What methods or devices have you come up with to keep all sizes of silks safe, neat and clean.

I admit to being a bit of an organization freak, but I rather the silks look unwrinkled for a production.

I've tried pant hanger, the long dowel and clip, as well as the clamp style.

Mulee

I use zip lock bags with a lot of success. I loosely fold them. Put them in the bag and burp the air out. Name of the trick goes on the bag. It seems to flattened out a lot of the wrinkles in the silks.

Richard

Pete,

Some will tell you to store your silks flat and always iron them. Then some will tell you to fold them and don't iron them. I for one do not iron my silks. Personally, I like the wrinkled effect that the silks have. They almost have an iridescent look on stage in the lights. I fold them neatly and put them in a zip lock bag when not in use. Do not just wad them up and store them. Keep them away from sunlight and strong lights. Also do not store your silks in any type of paper product or envelope. The outgassing of the chemicals that are used to make paper will slowly destroy your silks. When storing silk streamers, roll them on either a plastic tube or large diameter wooden dowel. If using wood or plastic, make sure you have a nice smooth surface so no to have anything that could snag the silk.

Hopefully, Bob Sanders, Richard Hughes, J Neal,Wmhegbli and others will chime in and fill in the blanks on what I have forgotten to mention.

David Williams

As with all cloth and clothing, silks come with sizeing in them. There is 2 ways to get rid of the sizing, use them a lot or wash them. Once the sizeing is gone, silk stays nice on its own. Just get a large plastic bag with a seal. Stack the silks and lay them in the plastic bag. They will stay nice for years. Darkwing is correct in keeping out of light, but not any light, mainly the suns Ultra Violet light will bleach the color out of the silk.

Since the 80s, good silks for magicians do not contain sizing. Frankly, there is a lot very old silk still out there but the hems are usually easy to spot. Either the hems are wider than 2mm, rolled, or cheap serger hems (look like the edge of a washcloth). Some you can even spot by the dusty look or the crunchy feeling.

Zip-Loc bags are one of my favorites for silk storage. For rolling tubes two options are available to most of us. One is the plastic tube made for separating clubs in golf bags. The nicer one is the plastic tube for lighting tubes found at building supply stores. I never recommend cardboard tubes.

Don't forget that insects eat silk! Moths are real threats.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Listen to Bob! He stores a lot of silks!!!!!