How to Starch a Napkin

The craftsmen, who are engaged in openwork knitting, often wonder how to starch the napkin. Such napkins will be irreplaceable in the solemn and beautiful decoration of the festive table. There are several tips for shaping the product. You can use for this not only traditional starch, but also gloss-starch, PVA, sugar, gelatin.

Starch

Let's try to starch cloth napkins with the help of starch. Potato, corn or rice starch, from which the paste is prepared, will help to shape the product. The necessary degree of "stability" of the product depends on the proportion. To give a weak stiffness, mix 1 p.s. Starch with a small portion of water; Medium and strong respectively - 1.5 and 2. We prepare the paste: on the fire put a pan with one liter of water. Bring the water to a boil. Then, in a separate container, dissolve the starch in a small amount of liquid and pour into boiling water, stirring constantly. The paste is cooked until the liquid mass begins to thicken, and until the bubbles appear. If the liquid is of a uniform consistency, transparent and has no lumps, then the paste is welded correctly.

A napkin, previously washed and whitened, is lowered into a cooled paste. The product impregnated with the paste is squeezed and spread on a flat surface, giving it the desired shape. A slightly damp napkin is ironed with a not very hot iron through a piece of cotton cloth.

Gloss-starch

There are two recipes, from which you can learn how to starch the napkin with gloss-starch. In the first case, take talcum, borax and rice or wheat starch in a ratio of 3: 1: 5. In the second, rice starch, borax, boric acid (ratio 8: 10: 2) is used. The finished mass is well mixed, applied to the product with a piece of cloth and quickly ironed with a hot iron. Now the napkin will get the desired shine. Before starching a white napkin, dissolve the starch in skim milk. After that, the product will have a pleasant matte shade.

Sugar

Impregnated with sugar syrup napkins are very sweet, so they can attract the attention of insects. To prepare the solution take 3-4 tablespoons. Sugar, pour 0.5 cups of boiling water and put on a slow fire. When the liquid is heated, with constant stirring, the starch dissolved in cool water beforehand is added to it. Then the mass is cooked until small bubbles appear. The cooled paste is applied to the prepared napkin.

PVA

In a shallow dish, mix 0.5 cups of glue and a glass of water. If the paste has turned out to be dense, then dilute it with water to the desired state. Starch napkin in a cooled paste.

If you want not only to festively decorate the table, but also protect it from high temperatures, use napkins under hot.

Create, realize your abilities. But remember that there are types of napkins that can not be starched. So, products from black threads are hardened with the help of chemical preparations. Now your efforts will not be wasted. After all, you probably know how to starch a napkin.