Remember last year I had a really bad experience
with those poor little Bombyx mori moths.
Well, they didn't die in vane.
This year was a roaring success.
I have a total of just over 400 cocoons.
That is not counting the ones that I took out to hatch.
I guess the leaves were too old or something
for the other silkies or maybe I was just to attentive.
They prefer to be left alone to do their thing.
I got the eggs on May 11th.
They started hatching on May 19th, and they
hatched and hatched and hatched, and you get the idea.
I had to scramble for containers to put them in.
They started to grow and grow and grow.
Then they started to spin.
The first spinner was on June 12 by June 17 I had over 400 cocoons.
This is the batch that I have processed
getting ready to spin.
The Lone Silkie.
I guess he was the last to hatch.
He is still eating as of June 25rd.
He finally started to spin on the 28th
This is just the beginning of silkworm ranching.
The purpose of raising silkworms is to get silk.
After the cocoons are stifled they must be reeled.
This is an interesting process and somewhat smelly.
What a dull place this would be with out color.
I love to dye fiber. Silk is the most wonderful to work with.
It soaks up the color and has the most wonderful shine.
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