[Jewelry making - Article 00054] - Re: [Orchid] Stretching silk

[Douglas Turet]

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>     What techniques do people use to prestretch their silk prior to
>     stringing. Currently, I am using the technique suggested by Rio
>     Grande on their stringing video (running the silk through the slots
>     on the card), but that tends to abrade the silk and doesn't seem to
>     be sufficiently stretching it. Any suggestions?

    Hi JoAnna, Actually, I can offer you a couple of different
    pre-stretching methods. These are leftovers from my bead
    designing/stringing days in the early 80's, and are relatively
    interchangeable, as far as results are concerned... The first and
    best (but most time-intensive) is to thread your silk through a
    large nut (or around the base of the head of a carriage bolt), tie a
    knot around it, and unwind about four feet of silk. Next, place your
    silk spool in a vise or C-clamp, place it/weigh it in place atop a
    bookcase, and clamp a large Vise-Grip plier onto the nut or bolt at
    the other end. Last, spritz the thread with a water mister, then
    leave this hanging in place until dry, or coax it along with a blow
    dryer. 

    The other (and infinitely less labor intensive) version is to thread
    about 6" of beads (any material other than Garnet, since it's holes
    tend to be more abrasive than most others) onto your doubled silk
    thread, then hold the "needle" end of the thread (not just the
    needle) in one hand, the other two ends in the other hand, and yank
    the thread straight a few times. If you're doing this properly, the
    mass of beads will whip around and around, centrifugally, thus
    stretching your thread! "Back in the day", when I'd used this so
    regularly, I'd pre-stretch each strand as just indicated, then
    re-stretch the same strand every so often, to assure that no large
    amount of elasticity remained. Finally, I'd do it one last time
    after the entire strand was complete, just to be sure that all of
    the knots would lie properly, and the strand would drape evenly. 

    Of the two methods, I'd recommend the second one for general usage,
    and the first, for use with beads over about the 10mm mark,
    considering that the potential for personal injury necessarily
    grows, exponentially, when swinging larger weights around like that. 

    Hope this helps, JoAnna! 

Best Regards,
Doug
Douglas Turet, GJ
Lapidary Artist, Designer & Goldsmith
Turet Design
P.O. Box 162
Arlington, MA 02476
Tel. (617) 325-5328
eFax (928) 222-0815
anotherbrightidea AT hotmail.com

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