subject: The Process Of Creating Silk [print this page] Silk is considered to be the queen of textiles. Mostly used in female dresses and scarves, the glitter, softness and smoothness makes silk truly fit for women. While there are some male clothing items made of silk, such as ties, silk is still mostly commonly used in clothing for women. Unlike other cloth fibers, there is a long and delicate process in creating silk, making it one of the most expensive fibers on the market.
Nothing beats and nothing can be more feminine and elegant than a woman entering a room with her long silk gown. While satin is also smooth and silky, silk is thinner and more delicate, making it easier to flow on a womans body. Occasionally, accidental snags with sharp objects can create undesirable lines in the silk. However, silk is high in tensile strength, which means that while other fabrics can be pulled and easily torn, silk is resistant to such damage.
Called sericulture, the process of creating silk starts from the egg, to the silk worm, followed by the pupa, and then the moth. Cocoons come in shades of white, yellow, or gray. These colors greatly dictate the quality of silk that they will produce. These cocoons are further segregated based on their shape, the texture of the cocoon, and its size. Just with one look or one touch, a seasoned expert can already know where to sort them out.
To be able to allow the cocoon to unwind its filaments, these cocoons are exposed to different and fast-changing temperatures. They are being exposed to hot temperatures and then to cold temperatures and then back and forth until the sericin are softened. Sericin is like silk gum which holds silk filaments together.
The silk filaments in the cocoon are now reeled to create raw silk that is threaded. Because these filaments are very fine, a silk filament that can be used in the market is made up not just of one filament but multiple filaments instead. Some use a minimum of three and others can even go up to ten strands of filament to make them durable enough for commercial purposes.
The final stage in silk production is called bailing. The silk filaments are further reeled into skeins which can weigh between two to four kilos. This is the raw silk that can now be shipped to mills for production. Production would entail preparing them for commercial use, including placing color pigments for different silk colors.
Silk has always been one of the finest and considered one of the most beautiful fabrics available. So next time you see silk, you will be able to appreciate better the craft and the process that the fibers go through to produce such a wonderful fabric. Whether creating a silk gown or giving a silk tie, there is a lot of craftsmanship involved when creating items made of silk. Silk generates not just gowns and dresses, but is a multi-million dollar industry that generates jobs in major silk producing countries such as Japan and Italy.
