I have a silk fountain which I bought from Laflin Magic and have a grease stain about the size on a half dollar on one of the silks. How do I clean it? Do I have to take the fountain apart just to clean the one silk? You cannot see it from the audience view, it just bothers me. Any suggestions?

Darkwing,

There are two easy solutions. Wash the silk in a sink or bowl with luke warm water and baby shampoo or Woolite. Don't wring (by twisting) it dry! Just rinse it unreasonably well and squeeze it out. Stick it on the mirror to dry and it will peel off when it’s ready.

Duane sells good stuff so color bleeding should not be a problem. Generally, never mix wet silks of different colors together. Sometimes you get a whole new color!

There is plenty more about this on The Magic Café. Enjoy the Search function and you'll suprise yourself.

Good Luck!

Bob
Magic By Sander

Bob,
I think the question is: "Do I take the fountain apart"

Can you clean a bundle of silks that way? Many silk fountains are sewn together and people unfamiliar (myself included) w/ sewing silk, or sewing in general, may be reluctant to take it apart.

In cleaning a fountain should one disassemble it?

THanks,
B

Bruce,

The best answer is "Yes!" You do stand some likelihood of tearing a silk with them still sewn together. It also makes drying a slow go. However, the stitching is normally very easy to replace and it is a very small project that can be done by hand with just a good needle and thread.

It would seem that in time, a professional magician would expect to have to take the fountain apart anyway to change out silks for different color combinations, damaged silks, etc. In fact, it is easy enough to just make them to start with from new regular silks.

Now for the sentence that brings us back to reality. After all my aged learning in this business and experienced advice, do I take them apart to wash them? Not usually! (Honesty hurts!) I get in a hurry like anyone else.

I will give you this “freebie”. Owning a spray can of Static Guard will make dealing with freshly pressed silks a lot easier. Ladies aren’t the only ones with static cling problems. (You have no idea what it takes for an old cowboy to admit he knows this! If Chris LeDoux were still alive, I’m sure there would be a song in the making just to rib me.)

Bob
Magic By Sander

Taking apart some silk fountains is a problem as they is some serious sewing involved. Mine I just put a loose basting stitch through them all and it makes it realitively easy to take them apart and reassemble them.

To prevent static problems when you wash them out, put a couple of drops of fabric softner in the rinse water. This will help with the static problem. Especially, if you iron the silks out in the winter when it is dry. The static guard is a quick fix solution that should be used very sparingly.

Richard

Good note Richard.

Never wet the silks with the stuff. Too much will leave circles on anything!

(It's also good for computer screens.)

Bob
Magic By Sander