Silk Tops

Silk tops,  like wool tops,  have been stretched to align all the fibres in the one direction to make a rope like form also referred to as a silk sliver or a silk roving.

The Shimma range includes both  mulberry and tussah silk tops.  Mulberry silk is also called bombyx silk. They are the same thing.  Mulberry Silk is created by feeding mulberry leaves to the silk worms.  It has a very high lustre and is quite 'slippery'.  Tussah silk tops have a slightly more subdued lustre, are less  'fly away' to handle andhave  a slightly more woolly, fibrous appearance. 

Silk tops can be laid out in the same fashion as felting wool on top of a bed of wool fibres and felted to create a lustrous surface design on a finished piece of woollen felt. 

Shimma silk tops  can also be laid out in layers without any wool and a textile bonding medium applied to create beautiful   handmade silk paper.

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