Silkworms Eat Leaves Of Mulberry Trees Then Weave Cocoons For Chinese Silk Production.

Chinese silk thread from Wuxi was used in Suzhou where we had witnessed the work of embroiderers using fine silk thread to produce lifelike images of animals, on reversible silkscreens. We had come to Wuxi to see how that silk thread itelf was spun from silkworm cocoons. Most of the group had never seen a silk worm before, were not aware of its lifestyle, nor how silk was obtained from the cocoon. No artificial thread can equal the qualities of silk thread woven from silkworm cocoons; well not at the present time! The silkworm has been producing the raw material for thousands years, but now the silkworm and its moth is not seen in its normal environment; it is bred and reared in controlled units, to satisfy the constant demand for silk products.

Before we arrived at the factory in Wuxi where cocoons of silkworms were unravelled and spun into silk thread, we were told that to make one silk shirt would require the silk from approximately one thousand perfect silkworm cocoons. We were also told that silkworms were not really worms but caterpillars, that wove a silk cocoon around themselves as protection when going through a state of metamorphosis, then to emerge as a moth. At the appointed time, the moth lays eggs on the leaves of mulberry trees. The caterpillar eventually emerges from an egg, to greedily devour the mulberry leaves, to grow and grow until the time comes for the caterpillar, aka silkworm, to weave a silk cocoon around itself, and so its circle of life goes on.

When we arrived at the silk factory in Wuxi we were escorted to an anti-room where some bamboo shallow skips were displayed on which some silkworms were feasting on mulberry leaves; where some silkworms were in the process of weaving their protective cocoons, and where some completed cocoons were anchored to the inside rims of the skips. The mulberry leaves had a network of silk thread on them, where the silkworms had left a trail during their travels. The silk on these webs were so fine, they might only have been visible because they were on the green mulberry leaves, yet we were told that the silk produced by the silk worm, when compared thicknesses were equal, was stronger than steel.

Silkworm On Mulberry Leaves And Three Cocoons Anchored To Bamboo Skip.

Click the large Wuxi photo of the Silkworm above to get to the Wuxi China web pages

Even before we entered the factory we became aware of the noise of all the spinning machines in use by the workers. To our ears, accustomed to the quietness of the lobby, the constant clatter of the spinning machines was quite deafening. On a table near the doorway were a number of bamboo baskets full of silkworm cocoons. A nearby worker was busy sorting a pile of cocoons laid out in front of her. It is not known how many cocoons each worker had to process during a working day but there must have been many hundreds. Her nimble fingers sorted the cocoons into 'good' or 'bad' ones. Any cocoon that showed a sign of blemish, holes or stains, was rejected, only the perfect ones went on to the next process of spinning the silk thread.

In front of the spinning machines there was a trough of hot water on which floated the cocoons which had passed the previous quality test. The silk from the cocoons went through the process of spinning, with the thread being wound into skeins at the top of the spinners. From the cocoons in the water trough, the worker had to first find the end of the thread..... very fine silk, but this was done with comparative ease with very nimble fingers. It was difficult to find out how many cocoon threads were spun together to produce the silk threads wound on the skeins. In another part of the factory a young worker was packing the skeins of silk thread into boxes. The boxes had the appearance of being filled with brightly shining mercury liquid, for at this stage, the silk thread had not been colored.

For more information about the silkworm you may wish to use the Wikipedia link at the bottom of this page.