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Silk
Silk is produced by silkworms, which are native to Asia and create their cocoons out of a strong elastic material that is collected and processed into silk fabric. This fabric can be used to make clothing, bedding, and other goods.
535 Questions
Why silk has a lustrous appearance?
Natural silk -- the fibre spun by the silkworm to fabricate its cocoon -- is a triangular fibre, shaped like a prism, which reflects and refracts any light.
How do you restore silk fabric?
Silk is so delicate that restoration is often not possible. If, however, you find a spot on a silk tie, for example, you may be able to restore it with hand laundry. You can read more about laundry of silk, below -- without endorsement.
If, however, the stain is old, or the fabric has been partially eaten away by the stain's consumers, restoration may not be possible.
Does silk come from a silkworm?
Silkworms produce silk when they grow from worms, into their adult stage: a moth.
In between these stages, the silkworm spins a single thread of silk around itself, which eventually hardens into a cocoon to protect it during this transformation. This silk is excreted from the salivary glands.
The worm is boiled alive during this stage before the silk is removed. If it were allowed to grow and emerge from the cocoon, it would break the cocoon in the process, making it less valuable for silk production (and useless for high quality garment).
The silk itself can also be loosen by soaking water. which will loosen up the "gum". Labors use a brush to push the cocoon up and down until one of the loose end is attack to the brush.
Why is the burning smell of synthetic silk and pure silk different?
After natural burning of natural silk an ash remain and the smell is strong; the burning of artificial silk can be total.
Where could one purchase a silk dressing gown?
There are many stores that offer ladies' dressing gowns made of silk. Among the top stores includes Nordstrom. Nordstrom is bound to have a silk dress to fit your needs.
Ancient Chinese silk was made from wild silkworms, either before or after the moth emerged from its cocoon. This was later developed into "sericulture", or artificial worm farms.
The normal procedure for making silk :
- The silkworms are hatched from eggs and fed mix prepared from concentrate until they form a cocoon.
- Once the cocoon is constructed (about4-5weeks), the pupae are usually killed by piercing, boiling, baking, or freezing. The remains are removed during the unwinding process.
- The cocoons are heated in near-boiling water to release the binding agent (seracin) so that the thread can be unreeled in continuous lengths
- The threads are twisted together from four or more cocoons, to form a single strand of yarn.
The killing of the worms is sometimes decried as inhumane, and the famous religious leader Gandhi spoke out against the practice. The philosophy of Ahimsa (doing no harm or violence) is used in the term Ahimsa silk, natural silk made from empty cocoons.
Every time I have washed raw silk in water, I have destroyed the luster of the garment. Dry clean only sadly.
Is silk made from a plant or an animal?
Silk is spun for the cocoon of the silkworm, an insect, before it can turn into a moth. It's vaguely similar to spider web. The silkworm is fed on mulberry leaves.
How is silk made into fabrics?
Production of Silk from Cocoon to Factory
Sericulture: The production of cocoon for their filament is called sericulture. The species Bombyx mori is usually cultivated and is raised under controlled condition of environment and nutrition. The life cycle of silk worm encircle in the four stages. The egg, the silk worm, the pupa and the moth. The silk worm which feeds on mulberry leaves forms a covering around it by secreting a protein like substance through its head. This stage is called cocoon, the desirable stage for the silk producers.
Filature operations: The cocoons raised by the farmer are delivered to the factory, called a filature, where the silk is unwound from the cocoons and the strands are collected into skeins. Some cocoons are scientifically bred in such factories. The filature operations consist of the following stages.
a) Sorting cocoons :
The cocoons are sorted according to the color, size, shape and texture as these affect the final quality of the silk. Cocoons may range from white and yellow to grayish.
b) Softening the Sericin : Silk filament is a double strand of fibroin, which is held together by a gummy substance called sericin or silk gum. After the cocoon has been sorted, they are put through a series of hot and cold immersions, as the sericin must be softened to permit the unwinding of the filament as one continuous thread.
c) Reeling the filament : Reeling is the process of unwinding the silk filaments from the cocoon and combining them together to make a thread of raw silk. As the filament of the cocoon is too fine for commercial use, three to ten strands are usually reeled at a time to produce the desired diameter of raw silk which is known as "reeled silk". The useable length of reeled filament is 300 to 600 m.
d) Bailing : The silk filament is reeled into skeins, which are packed in a small bundles called books, weighting 2 to 4.5 kg. These books are put into bales weighing about 60 kg. In this form raw silk is shipped to silk mills all over the world.
Why is silk cotton a more environment friendly fiber than silk?
Cotton is significantly more environmentally impactful than silk. (Cotton is less environmentally friendly than silk)The drawbacks of cotton are:
- the amount of land required to supply the worlds needs which reduces the land for food farming
- cotton requires large amounts of irrigation water
- cotton requires continuous applications of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer
- cotton transformation into fabric is water intensive
- No part of the plant is edible
The environmental impacts of silk are minimal:
- the silkworm eats mulberry leaves which are hardy requiring little pesticide herbicides or water
- the silkworm itself is highly bred so it cannot survive or exist in nature
- the dead larva can be consumed as food (Beondegi - Korea)
What impact does silk have on the world today?
Silk farmers -- businesses involved in the care, feeding and tending of domesticated silk worms which produce the commercial silk fibre -- are responsible for their environmental impact.
Where in the world are silk worm found?
They were discovered in China and can still be found in China today.
Cotone is the Italian equivalent of 'cotton'. It's a masculine gender noun in the singular form. It's pronounced koh-TOH-nay.*
*The sound 'ay' is similar to the sound of 'ay' in the English noun 'ray'.
How many silk worms are killed for one silk saree?
for my opinion to make one silk saree maybe 1000 or 50,000 silk worms could be killed to make one silk saree from silk
because they look like worms accept they are grey and herbivore. (plant eater)
