How Transparent are Your Silks on Stage?
How Transparent are your silks on stage?
Hold your silk scarf up to the light? What do you see or don’t see? Magicians exploit different weights of silk for the compressing factor unavailable with satin. Silk dye has brighter colors than cotton and wool. Long strands have a smoother finish. Silk thread is triangular, giving it more shimmer under light. The hollow fiber of the silk insulates well, cooler in summer, warmer in winter. Silk is hypoallergenic. It is longer lasting than rayon. 100% silk scarves are brighter, fade less, wrinkle less than rayon blends. Silk has a bouncy feel.
In Japan, thread count on silk is measured in Momme. Silk is purchased with very fine thread count, such as 5 momme, all the way to heavier silk in the 20 or more momme range. Garments are made out of 20 momme or higher. But Magicians use 5 momme silks for a variety of reasons. It is the most transparent weight.
Low thread count on silk means how small you can crush it. Use 5 momme silks for thumb tips. However, please note that the 5 momme silks can wear out fairly quickly due to the abuse of being pressed into thumb tips. 16 - 20 momme silks are used for foulards to give flow and prevent light leakage. Different weights of silk allow for different amounts of light penetration. Japanese rating of momme is used for thread count.
5 or 6 momme silk crushes the best for thumb tips.
8 momme silk is very thin but compresses slightly thicker. It is called Habutai.
Light can pass through.
For opaque scarves, one needs at least 16 momme. It should still be lined.
Charmeuse silk feels like satin.
It has a weight of 18 momme to 20 momme. It doesn’t wrinkle easily and flows well.
The same volume of silk weighs less than other fibers. This is why magicians use silk to compress into small spaces and expand large.
How to test the difference between Silk and Polyester?
Silk
Feel test: silk is softer and bouncier. Silk forms crisp clean lines when ironed.
Ring test: silk pushes easily through a ring.
Static Test: silk doesn’t conduct static.
Burn test: Silk burns and leaves ash.
Cost: Silk costs three to four times as much as Polyester.
Polyester
Feel: Polyester is a bit stiffer. Ironing is more difficult with polyester to form folds.
Ring test: Polyester has difficulty passing through a ring. It doesn’t crush as small as silk does.
Polyester conducts more static than silk.
Burn test: Poly melts
