Why PLA+Silk?

Our PLA+Silk filament is easy to print and the perfect choice if you want your print to have a highly reflective silky finish. We offer brilliant colours with the glossiest silk tones to help you get creative. Some of our favourite silk prints include; vases, figurines, Christmas decorations, earrings, and cosplay items.

Appearance;

PLA+Silk is a filament that will create impressive prints with a glossy silk-like appearance. The silk-like finish is easily achieved with the right temperature setting and it’s important to perform a Temperature Tower print to help determine the optimal print settings with your printer. This is critical as lower temperatures will produce a matte finish and too high a temperature will create over extrusion. You may also consider adjusting your flow/multiplier settings to assist with fine-tuning any over extrusion. Finding the right temperature balance is key for the silkiest finish.

Note: PLA+Silk filament is not food grade.

Layer Adhesion;

Our Silk Filament also has excellent adhesion to the build plate. In fact, over the last 12 months, we have tested and printed it directly onto a mirror surface (at 60 degrees) without needing other adhesion materials such as glue. The benefit of printing on glass/mirror is twofold; it is extremely easy to print directly onto its surface (if you have levelled your bed correctly) and also the effect of the printed object touching the glass is magical. The filament takes on a glass-like appearance due to the nature of the silk reflectivity.

When printing our PLASilk on mirror/glass, it is best to wait until the glass has cooled a little prior to removing the object. Removing the object while the glass is still warm, can cause the base of the object to warp as it will cool rapidly when exposed to the cooler air. Another reason to wait for the glass to cool is that the print will come off the surface more easily.

PLAsilk whilst not as strong as regular PLA+ counterpart (due to the dyes used) is quite strong. Part strength can be enhanced by increasing wall count and/or infill.

Brilliant colours;

For a better view of the colour range please see the embedded video at the bottom of the page.

We have carefully selected the most brilliant colours available to achieve the glossiest silk tones in the following colour options;

Red – A rich red, with a lovely glossy reflection

Purple – A deep purple that captures and reflects light effortlessly (our personal favourite)

Midnight Blue – A dark blue, that is lustrous (close second personal favourite)

Light Blue – A classic silky light blue tone

White – Pure and simple with wonderful reflection

Black – Classic black with glossy tones

Green – A vibrant green with lovely reflection

Dark Grey – A beautiful shade of gunmetal grey

Gold – A Bright yellow gold

Silver – A shiny silver

Copper – A strong copper finish

Resealable Bags;

Our PLA+Silk filament comes in a resealable bag to help protect it from moisture. Like all PLA based filaments, it can absorb moisture from the air which can create brittleness in the filament. We recommend you store unused filament in the resealable bag with a desiccant satchel, making sure you remove as much excess air from the bag while sealing.