"Silk comes in many kinds; two of the most common for embroidery are filament and stranded.  Filament silk is considerably more delicate than stranded  silk and will catch on just about anything which is the least little bit rough.  Two common embroidery threads which are this type of silk are Trebezond (Access Commodities) and Silk Serica (Kreinik).  Stranded Silk is like embroidery floss and can be plied. There are many brands of this kind of silk on the market today and they have different numbers of plies in them. With stranded silk, you don't need many more precautions for stitching than you would with floss. With filament silk, you need to be sure your hands are absolutely smooth, otherwise the thread will catch.  Kreinik dyes Silk Serica and Silk Mori (their stranded silk) to match, so changing the thread might be a possibility here.  Also filament silks are the most shiny silks, although all silk thread has a sheen.  Another kind of silk which works really well for temari is silk perle.  It is similar to pearl cotton, but has the sheen of silk.  It also has the advantage of being easier to use than filament silk. Rainbow Gallery makes silk perle in three sizes (like #5, #8, and #12 pearl cotton) and dyes them to match their stranded silk.  There are many other companies making silk perle now as well. There are two characteristics of silk thread which make it a great choice for all forms of needlework.  First, it takes dye better than any other fiber, making the colors of silk quite brilliant.  Second, it has a lovely sheen which really shows well in techniques like temari where the stitches are long."       

       Debi A offered up on the TalkTemari list that she had recently completed some temari in silk threads and greatly enjoyed working with it :"I have worked up a few temari using the #8 reeled silk perle from Vikki Clayton recently and I have a few thoughts to share about silk.... I did both stitched and wrapped designs and I found that I liked the look of the silk in the designs with wrapped bands better. It seems to really show off the fiber and is easier to do without wearing out the thread by pulling it through the ball. Not that I don't like the silk in stitched designs as well... I did one design using both the silk and a regular #8 Anchor perle cotton (on the same temari) to see the difference between the threads more clearly. The silk has a very different shine...it seems to glow even in the lowest light levels. The cotton shine seems to be more reflective and doesn't show when the light is low. It is a harsher shine than the silk. If I were to compare with rayon I would say that the silk reflects as much light as the rayon threads do but in a more diffused way. When stitched I thought the different rows of thread showed more clearly than the cotton did, but when wrapped they seemed to lie together so nicely that the band almost looked like ribbon. It was interesting to see such different effects from the exact same thread in the one design where I did a wrapped obi to complement a stitched area.

        I loved the feel of the temari in my hand as I worked and also now that it is done. The silk has a softer more satiny feel than cotton does. One of the reasons I enjoy temari more than some of my other stitching is the ability to handle and feel the threads and the finished product. The feel of the silk is wonderful.  As far as stitching difficulty...I did not find the silk at all difficult to stitch with. I had to watch out for those rough spots on my hands where I have a torn cuticle, and I had to occasionally let the needle dangle and spin to re-establish the natural spin of the thread when I was using it for stitching rather than wrapping. I used about 1 yard lengths like I normally do and did not have problems with wearing out the thread although I know from experience that you will need to watch for that if you do a design with lots of small stitches. On other silk experiences....I also recently did a temari that used silk floss (from Silk N Colors I believe) That was a bit more delicate to work with because it is so much thinner and I was using it two stranded but still not much more difficult than regular cotton floss would be.

        Anyway...if you are thinking of trying fibers that are different than the usual perle cotton, don't be afraid of the silks. They are not really more difficult to use and their shine and feel are wonderful."

        So, give it a try - the accessibility of silk fibers now is great and I've found that Vicki Clayton in particular has nicely affordable prices (no, I do not have a business connection with her). She also has some articles on her website about silk and using it.  We talked on the list about it helps to prepare your hands before handling silk; you should try to trim any rough cuticles, and be sure your nails are smooth. Use a non-greasy hand lotion or cream to help smooth out rough skin, and Janet also offers that if you are suing smoother, more delicate silks, your lotion ideally should be pH-balanced (it will say so on the label of general products and if you do a lot of silk work, there are hand creams made just for this), and also not contain lanolin (the lanolin residue on your hands can stain the silk). And - a quick trick from her if you don't have lotion available: Another way to smooth hands for using silk, uses a packet of sugar and a packet of mayonnaise. Rub the sugar and mayo all over. Then wash your hands (soap cuts the grease of the mayo.  Mayo softens and sugar exfoliates). And from Louise:" I have been spinning and raising my own silk for about 20 years and I found the best thing to use is lemon. Cut a lemon in wedges, rub it all over your hands, let dry and then stitch or spin. YES... it really does work... I have tried many lotions and potions and scrubs but for me this worked the best...."