How do we get a SILK THREAD from a SILK WORM? What is sericulture?

 At PKC Laundries majority of the sarees we get for dry-cleaning are made out of silk and combinations of silk. When we did a fair bit of research on silk sarees and what are the processes involved in making of silk sarees the insights we got are just wooow!

Go through the link below which gives in your insights into the history of SAREE!

https://pkpkclaundries.blogspot.com/2021/05/did-you-know-from-where-did-saree.html

In this article we will be discussing on how we produce a silk thread from a silkworm and what are the various processes involved in it.

Silk:

• Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles 
• The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons
• The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori 
• The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors
• The production of Silk originated in China, as early as 4^th millennium BC
• China is the largest producer of Silk followed by India
• The silk output of these two countries combined accounts for over 60% of the global production

What is silk made up of?

• Silk is a fiber made up two different proteins – sericin and fibroin 
• Approximately 80% of silk fiber is made up of fibroin, which is concentrated at the core
• This core is surrounded by a layer of sericin (which makes up the remaining 20% of silk)
• The presence of pigments (such as xanthophyll) in the sericin layer of the fiber imparts color to the silk 
• Each type of silk has a distinct color as mentioned below

         

       

How is a silk thread made?

There are 7 steps in making a silk thread-

• Sericulture
• Thread Extraction
• Dyeing
• Spinning
• Weaving
• Printing
• Finishing

• Sericulture:

• Sericulture is the process of cultivating silkworms and extracting silk from them 
• The caterpillars of the domestic silkmoth (also called ‘Bombyx mori’) are the most commonly used silkworm species in sericulture 
• Other types of silkworms (such as Eri, Muga, and Tasar) are also cultivated for the production of ‘wild silks’ 
• Sericulture is a very important domestic industry in many countries 

Processes involved in sericulture:

For the production of mulberry silk, the sericulture process follows three primary steps.

Stage1 – Moriculture: The cultivation of mulberry leaves

Stage2 - Silkworm rearing: Promoting the growth of the silkworm

Stage3 - Silk reeling: The extraction of silk filaments from the silkworm cocoons

• Female silk moths lay anything from around 300 – 500 eggs at any one time
• These eggs eventually hatch to form silkworms, which are incubated in a controlled environment until they hatch into larvae (caterpillars)
• The silkworms feed continually on a huge amount of mulberry leaves to encourage growth 
• It takes around 6 weeks to grow to their full potential (about 3 inches) 
• At this time, they’ll stop eating and begin to raise their heads – that’s when they’re ready to spin their cocoon
• Attached to a secure frame or tree, the silkworm will begin spinning its silk cocoon by rotating its body in a figure-8 movement around 300,000 times – a process which takes around 3 to 8 days
• Each silkworm produces just one single strand of silk, which measures about 100 mtrs long and is held together by a type of natural gum, called sericin

Finally, the silk filaments are woven together to form a thread and these threads are often plied together to form a yarn.

Did you know? It takes around 2,500 silkworms to produce one pound of raw silk.

• Thread Extraction:

• Once the silkworms have spun their cocoon, they will eventually enclose themselves inside it and then it’s time to extract the silk threads
• The cocoons are placed into boiling water in order to soften and dissolve the gum that is holding the cocoon together
• This is a crucial step in the silk production process as it ensures that there is no damage to the continuity of each thread
• Each thread is then carefully reeled from the cocoon in individual long threads, which are then wound on a reel

• Dyeing:

• 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 color tone and quality
• 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 colors and shades to be able to serve wider demand

• Spinning:

• 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
• The process of spinning essentially unwinds the dyed fibers on to a bobbin, so that they lay flat ready for the weaving process
• This can be done in many different ways from hand-spinning to ring-spinning and mule spinning

• Weaving:

• Weaving is the process in which the final piece of silk comes together
• There are many different ways in which silk can be woven – satin weave, plain weave and open weave are most common and the finish of the silk will depend on the type of weave
• Weaving involves interlacing two sets of threads so that they lock around each other and create a strong, uniform piece of fabric
• The threads will be woven at right angles to each other, and the two different angles are called a warp and a weft

• Printing:

• Should a piece of silk require a special pattern or design, it will need to be printed after pre-treatment 
• Printing can be done in 2 different ways Digital Printing or Screen Printing
• Digital silk printing uses a specially designed textile printer, using ink to transfer hand drawn or digitally produced artwork on to fabrics
• Screen silk printing is the traditional, more hands-on method of essentially creating the same outcome – though in some cases, a bolder, more vibrant look may be achieved due to a thicker application of ink

• Finishing:

• In order to be deemed ready for use, silks must be finished
• Finishing a piece of silk gives it that highly lustrous sheen that it is so commonly known for, and is the reason that the desired look and feel can be achieved
• Silk finishing can be done in many different ways, mainly by applying different chemical treatments which can add a host of valuable properties including fire resistance and crease-proofing

In the next part of this article, we will be discussing on the various processes involved in making of a silk saree

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