SILK- AT GLANCE

"If fashion is a fine art, then silk is its biggest canvas,
and if silk is the canvas, then all its weavers, dyers,
designers, embroiders are the greatest artists"

Introduction:.

                   Silk is a natural fiber and was amongst the earliest fiber's discovered by man with others being wool, hemp, linen and cotton.  Silk is a fibroin made of proteins secreted in the fluid state as single filament by a caterpillar, popularly known as 'silkworm'.  These silkworms feed on the selected food plants and spin cocoons as a 'protective shell' to perpetuate the life. Silkworm has four stages in its life cycle viz., egg, silkworm, pupa and moth.  Man interferes this life cycle at the cocoon stage to obtain the silk, a continuous filament of commercial importance, used in weaving of the dream fabric.

LIFE CYCLE OF SILKWORM:.

The total life-cycle of a Silkworm ranges from 6-8 weeks. Generally, the warmer the weather, the quicker the Silkworm will complete its life-cycle, however, other factors such as humidity and exposure to sunlight are also very important. Ideally, Silkworms will experience 12 hours of sunlight, and 12 hours of darkness per day, a temperature of 23-28 degrees Celsius, as well as humidity levels of 85-90%. Under these conditions, your eggs should hatch in a period of 7-10 days. However, it is very hard to achieve these conditions without an incubator, and it is common practice to just make do with the weather in the area in which you live, in fact, here at Everything Silkworms, we do not even use incubators, as they just aren’t practical!

Types of Silk Produced in the World

1) MULBERRY SILK

2) TUSSAH SILK  (TASAR)

3) ERI SILK YARN

4) MUGA SILK YARN

5) DUPION SILK 

6) MATKA SILK 

7) ANAPHE SILK

8) FAGARA SILK

9) COAN SILK

10) MUSSEL SILK

11) SPIDER SILK 

Silk has several natural properties that make it distinct from all other fibres both natural and man made.  It has a natural sheen, and inherent affinity to rich colours, high absorbance, light weight yet stronger than a comparable filament of steel, poor heat conduction that makes it warm in the winter and cool in summer, low static current generation, resilience and an excellent drape.

Various types of silks produced for a diverse range of applications like fashion apparel, furnishings and upholstery, carpets and rugs and silk is also blended with other fibres to manufacture fabrics.  Another important uses of silk are the sewing, knitting and embroidery sectors among others

Bibliography:.

1) http://inserco.org/en/silk_an_introduction

2) https://everythingsilkworms.com.au/silkworms/life-cycle-of-a-silkworm/