So I just finished my first build, it was a blast and learned a lot. I do have one question though I used gold silk thread, I figured it would look really nice on the dark forest green blank. I read about color preserver and didn't use it, maybe not my best thought. As soon as I applied the Flex Coat the thread turned into a gold-ish brown, it still looks good, however, its not the vibrant gold i expected. Would the color preserver have prevented this or just minimized it? Is this a characteristic of silk thread that I'll need to account for?

Yep, all silk will color shift if not first treated with color preserver. How much the color shift or hue change will be depends on thread color and blank color. A light, pastel silk on a very dark blank can color shift to nearly black. The only way to know for certain how much the color shift might be is to make a test wrap.

The good news is you will sometimes be pleasantly surprised when without color preserver the silk turns translucent and the color shift is to both an unexpected and perfect color for the blank.

It's all about making multiple test wraps and keeping fingers crossed. The alternative is color preserver.