Silk is a polymer of protein secretion made by spiders and many insects. The silk is extruded through tubes in the body and drawn out through minute holes. As these threads, from two to six in number, are pulled out by the insect, they congeal to form a stronger thread. This thread is used to form webs or cocoons.
Although a variety of creatures yield silk, none except the mulberry silkworm, the larvae of the moth Bombyx mory, produces a silk that can be spun profitably. Spider silk, for instance, is of exquisite quality and has often been used to make small items of clothing as a novelty. But the small quantity of the silk spiders produce, together with the difficulty of farming them, has made it impractical to use spider silk commercially.
Commercial silkworms feed on the leaves of the white mulberry tree. After they spin their cocoons, they are killed. If the insects were allowed to mature they would make their way out of the cocoons and so spoil them. Some silkworms are, of course, allowed to mature into moths for breeding purposes. The cocoon is usually steamed or soaked in hot water to kill the silkworm inside. The process also softens the protein gum holding the threads together.
Each cocoon is unraveled by hand. The processor must first find the loose end, which can require much manual dexterity. A single thread unwound from a cocoon is about 1.6 km (1 mile) long. The threads from several cocoons are then reeled and spun into thicker thread for weaving into cloth. Cocoons that cannot be successfully unraveled are chopped up and spun into a still beautiful but coarser material.
Silk was carried from China through central Asia to the eastern Mediterranean from before the time of Christ until the mid-fifteenth century along the ancient Silk Road, so named because silk formed the main trade between East and West. The Chinese keep the secrets of silk manufacture until some silkworm eggs were smuggled by monks to Europe in the sixth century.
Silk manufacturing industries were eventually established in many places, notably Japan and the Lombardy region of northern Italy where mulberry trees flourish. Today, the greatest manufactures of raw silk remain China, Japan and Italy, and the techniques involved in its processing tent to be handed down from one generation to another.
Rarity and beauty have made silk a cherished material for centuries. The romantic story of silk weaving dates back to the Chinese Empress Xi Lingshi. She, it is said, discovered the secret of making silk by accident in the year 2640 BC, when she tried to discover what was eating her husband’s mulberry trees. References to silk are found in the annals of the Han dynasty (260 BC to AD 221) when silk fabrics made up most of the trade with the Graeco-Roman world.
Silk was favoured dress fabric of the Roman nobility during the time of Julius Caesar. Later, the Romans passed laws forbidding certain classes of people from wearing silk garments. Subsequently, other copied the ban. In Spain, a law first passed in 1234 restricted the use of silk, and a legal handbook published in England in 1675 advises that: “if one hath not in land a hundred pound, he cannot use … damask, silk, chamlet, taffay, in growns, coats, outermost garments.”
Silk is still a fabric for the relatively well heeled, if not by royal edict then by simple economics. World production of silk is small, about 50.000 tonnes a year, and the finest silk fibers fetch high process.
Although a variety of creatures yield silk, none except the mulberry silkworm, the larvae of the moth Bombyx mory, produces a silk that can be spun profitably. Spider silk, for instance, is of exquisite quality and has often been used to make small items of clothing as a novelty. But the small quantity of the silk spiders produce, together with the difficulty of farming them, has made it impractical to use spider silk commercially.
Commercial silkworms feed on the leaves of the white mulberry tree. After they spin their cocoons, they are killed. If the insects were allowed to mature they would make their way out of the cocoons and so spoil them. Some silkworms are, of course, allowed to mature into moths for breeding purposes. The cocoon is usually steamed or soaked in hot water to kill the silkworm inside. The process also softens the protein gum holding the threads together.
Each cocoon is unraveled by hand. The processor must first find the loose end, which can require much manual dexterity. A single thread unwound from a cocoon is about 1.6 km (1 mile) long. The threads from several cocoons are then reeled and spun into thicker thread for weaving into cloth. Cocoons that cannot be successfully unraveled are chopped up and spun into a still beautiful but coarser material.
Silk was carried from China through central Asia to the eastern Mediterranean from before the time of Christ until the mid-fifteenth century along the ancient Silk Road, so named because silk formed the main trade between East and West. The Chinese keep the secrets of silk manufacture until some silkworm eggs were smuggled by monks to Europe in the sixth century.
Silk manufacturing industries were eventually established in many places, notably Japan and the Lombardy region of northern Italy where mulberry trees flourish. Today, the greatest manufactures of raw silk remain China, Japan and Italy, and the techniques involved in its processing tent to be handed down from one generation to another.
Rarity and beauty have made silk a cherished material for centuries. The romantic story of silk weaving dates back to the Chinese Empress Xi Lingshi. She, it is said, discovered the secret of making silk by accident in the year 2640 BC, when she tried to discover what was eating her husband’s mulberry trees. References to silk are found in the annals of the Han dynasty (260 BC to AD 221) when silk fabrics made up most of the trade with the Graeco-Roman world.
Silk was favoured dress fabric of the Roman nobility during the time of Julius Caesar. Later, the Romans passed laws forbidding certain classes of people from wearing silk garments. Subsequently, other copied the ban. In Spain, a law first passed in 1234 restricted the use of silk, and a legal handbook published in England in 1675 advises that: “if one hath not in land a hundred pound, he cannot use … damask, silk, chamlet, taffay, in growns, coats, outermost garments.”
Silk is still a fabric for the relatively well heeled, if not by royal edict then by simple economics. World production of silk is small, about 50.000 tonnes a year, and the finest silk fibers fetch high process.
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Silk is a fine thread made from silk worm which includes many processes for creating a perfect silk fabric. This is the main reason for it being expensive but it is chemically quite similar to human skin hence is gives a smooth and soft feeling when we wear any silk garment.Most of the companies don't use authentic silk in silk garments which causes damage to the cloth. Recently bought myself a nice silk skirt from https://goldenoneclothing.com/ and I am really happy with the silk fabric.
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