Silk Fabric
Silk fabric is the most famous fabric in Fabric World. Seeing a silk product is like cool water to eyes. Merely mentioning silk causes the mind to think luxury. Reading how silk is made and the history behind the production of silk is absolutely fascinating... and makes understanding the cost associated with silk seem like a bargain! The variations in silk prices come from the variety of silkworms and the quality of the cocoons associated with the type of worm. World silk production has approximately doubled during the last 30 years in spite of man-made fibers replacing silk for some uses. China and Japan during this period have been the two main producers, together manufacturing more than 50% of the world production each year. During the late 1970's China, the country that first developed sericulture thousands years ago dramatically increased its silk production and has again become the worlds leading producer of silk.
Production of Silk
The production of cultivated silk is known as sericulture. The stages of production are as follows:
1. The silk moth lays eggs.
2. When the eggs hatch the caterpillars are fed mulberry leaves.
3. When the silkworms are about 35 days old they are 10,000 times heavier than when they hatched. They are now ready to spin a silk cocoon.
4. The silk is produced in two glands in the silkworm’s head and the forced out in liquid form through openings called spinnerets.
5. The silk solidifies when it comes in contact with the air.
6. The silkworm spins approximately 1 mile of filament and completely encloses itself in a cocoon in about 2 or three days.
7. The silkworm then goes through stages and changes into a moth; however, the silkworm is usually killed with heat before it reaches this stage.
The silkworms are killed because once they reach the moth stage, the moth secretes a fluid to dissolve the silk so it can emerge from
the cocoon. This damages the cocoon and the silk and the silk then becomes a lower quality. Some silkworms are allowed to live to be used for breeding.
8. The silk is obtained from the undamaged cocoons by brushing the cocoon to find the outside ends of the filament.
9. The silk filaments are then wound on a reel. One cocoon contains approximately 1,000 yards of silk filament.
The silk at this stage is known as raw silk.
10. A yarn can now be formed by combining several filaments of silk.
History of silk
Empress Si Ling Chi of China is credited with discovering silk. While sitting under a mulberry tree in a palace garden
having tea, a silkworm's cocoon reportedly fell out of the tree into her cup. While removing it from her tea, she discovered the fine silk
filament of the cocoon beginning to unravel. The Chinese guarded the secret of silk for millenniums by putting to death anyone found guilty
of smuggling silkworm eggs, cocoons, or mulberry seeds. Silk became the cloth of emperors and royalty and a great source of wealth. However,
about 1900 years ago a Chinese princess who married an Indian prince is reported to have succesfully smuggled silkworm eggs out of China in her
headdress and then fed them with the leaves of Indian mulberry trees. Since then, silk production has spread to other Asian countries
and archaeologist have found silk 3,000 years old in the ruins of Baan Chiang, Thailand, which many of them consider the earliest civilization
in Southeast Asia. Thais have developed a type of silk that is considered one of the finest fabrics in the world. They use a unique
manufacturing process and have unique patterns and colors.
