Adding silk

[NatureandNurture]

I'm going to try this out. But roughly how much should I be adding? I'll probably be using 100% silk fabric, so if you could give an estimation on how much of that to use, it would be great! I add it to the lye water, right?

 

[Guest]

You do add it to your water , I let it sit a minute or two to make sure it is wet ,before I add my lye . As for the amount I use a piece of the tussah silk , the size of my thumb nail . I would suggest cutting the fabric as finely as you can until you have a little pile , roughly that size.

HTH

Kitn

 

[Saltysteele]

silk?? huh??

 

[Guest]

A lot of soap makers add cruelty free tussah silk to the water , before you add the lye . It makes the soap feel very smooth and silky . I add it to every batch , I love it .

HTH

Kitn

 

[krissy]

i use fabric and i add about a 1 and a half inch square. i snip it into small pieces about the size of rice then add it to my lye container, then i add my water and let it sit while i am measuring out the lye. then i add lye as usual and stir until the silk is mostly dissolved. i let it sit until my oils are ready then stir again....easy as pie

 

[waychie]

I love using Tussah silk!

I put in in every batch now..thanks to the lovely people of this forum! 8)

I use about the size of a cotton ball in a 1kg batch, cut into miniscule pieces into the liquid

 

[jmk7765]

Wow! I didn't know...

I didn't know you use silk fabric for using in soaps!! Has anyone had any color come through? Also, describe Tussah silk, please. How will I know it when I see it.
I love reusing things.

 

[NatureandNurture]

Unless I'm mistaken, tussah is raw (unprocessed) silk and you will definitely know it when you see it.

 

[waychie]

Re: Wow! I didn't know...

I didn't know you use silk fabric for using in soaps!! Has anyone had any color come through? Also, describe Tussah silk, please. How will I know it when I see it.
I love reusing things.

No colour comes through at all as its natural, the silk reminds me of really fine hair. I purchased 50 grams from ebay and it will last a lifetime!

 

[kittywings]

I don't even cut it that much now... let's say a 2" by 2" square into 4 pieces and it dissolves just fine. I put it in the water, swirl it around a bit and then add the lye.

I bought a strip of dupioni silk from joann... cost me $.90

 

[NatureandNurture]

Okay, I tried it out tonight. I waited about 30 minutes and it STILL did not dissolve entirely. Is it supposed to? I used 100% silk, what remained in the water looked like small flecks of silk, I went ahead and poured the lye into the oils and soaped as usual, will it be alright do you think?

 

[ctmax]

This is very interesting. Does Bombyx silk work? Along with making soap I am also a weaver, knitter, and I spin. One summer I thought it would be a great learning experience for my children to raise silkworms. I had lots of ideas of what I could do with the silk, but didn't realize at the time how little silk you get out of 100 worms. I have lots of these cocoons left, I wonder if I cut them up if they would work the same?