Welcome to the intriguing world of the Silk worm and Silk production. From egg to moth in around 45 days. Just follow the Images down the page, starting from top left. Firstly, it only takes approximately 8 days for the worm to be developed enough so it can vacate the egg. Some worms are white and some yellow, gender dependant. They then take around 20-25 days discharging strands of silk which they intricately weave into oval shaped cocoons.
Nearing completion of the cocoon, the worm then climbs inside to undertake final construction. Once the cocoon is complete, the metamorphosis begins. From the start of the metamorphosis to D-day, takes around 10 days. Sadly, in order to satisfy the demand for Silk and ensure its availability, the moth never gets to see the light of day. If it were to be allowed to burrow itself out of the cocoon, it would do so by destroying a good percentage of this very sort after material.
When the assessors determine the time is right, the cocoons are then placed in boiling water and the whole process begins in ‘unraveling’ the silk and converting it to a usable material. At the demise of the moth but it’s a process that has inherently been practiced and hardly altered for many years.
