Silk — the most expensive fabric in the history of mankind.
It was worn by emperors, paid them, and fought for it. Silk — the most expensive fabric in the history of mankind. Its origin, this gentle rolling material owes little to the caterpillar of the mulberry silkworm, which lives in Eastern Asia. Initially, the secret of silk production was known only in China, but today the silk industry spread around the world. On one of the modern factories for the breeding of silkworms was visited by Italian photographer Alessandro Bianchi.
The caterpillar of the silkworm, or the so-called silkworm.
The origin of silk in China is entangled with numerous legends. According to one of them, the wife of the Chinese Emperor, XI Ling Shi had tea in the garden, when mulberry tree into her Cup fell to the cocoon of caterpillar. Pulling the cocoon of cups, the Empress discovered that it consists of pleasant to the touch yarn. Then the girl got the idea to weave the threads of this fabric.
Silkworm cocoon. After the legendary discovery by Empress si Ling Chi silk production has spread throughout China, becoming one of the main items of export.
Hatched from the cocoon, the butterfly of the silkworm. Silk production is one of the oldest human crafts. The first mention of the manufacture of this material are found in China and belong to the fifth Millennium BC
Thousands of years the Chinese kept secret the technique of making silk fabric. The disclosure was punishable by death. However, over time, with the development of the silk road “a mystery”, was in Korea, Japan and India.
In the homeland of the material in China, silk was used not only for the manufacture of tissue. It was made of paper. This paper was much more expensive than bamboo, but were kept much longer.
Silk worms only feed on white mulberry leaves.
For pupation the caterpillar needed a frame that will hold the cocoon. In factories this kind of rods-kokonniemi. Insects placed the thread in the form of eight, rhythmically shaking his head to 230 000 times for 2-3 days. Length of the filament can reach up to 1 000 meters.
Silkworm lays eggs. The females can lay up to 800 eggs such
Pending butterfly eggs are tiny, the mass of 200 of these eggs does not exceed 1 g. After hatching, the size of the caterpillar increases 10,000 times.
Each butterfly lives only a few days, so it is very important to quickly find a partner for fertilization.
The cocoons of silkworms come in different colors: green, orange, purple — but for the production of silk is only required white.
Selected cocoons immersed in boiling water. This is done in order to kill the caterpillar inside, without damaging the silk thread.
Silk thread thinner than a human hair eight times.
She is very strong and durable.
To sew a silk dress needed 2000 of these cocoons, but this is around 70 kg or two leaves of the mulberry tree.
Silk cocoons come in different shapes: oblong, oval, with ridges.
Newly-hatched butterfly of the silkworm:
Modern breeding of butterflies is blind and can’t fly.
Exported from China silk cocoons
