A. pernyi is known as the Chinese tussah moth, is a major producer of another variety of wild silk (tussah silk).
Using a rough figure of one kilometer of silk (about 3300 feet) per cocoon, ten unraveled cocoons could theoretically extend vertically to the height of Mt Everest.
Silk is resistant to most mineral acids, except for sulfuric acid, which dissolves it.
Other types of arthropods produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders.
The silk from Pochampally is particularly well-known for its classic designs and enduring quality.
Synthetic silks have also been made from lyocell, a type of cellulose fiber, and are often difficult to distinguish from real silk.
The silk is traditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed and usually also has silver threads woven into the cloth.
Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye than silk from the cultivated silkworms.
The flat surfaces of the fibrils reflect light at many angles, giving silk a natural shine.
Dring the early 1800s, in many areas of the United States including New England, silkworm culture and production of silk was a household industry.
The most important commercial silkworm is Bombyx mori, which has been domesticated to the point that it is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild.
The silk fabric is soaked in extremely cold water and bleached before dyeing to remove the natural yellow coloring of Thai silk yarn.
Unwashed silk chiffon may shrink up to 8% due to a relaxation of the fiber macrostructure.
Silk's absorbency makes it comfortable to wear in warm weather and when one is active.
By the 13th century, Italian silk was a significant source of trade.
To produce 1 kilogram of silk, 104 kilograms of mulberry leaves must be eaten by 3000 silkworms.
Liquid silk is coated in sericin, a water-soluble protective gum, and solidifies on contact with the air.
The first evidence of the silk trade is the finding of silk in the hair of an Egyptian mummy of the 21st dynasty, circa 1070 B.C.E.
A special manufacturing process removes the outer irritant sericin coating of the silk, which makes it suitable as non-absorbable surgical sutures.
Silk was in great demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade.
Legend has it that two monks, encouraged by emperor Justinian I, smuggled silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds into Constantinople (Istanbul) in hollow canes from China.
Silkworm fibers are naturally extruded from two silkworm glands as a pair of primary filaments (brin), which are stuck together, with sericin proteins that act like glue, to form a bave.
Many local operations use a reeling machine for this task, but some silk threads are still hand-reeled.
Silkworm silk was used as the standard for the denier, a measurement of linear density in fibers.
Silk's attractive luster and drape makes it suitable for many furnishing applications.
The term "silkworm" refers to the larva or caterpillar of various species of moths.
Ahimsa silk is promoted in parts of Southern India for those who prefer not to wear silk produced by killing silkworms.
During the reign of emperor Tiberius, sumptuary laws were passed that forbade men from wearing silk garments, but these proved ineffectual.
Silk has a smooth, soft texture that is not slippery, unlike many synthetic fibers.
Mysore Silk Sarees, which are known for their soft texture, last many years if carefully maintained.
Known as the "domesticated silkworm" and as the "mulberry silkworm," B. mori, a member of the Bombycidae family of Lepidoptera, feeds solely on the leaves of mulberry trees.
Today, at least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year in many nations, requiring nearly ten billion pounds of mulberry leaves.
Instead, commercially reared silkworm pupae are killed before the adult moths emerge, typically by heat, such as boiling water, but the pupae also may be pierced with a needle rather than boiling.
India is the second largest producer of silk after China, although most is consumed domestically.
Silk moths lay eggs on specially prepared paper, with the females laying about 300 to 400 eggs each.
The annual world production represents 70 billion miles of silk filament, a distance well over 300 round trips to the sun.
Allegedly, silkworm eggs were smuggled to Khotan in the hairdo of a Chinese princess sent to marry the Emperor of Khotan.
The Muslim Moors brought silk with them to Spain during their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
The tradition of wearing silk sarees in marriages by the brides is followed in southern parts of India.
Garments made from silk form an integral part of Indian weddings and other celebrations.
Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy.
Wild silks, or tussah silks (also spelled "tasar"), are those produced by caterpillars other than B. mori.
James I of England introduced silk-growing to the American colonies around 1619, ostensibly to discourage tobacco planting.
Two glands produce liquid silk and force it through openings in the head called spinnerets.
Muga, the golden silk, and Eri are produced by silkworms that are native only to Assam.
The transport and trade of silk, among other luxuries, between China and Greek, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations was enabled greatly by the Silk Road.
Silk production is especially common in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest construction.
The difference is that hand-reeled threads produce three grades of silk: two fine grades that are ideal for lightweight fabrics, and a thick grade for heavier material.
Silk is mostly composed of the insoluble protein fibroin, coated by a smaller amount of a water-soluble protective gum (sericin), as well as including small amounts of other substances.
found in Zhejiang province; silk fabric wrappings around the body of child found in Henan province and dated to around 3500 B.C.E.
Women traditionally weave silk on hand looms, and pass the skill on to their daughters as weaving is considered to be a sign of maturity and eligibility for marriage.
So silk should either be pre-washed prior to garment construction, or dry cleaned.
Silkworm silk therefore has a linear density of approximately 1 den, or 1.1 dtex.
Silkworms were raised and silk reeled under the direction of Zoe Lady Hart Dyke.
Notable production is found in such cities as Bhoodhan Pochampally (also known as Silk City), Kanchipuram, Dharmavaram, Mysore, and so forth in South India and Banaras in the North for manufacturing garments and sarees.
Despite injunctions against silk for men, silk has retained its popularity in the Islamic world because of its permissibility for women.
Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the many areas accessible to Chinese merchants because of its texture and luster.
The shimmering appearance of fine silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
Silk, known as "Paat" in Eastern India, Pattu in southern parts of India and Resham in Hindi/Urdu, has a long history in India.
About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk, or roughly 1,000 miles of filament..
Historically, silk was used by the upper classes, while cotton was used by the poorer classes.
Nevertheless, in 1732 John Guardivaglio set up a silk throwing enterprise at LogwoodMmill in Stockport, and in 1744, Burton Mill was erected in Macclesfield, and in 1753 Old Mill was built in Congleton..
The heritage of silk rearing and weaving is very old and continues today especially with the production of Muga and Pat riha and mekhela chador, the three-piece silk sarees woven with traditional motifs.
Despite the popularity of silk, the secret of silk-making only reached Europe around 550 C.E., via the Byzantine Empire.
Silk fibers from the Bombyx mori silkworm have a triangular cross section with rounded corners, 5-10 ?m wide.
A variety of wild silks have been known and used in China, India, and Europe from early times, although the scale of production has always been far smaller than that of cultivated silks.
Silk is worn by people as a symbol of royalty while attending functions and during festivals.
Mass emigration (especially of Huguenots) during periods of religious dispute had seriously damaged French industry and introduced these various textile industries, including silk, to other countries.
The cross-section from other silkworms can vary in shape and diameter: crescent-like for Anaphe and elongated wedge for tussah.
British enterprise also established silk filature in Cyprus in 1928.
Mohandas Gandhi was also critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing."
Silk is produced, year round, in Thailand by two types of silkworms, the cultured Bombycidae and wild Saturniidae.
Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, with some of the earliest archaeological evidence being parts of a primitive loom dated to about 4900 B.C.E.
Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress, Lei Zu (Hsi-Ling-Shih, Lei-Tzu, Si-Ling), the wife of the Yellow Emperor, in the 27th century B.C.E.
Silks are mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, but also by some adult insects such as webspinners.
Silk prices increased dramatically, and US industry began to look for substitutes, which led to the use of synthetics such as nylon.
A majority of the silk in India is produced in Karnataka State, particularly in Mysore and the North Bangalore regions of Muddenahalli, Kanivenarayanapura, and Doddaballapur; 65% of India's raw silk is produced in Karnataka State.
The cocoon of the domesticated silkworm is composed of a single, continuous thread of raw silk from 300 to 900 meters (1000 to 3000 feet) long.
China remains by far the larger producer and exporter of silk.
The wealth of Florence was largely built on textiles, both wool and silk, and other cities like Lucca also grew rich on the trade.
Silk is one of the strongest natural fibers but loses up to 20% of its strength when wet.
Once washed and dried, the silk is woven on a traditional hand operated loom.
Often, the silkworm itself is eaten or used for other purposes (fertilizer, fish food, etc.).
S. hirta (or S. alba), known as white or yellow mustard, grows wild in North Africa, the Middle East, and Mediterranean Europe and has spread farther by long cultivation.
The eggs hatch and the caterpillars (silkworms) are fed fresh, finely chopped mulberry leaves.
Silk emitted by the silkworm consists of two main proteins, sericin and fibroin, fibroin being the structural center of the silk, and serecin being the sticky material surrounding it.
Silk production is especially common in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest construction.
Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market, best known as a platform for selling illegal drugs. As part of the dark web, it was operated as a Tor hidden service, such that online users were able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring.
Because silk was the major trade product which traveled on this road, it was named the Silk Road in 1877 by Ferdinand von Richthofen – a well-known German geographer. This ancient route not only circulated goods, but also exchanged the splendid cultures of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greek and Rome.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce.
The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean. Because China silk comprised a large proportion of the trade along this ancient road, in 1877, it was named the 'Silk Road' by Ferdinand von Richthofen, an eminent German geographer.