Sericulture - A Timeless Treasure from China
Five thousand and three hundred years ago, the carved ivory art of a silkworm cocoon unveiled the chapter of the significant history of sericulture, an exquisite combination of mulberry agriculture and silk reeling technology.
Join us to go back in time and discover the art of sericulture with these watercolor paintings made by out artist. It's a story of the beauty of silk, a treasure of the wisdom of our ancestors...
BATHING
Silkworms seeds are washed and cleaned for a better selection, thorough disinfection.
Healthier silkworms, better and stronger silk floss.
PICKING
Picking the freshest and most tender mulberry leaves to feed the silkworms. Silkworms only eat organic mulberry leaves, no pesticides, no chemicals.
SLEEPING AND GROWING
Silkworms have to go through four dormant stages to grow into a much larger and thicker size. At the final stage, they are two inches long, bluish white and vigorous.
TUFTING
Silkworms cluster together and being placed onto a "hill". They gradually stop eating and ready to make cocoon.
COCOONING AND COLLECTING
Cocoons are removed from the "hill", carefully graded by the quality, types and color. In this stage, cocoons are also picked for incubating silkworm moths for the next cycle.
BOILING AND REELING
Cocoons are being boiled under a precisely controlled temperature to dissolve the sericin. Seven or eight strand of silk floss are pulled at the same time and reeled together into raw silk .
ARRANGING
Sort out the raw silk floss and arrange into rolls. Dry them naturally. In ancient time, people present these raw silk rolls to worship to Gods and pray for another good year of production.
WINDING
The strings of raw silk on the reeling wheel are twisted and must be wound onto a wooden shaft to proceed weaving.
RE-WINDING
In this step, the silk threads need to be unwound from the shaft and wound onto a warp beam used on the weaving machine.
WEAVING INTO JACQUARD
Jacquard fabric with simple geometric pattern can be dated back to Shang and Zhou Dynasty (1600bc - 256bc). The records of the earliest jacquard machines in the literature, especially the structure and operation methods of the jacquard machine, are not well documented. It is noted in "Tien-kung-kai-Wu: Exploitation of the Work of Nature, Chinese Agriculture and Technology in the XVII Century" over 400 years later, that the intense yet harmonious movement echoing between the person up on the machine pulling up the warp while the weaver in front of the machine preparing to throw the shuttle.
Sericulture is timeless treasure from the orient and we want to show it to the world.
Together, we will keep this precious art alive.