Does anyone else have a static charge problem when working with silk veils? I recently purchased Shoshanna's Four Yard Veil DVD, which is really an excellent video both for instruction and inspiration, and was subsequently inspired to drag out my three yard silk veils that have been sitting around waiting to attack. The reason they are usually stored neatly out of the way is that when I try to work with them the static charge becomes so great that they do not float but rather cling to me and my costume.

Now I have tried spraying perfume and drifting the veil through, but I am not overly fond of having a veil that reeks of perfume and it was not effective in the long term anyway. I have also tried rubbing the veil with a dryer sheet with a similar lack of success.

In watching performances, I have noted that the majority of dancers using silk veils have bare arms and I wonder if that makes a difference. My arms are not going to be bare when I perform so I always practice with a choli or top of some sort to closely approximate the actual performance. Could the sleeves be the source of the problem?

Has anyone else experienced this and/or have a new idea for what to do about it? I have considered taking all the silk veils and throwing them in the dryer with a Dryel bag with that sheet and seeing what happens, but I am concerned that they might either shrink, shrivel, run, or completely fall apart.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.