SILK – “THE SPIT OF A WORM”

The silk used in the production of handloom sarees in Tamil Nadu is Mulberry silk that is, silk produced by the “Bombyx mori” silk worm, a complete domesticated species. Silk moths have only one purpose in their lives: to produce eggs. Once they have mated, the male dies shortly after.

The silkworm eat 24 hours a day, every day! The silkworm is really not  a worm at all, but the larval stage of the silk moth and therefor, technically, is a caterpillar. When the silkworms are ready to move to the next stage, the chrysalis or pupa stage, they are ready to start spinning their cocoons. It takes anywere from three to eight days for the silkworm to weave the cocoon.

This is the precious silk of our silk saree. The silkworm has two silk glands along its body. From these it literally “Spits” a fluid substance through a spinneret, an orifice in its head, which hardens on contact with air. This filament is made up of a protein substance called ‘Fibroin’ coated with a gum called ‘Sericin’.

In the silk farms, when the silkworms stop spinning, the cocoons are harvested from the chandrike, and in a couple of days taken to the cocoon market where they are sold to reelers. The cocoons must be reeled within five or six days, otherwise they would go to the next stage of their development, become moths and burst the cocoon. If this happens, the yarn cannot be reeled.

The filaments of five to eight cocoons are drawn together and reeled because a single strand of silk is far too fine to be reeled. This is the yarn of silk, that is the beginning of the mulberry silk saree.

With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk saree”

Leave a comment