I dissolve a "wad" of fibers into my lye water. I put the silk fibers into the water, then pour the lye crystals/flakes directly on top of it. If ever it doesn't completely dissolve, it gets finished up by the stick-blender when I combine the oils/lye.
I pinch off small cotton-ball sized wad (or maybe a little bit less than that) of the silk and pull on the fibers to spread them out as thinly as possible. Then I let the wispy silk soak in my liquid amount for about 5 minutes before I pour the lye crystals in. After about 5 to 7 minutes of stirring, all the silk is dissolved (as well as the lye).
hmmm that's a good question.. I wouldn't think it was the EXACT same thing.. b/c soy is it's own plant and it's made into the silk.. where corn is already like that and you dry it out and such