To unravel a cocoon, a silk worker or an automated machine will brush the cocoon to find the loose end and load it through a porcelain eyelet onto a reel that unravels silk strand. As the silk strand loads onto the reel, it is automatically attached to another strand to make a continuous string. The sericin in the silk strand helps the strands stick together. Next, silk producers twist these long strings together to make yarn. Silk producers may perform a variety of post-production processes to create silk yarn that has certain desired attributes, and then the silk yarn is put through a roller to make it more uniform.
At this point, the yarn is ready to be woven into a garment or another type of textile. Before they weave it, most silk textile manufacturers dye their yarn, and they may bleach it. These manufacturers may also stiffen or steam silk to achieve desired attributes.
Silk can be used in thousands of different ways. The most common consumer application of silk is apparel production. Silk has been prized for thousands of years for its incredible softness and durability, and to this day, consumers prefer real silk over its synthetic alternatives. Examples of consumer apparel items made from silk include scarves, shirts, blouses, and eveningwear. Due to its lightweight and soft attributes, silk is also a favorite material for lingerie and underwear for men.
In the home, silk might be used to make decorative pillows, curtains, or wall hangings. In addition, medical practitioners and surgeons use silk surgical sutures to close wounds and surgical openings. This fiber is very thin, and it has antibacterial attributes, which makes it ideal for this application.
At , metric tonnes of silk per year, this East Asian nation vastly outstrips its largest competitor, India, which only produces 28, metric tonnes of silk every year. Uzbekistan comes in at third place, and Thailand is fourth in silk production worldwide. The site EmergingTextiles.
The Indian government also keeps track of the prices of silk produced in this nation. This type of fabric is hard to produce, and due to shipping costs, it is expensive to move silk from its point of origin to the end consumer. While mulberry silk is, by far, the most widely produced type of this fabric, there are a few other types of silk fabric worth mentioning as well:. Mulberry is the easiest and least expensive type of silk fabric to make. Almost all the silk in the world is mulberry silk, and like other types of this textile, mulberry silk fabric is renowned for its strength, softness, and durability.
Next to mulberry silk, tasar silk is the second-most produced type of silk fabric. Then, it is time for the silkworm to start spinning its silken cocoon using its special glands. In fact, caterpillars and worms are entirely different animals, as caterpillars are insects and worms are invertebrate. Silkmoths are not the only animals that are capable of producing silk fibers.
Some spiders produce silk when weaving their webs. Some types of ant and bee larvae, such as the honeybee, produce silk when pupating. Others, like weaver ants and raspy crickets, make silk when building their nests. Since silk is a naturally strong fiber, it serves its purpose of protection very well for these animals.
The list of silk-making insects goes on, and some other honorable mentions include fleas, flies, and beetles. Most of the animals that can produce silk are insects, but not all of them are. One of the most interesting silk-producing animals is a seashell. This clam lives in the Mediterranean Sea and is known by the name of Pinna Nobilis. The Pinna Nobilis produces silk-like threads also known as byssus to help attach itself to rocks.
These threads can be harvested and woven into a rare material called sea silk. Unfortunately, sea silk will likely continue to be a scarce material, as the Pinna Nobilis is now an endangered species. But where does silk get its shine from?
To find out, we need to take a look at the composition of silk. Just like our hair, silk made by silkworms is made up of proteins. Silk is composed of two proteins, fibroin and sericin. Fibroin molecules stack in sheets, following a structure similar to a folded leaflet. These sheets then stack together to form long tubes that resemble a triangular shape. The flat and smooth surfaces of this triangular prism-like structure make silk good at reflecting light. Well, in as much as bugs have the capacity to suffer.
The blessing is it never cared to let them feel pain in the first place. Pain is only for things that can learn. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. How is Silk Made? October 31, Melissa 15 comments. Mark D. Enjoy this article? Animals Answers Articles. Poor lil silk worm, I feel so sorry for them! Ken M. April 29, pm. Yes I can imagine it. DG Hammer August 18, pm. Peter William Ross January 23, am.
A fascinating and very interesting article. Each thread is then carefully reeled from the cocoon in individual long threads, which are then wound on a reel. Some of the sericin may still remain on the threads to protect the fibres during processing, but this is usually washed out with soap and boiling water. When the silk threads have been washed and degummed, they will be bleached and dried before the dyeing process commences.
Traditional silk dyeing techniques take the dyes from natural resources found in the surrounding environment, such as fruit or indigo plant leaves.
The threads will be soaked together in bundles, inside a pot of hot indigo leaves and water. This process will occur multiple times over a span of days to ensure proper colour tone and quality. However, these traditional dyeing methods have almost become extinct in the commercial manufacturing of silk. Advances in technology mean that manufacturers instead opt for using various dyes such as acid dyes or reactive dyes.
This gives a greater range of choice in colours and shades to be able to serve wider demand. That being said, the general idea behind the technique remains similar as the silk is immersed in a dye bath to soak up the colour. The silk may be fed into the bath through two cylinders, or fixed to a round jig which is immersed in the bath.
In many cases, this will be one of the last steps of the processes as manufacturers generally now prefer piece-dyeing in an attempt to reduce waste. By holding plain white stock ready to be dyed, it reduces the need to hold too much stock in specific colours that have not been ordered and so may never be used. Here at Biddle Sawyer Silks we hold large quantities of our silks in various colours in order to be able to provide an immediate service with next day delivery on silk we already have in stock.
We also work with clients who provide their own bespoke colour palettes, and are able to match their samples via lap dips. The traditional spinning wheel has always, and will always be an integral part of the silk production process.
Although updated industrial processes are now able to spin silk threads much quicker, it simply mimics the functions of the classic spinning wheel.
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