The creative use of salt shrinking and de-gumming of silk as a patterning technique

Abstract

By employing finishing techniques to silk fabric alongside a shibori or resist process, areas of different densities can be formed within the cloth; creating textured, puckered and distorted effects. One process: salt shrinking is unknown in the western world but has evolved over the centuries within Japan. It is a tradition originally used for finishing silk crepe, where by soaking the fabric in seawater the silk fibres contracted to create more density. The effects tended to be unstable so today; calcium chloride or calcium nitrate solutions are now employed. A second process relies upon sericin or the silk gum present within a silk fibre to create texture. During the manufacturing the sericin is left on in order to protect the fibre but is then removed during scouring in order to create a soft lustrous fabric. With both processes if silk fabrics are patterned with shibori techniques, prior to the salt treatment or scouring, the resulting fabrics will contain, areas of different densities and texture with visible contrast occurring between the areas protected by the resists and those that were affected by the finishing. The textures that are produced are said to be almost permanent, but break down with severe washing.