The Life and Projects of An Avid Hobbyist

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Self-Taught

Picture heavy post!

In earlier blog posts, I showed some silk cocoons I bought on etsy here. They sat in a vase on my desk at work for some time as decoration while I researched (via the internet) the proper way to process them.

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Since that purchase, I've watched multiple videos and read lots of articles on how to process them.  This is where the wonder world of the web-based learning and reality collide with disastrous results.

I got out my frame and added a peg to stretch the cocoons across.

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****Disaster Alert***
It seems I cooked the cocoons on too high heat for too long....or something like that because the next thing I knew all of my bright vibrant colors were gone and everything was a muddled gray.



There were little specks of bug innards that I wasn't able to get out.

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All was not lost.  By the time I rised everything stretched on the frame and it dried the silk was nice enough.  If I am going to use it for any purpose I have a lot more prep work to do including dyeing at some point...

Question:
 So what's the lesson here boys and girls?

Answer....
just because you study something on the internet, you are NOT necessarily an expert. ~ksp

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