This technique is somewhat similar to wool felting, with one significant difference -- silk doesn't felt! Based on its fundamental 'non-scaled' fiber characteristics, it just doesn't have the means to felt. So, to compensate for this an adhesive medium is used. With the assistance of this binding agent, the silk paper can be created with all kinds of embellishments included. If you like, machine stitching, embroidery and added / 3D embellishments can further enhance your paper. With a variation in the adhesive medium and sculpting &/or the use of a form, you can make wonderful art with this technique. In addition to these 3D art, the paper can be made into book covers, bags, wrapped boxes, appliques, hair accessories, belts -- nearly anything that you could make with felt.
What / Why you Need: As noted before, silk fusion requires either a mesh screen (as in window screen) or tule to help hold your fibers together while you wet it and apply the adhesive. The class used the mesh screen, since Celia preferred it, however I have found that some of the other book and web sources advocate using tule. This will be in place until the silk paper is dry, unless you are making formed or molded 3D art. You will need enough to cover both sides of the paper, and more is better here. You do not want the silk fibers to extend past the edges of the screen/tule because those pesky, wayward fibers will lock onto the screen and make it infinitely harder to separate the screen from the silk paper once it is dried. This is probably the most important factor, next to the adhesive medium you use and silk / embellishments foundation.
After this, you need a container to hold your sudsy water, a sponge / stencil foam brush for adding the water, stencil brush / paint brush for the adhesive medium, a plastic wallpaper smoothing trowel (optional), plastic for under your project (or a wipeable craft table), tub and clothespins, your silk, and your embellishments.
Making the Pattern: It would be a good idea to make a 'pattern' of the size you will need for your project. You will not need to account for shrinkage like you do for felting, but you will want 'extra space' to be able to center your finished pattern on the 'best areas' -- nothing is more disappointing than a slanted side or dimpled / weak spot that prevents you from making your finished product. You can make this pattern out of paper, since you should not be wetting it.
Begin Layering, the First Layer: Center your bottom screen over your pattern; you will be able to see this as you set the first layer down. This is the tricky part because you need to evenly and gently pull light, thin sections of your silk. You can either do this by continuously pulling - carefully avoiding snagging it up or you will have a terrible snarl of fiber. Or you can pull out sections of one staple length, working to keep it thin and light, and lay it down in a slightly overlapping manner. In both cases, within this first layer you will be going in only one direction EITHER vertically or horizontally. Well, that is not entirely true, you can lay the silk down at a diagonal angle or even curved, as long as you are maintaining the think & light nature with a slight overlap. When you have the outline of this layer finished, you can slip out the pattern from beneath the bottom screen, without disturbing your silk layer. Some of the books go into great detail with lots of pictures on how to do this, if you want more guidance.
Next Layer: This second layer will be at a 90 degree angle from the first layer, for strength. So, if you laid the first layer down horizontally, then your second layer will be laid down vertically. Same thing applies - thin and light layers. But, just to add crazy fun to this process, you will need to be even more careful about snagging and pulling, because it can also cause both layers to be disturbed. Just to note, you can be alternating colors between layers, laying it down thinly so the added color dimension can be seen. At this point, you could also lay the felt down in images such as landscapes, flower designs etc. For many uses, this are all the layers you will need. If you do more layers, even if they are thinly applied, it will add to the overall thickness of the finished silk paper, which could be undesirable for some applications. Also, it will be more difficult to throughly wet a thick layer.
So, Do You Like Adding Embellishments?: If you want to add embellishements, the same golden rule applies: thin. Too bulky and you may not be able to adequately wet down, bind with the adhesive, or successfully remove the screens. Great additions are angelina, thread, yarn, pressed flowers, small sequins, glitter, wool fiber, ribbon... When you place these, keep in mind how your paper will be used -- you don't what to create a wonderful mural or add a prized item just to have to cut it off later when you are fitting it to your application! After you set your embellishment on your layer, 'trap' it with the finest angel-hair layer of the barest amount of silk fibers, maybe criss-cross a few to help hold things down.
Wetting the Silk Paper: Carefully place the top screen layer over the silk. This will help hold things together when you wet it and apply the adhesive. Put a small amount of shampoo or gentle liquid soap in your container. We were supposed to measure this in the class and I did not; I used about a dime size of the soap. Then fill the container with about a cup of water. The soap will act as a surfactant to help wet the fibers down and it will take much longer if you don't use it. Soak you sponge with the sudsy water and press it into the fiber. Keep applying this way, using your hands to 'push' the water into the layers. You don't really need to move your hands around. Remember that it is not really felting and you have to be careful not to disturbe the silk/embellishment positions.
You will need to work at this for a while since this step is critical. If the layer is not fully wetted, then the adhesive will not penetrate as well and you can have delamination of the layers when it is dry. In fact, we were encouraged to take a break to eat lunch and allow our wet project sit and soak. If the layers are puffy at all, they ARE still dry in at least places even if you have a puddle on them. Carefully flip your layers, like a pancake, to wet it from both sides. Once the paper is all the way wet, you will need to thoroughly squeeze out the excess water to avoid diluting the adhesive medium. This is where the wallpaper smoothing trowel comes in handy! But, if you don't have one use the side of your hand.
Applying the Adhesive Medium: Just a quick note... There are a few different brands and kinds of adhesive medium. This is one place that I won't really go into too far, since the merits of each type are discussed / debated on many other sites. Suffice it to say that this may be worth your research, especially if you are not happy with the results of the medium used. Take Silk by Judith Pinnell went into a nice summary of them, and I found this book in our local public library. For the class we used Jo Sonya's Textile Medium. 
For this step you will want to use gloves and either an old shirt or an apron to keep the medium off you and your clothes. And, you will want to understand if you are okay with getting it on your table (it wipes off when wet) or want to use plastic (ie trash bag) or a baking sheet.
Once the fibers are thoroughly wet, then you can apply the adhesive using a paint brush or sponge brush from a small cup of the adhesive medium (use a tablespoon at a time from the bottle to avoid wasting it). Use firm pressing / painting motions and force that adhesive deep in. When your medium is not white looking as you move it around, pick up more on the brush. Flip the paper to apply through both sides to make sure you get it all the way through, or it will delaminate later. You may want to tidy up the edges by using your fingertip to roll wild fibers at the edges over themselves and closer to the main paper. If you want to leave the wispy look, remember that you don't want them to overlap the screen. And, it would be prudent to make a corner of tidy edge to help start the peeling when it is dry later.
Drying: You will want to hang dry this paper and it will drip of any excessive medium. Otherwise, it will dry tacky and shiny. You can use clothespins to clip the screen to a line. Make sure a tub is under the hanging paper to catch the drips, or that it is outside in an area that you don't mind drips. After a couple of hours, you can take it down to dry fully on a flat surface. This will take at least 8 hours to dry, and overnight is the best.
Peeling: From the tidy corner or edge, start working your fiber between the screen and fiber with a quick, assertive sideways flicking/jerking or a small circular movement of your finger, which ever feels better and seems to work. With the silk paper dry, you should see that the screen has pulled away in 'bubbles' and you can just worm your fingers from one bubble to the next to eventually separate the whole thing. Then, repeat on the other side for the second screen.
Using it: This is where you get to shine with your ideas! But, I can say that we made journal book covers, somewhat like the textbook covers you made in school. We cut to fit and sewed the edge (thanks Heidi's mom!) for strength. But, you don't need to turn under an edge for the sewing, treat it instead like you would felt. Also, if you do happen to have some delamination, no big deal -- now you have an excuse to machine or freehand embroider the layers for added dimension!
So there you have it -- in one posting, how to do silk fusion. If you can, you may want to purchase one of the handy books on the subject, or check it out from the library to fine tune your skills. But, I'm a believer that hands-on training is always the best!
In the next posting, I will show you my pictures of the silk fusion paper / projects from the class.
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