Following the instructions on Wormspit, Beth and I plunged into the next step in our explorations with raising silkworms.
The morning began with making silk soup (with the proper ingredients including cocoons) and then opening up each cocoon (after removing the pupa skin or shell) and pulling it out and attaching it to a stretcher.
The hankies were layered up to about 10 sheets or less, then rinsed in a vinegar and water solution, then in Milsoft. They were then removed from the frame, squeezed out on paper toweling and hung on the line to dry.
Altogether, we opened 70-80 cocoons with the results being about 8 silk pieces. I have roughly 50 cocoons waiting to hatch and if I were to repeat what I did today, I would have 5 small silk textile pieces to work with. Thank you silkies, for your hard work. Gokurosama deshita!
Tags: silk hankies, wormspit
June 26, 2009 at 9:57 am |
Fantastic – wonderful to see the start to finish process
June 26, 2009 at 10:37 am |
Thank you! It’s been a lot of fun, and needless to say, I’ve learned a lot from it.
June 26, 2009 at 3:15 pm |
i remember spinning up hankies after dyeing them many years ago. neat!
July 1, 2009 at 1:27 pm |
How exciting! I would love to do a project like this someday. Thank you for posting it.
I did have some silkworm cocoons a while back… my dog ate them, crazy beast that she is.
July 1, 2009 at 6:36 pm |
I’ve had fun with it. When you do it, you’ll want a good source for Mulberry leaves – it’s one drawback.