on a spindle. any tips??

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  4. put the two yarns to be plied in their own ziplock bags, leaving it open enough so that the yarn moves freely out (this prevents tangling or the ball from unspinning). i start the plied yarn with the ends you finished on, rather than the end you started with (so this way it won't become a tangled mess when the outsides start collapsing). tie them together, pinch about 4-6 inches from the knot and using your thigh, roll them away from you (z-twist, roll toward you or s-twist, roll away from you. so, it's tightly plied). then slip knot onto the base of the shaft, loop yarn over the tip and spin twisting the bottom of the shaft, under the whorl so your fingers don't loosen the yarn free from the top.

    if you're plying one ball of singles, andean ply it, or if it's not too fine, by tying both ends together.

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  5. thanks, Anastasia. hadn't thought of the baggie idea, planning to order a Jay - after Christmas, thought it might be better for plying. Are you decorating your tiny house for the holidays??

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  6. i've plied on the kuchulu, but the yarn was a little larger than thread. the notch on the top isn't deep enough to really hold anything much thicker. also, the fiber wasn't silky, it was cotton; that helped it stay on the shaft better, i think.
    the jay has been very nice to spin on, i can spin slower and looser, so it's been good for bison, alpaca, and fluffier fibers. having the lark shaft has also been good for spinning cotton, as i find i can't draw as smoothly and quickly because of the short fiber staple.
    i have a wheel, but i keep going back to the drop spindles because they're so different and it's really a pleasure to spin on them. it will also be nice to have on the plane when you go to japan! you can quickly spin up samples of various fibers you come across, as well!

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  7. hmm, i'm a bit of a grouch this time of year (too many holidays spent working retail). so, i've still got halloween decorations up. plus, i'm one of those literal/scientific types who believe christ was born in the spring. but, i will celebrate a bit of winter solstice. my irish roman catholic ancestors are probably rolling in their graves, but i'm thinking the bit of druid mixed in there is enjoying the notion.

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  8. the silk is to die for gorgeous. really lovely stuff. and i admire your love for and skill with the spindle...

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  9. thank you! silk is definitely one of my obsessions now. as for the drop spindle, it is an under appreciated tool; i think somewhere along the line it was created poorly and got a bad reputation. i love it's portability (no worries about bringing it along on the plane!).

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