The history of silk
Hey friends, ever wondered how the silk all of us love came into existence? If you don't keep reading and tell me down in the comments if you liked it. Let's go and learn the history of silk.
According to legend, Lady Hsi-ling-Shih, the wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor who is said to have ruled China in about 3000 bc. One day, Hsi-ling-Shih was sharpening her sword while sipping tee under a mulberry tree. A cocoon fell into her hot cup of tea and began to unravel in just a little while.
When the empress was about to take a sip, she was shocked to see shiny threads rolling out of hr tea. The empress was so impressed by these shiny threads that she set on a hunt to discover its source. Her search led her to the bombyx Mori silkworm. She frantically went around the mulberry tree at all the cocoons trying to discover something.
She saw the worms wrapped up in their cocoons covered in thread-like material. It gave her an idea of weaving it into a fabric. She quickly went back to her chamber and designed a method of production to create silk.
After a lot of time, she sent her servants to collect eggs laid by the silkworm. Baby worms known as Larva hatched 2 weeks later and were fed mulberry leaves for a month. The process increased their body weight 10,000 fold and they grew up to 3 inches.
The larva began to secrete liquid raw silk from their salivary glands. When the liquid came in contact with air, it solidified into a single thread. The pupating larva spun itself into thick cozy cocoons. This was the first step towards the formation of silk fiber!
The cocoons were then boiled for 3 minutes to kill the pupa before it transformed into a moth. Boiling the cocoon melted the gelatinous protein that was binding the cocoon. They took 50 cocoons and reeled them through a single hole of a bamboo stick from a hand-operated reel.
As the threads passed through together, the remaining protein glued together forming a single thick thread. The threads were finally woven into shimmery and smooth pieces of silk cloth.
Until 200 Bc, silk was reserved for personal use by Chinese royalty only. As the mulberry silkworms were found only in China they used it to their advantage. China had a monopoly over the silk trade and kept the worm a secret. Demand for silk became very popular. People from around the world started trading silk for gold and silver coins. But the secret didn't stay a secret for long.
By 300 AD, Korea started producing silk, thanks to a few Chinese immigrants who settled there. Soon the production of silk spread to Japan, India and Persia too! Eventually, China lost its monopoly.
By the 13th century, Italy had entered the hall of fame in silk history. It became the highest producer of silk. Soon France started challenging Italy's dominance over silk. But in recent days China has regained its no 1 status as the King of Silk Production.
Why is silk so valuable?
Silk is very expensive of its limited availability and costly production. It takes more than 5000 silkworms to produce just one kilogram of silk. The farming, killing and harvesting of thousands of silkworm cocoons are resource-heavy, labor-intensive and costly processes.
What are the four types of silk?
There are four types of natural silk produced around the world: Mulberry silk, Eri Silk, Tasar silk, and Muga silk.
FUN FACTS
Did you know that a silk rope is stronger than an equally thick metal wire? In fact, is the strongest natural fiber known to men.
It is also used to dress wounds, as it can dissolve and be absorbed into the body.
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