Hello, No matter what I do my silks always get crumpled I put them in a hank ball and they come out looking really nasty not the kind of thing you want to parade around with on stage, another thing is I have a 25 foot streamer and it wont Dragon pleat! I start it but it all comes undone can any give me some help?

Best,

Luke

Most silken materials wrinkle when they are crumpled. When storing silks, roll them around a poster tube. Don't iron them.
If the accordion fold is too narrow widen it a bit, thus cutting the height down.

I used to wash and iron my silks a lot, many years ago. I then learned from a seasoned pro that the silks will look much better if you never do that. Over time the more crumpled they get the better they look. I only roll my streamers around a poster tube, all other silks are lightly folded and stored in heavy duty zip lock bags labled with the effect in which they are used. They always look great (there are so many wrinkles now, they look pretty unwrinkled).

This is also gives you a good reason to practice. The more practice, the better your silks look.

And by the way, don't forget your hand moisturizer and keeping your nails trimmed and smooth.

Steaming works really well on silks and takes up very little time !

I think a certain consideration should be given to the load container and how the silks are loaded.
In some production gimmicks you do not necessarily need to "wad" the silks, but take an extra moment or two and place them in carefully.
An extreme example of this is Abbott's "Classic Production". The separate silk load chamber is large and flat and I was able to load 36" art silks in their regular flat folded condition. Now Merv Taylor's Tambourine was a different story altogether!

I just leave the wrinkles in. Over time, there are so many wrinkles that it has a billowy look rather than a wrinkled look. But, don't store the silks for more than an hour in a hank ball or else the wrinkles can become crisp and really look bad. I store the silks in a container that won't be flattened that has plenty of room for the silks to breathe. Small plastic food containers work well for storage, as long as they have some holes to let air in.

As for pleating a streamer, I don't do it neatly. I just pleat it in my hands - not much neater than wadding it up.

But how can one clean his/her silks? Especially if they become dirty/soiled.

Don,

Use Woolite and follow the instructions. Don't mix light and dark colors! You will get some new colors that way.

Bob
Magic By Sander

LOL Bob Maybe I Should Mix them. and sell them as custom Made.

Ta get the wrinkles out of my silks I just get them wet w/cold water and hang them on a string, they dry within minutes and there is no trace of wrinkles...simple.

Johnny

I use a small "Travel steamer". It works really well!

Johnny you can also spread them on your bath room mirror.

Yeah, but then I can't see my pretty face..hehe.
Johnny

I use the accordian fold and it keeps my silks looking fine.