step 1: raising silkworms and harvesting cocoons
silkworms are really not worms at all. silk worms are the larvae of ‘bombyx mori’ moths and silkworms are actually
domesticated insects. native to china, the silkworm does not longer exist in the wild, after so many centuries of
inbreeding the silkworm is incapable of flight, mates quickly after emerging from its crysalis, and dies a day or so after
laying its eggs. designboom illustrates the several stages of sericulture, which begins with hatching silkworm eggs ...
image © designboom
an ounce of silkworm eggs yields about 35,000 worms, during gestation, which lasts approximately three weeks, the eggs
must stay between 25 and 31 °C, in a tray with high humidity. as they hatch, each of the tiny creatures must be carefully
moved to a ‘petri dish’, a circular flat bamboo tray, to be fed with fresh mulberry leaves several times a day.
when the baby silkworms emerge from their eggs, they are really tiny, about the size of a lowercase ‘i’, and almost black.
from the moment they emerge they start eating with an enthusiasm that never abates.
when designboom entered the farmer’s household we could hear them constantly chewing.
the worms are protected from harmful flying insects by wrapping the trays in homespun cotton
silkworms are really not worms at all. silk worms are the larvae of ‘bombyx mori’ moths and silkworms are actually
domesticated insects. native to china, the silkworm does not longer exist in the wild, after so many centuries of
inbreeding the silkworm is incapable of flight, mates quickly after emerging from its crysalis, and dies a day or so after
laying its eggs. designboom illustrates the several stages of sericulture, which begins with hatching silkworm eggs ...
image © designboom
an ounce of silkworm eggs yields about 35,000 worms, during gestation, which lasts approximately three weeks, the eggs
must stay between 25 and 31 °C, in a tray with high humidity. as they hatch, each of the tiny creatures must be carefully
moved to a ‘petri dish’, a circular flat bamboo tray, to be fed with fresh mulberry leaves several times a day.
when the baby silkworms emerge from their eggs, they are really tiny, about the size of a lowercase ‘i’, and almost black.
from the moment they emerge they start eating with an enthusiasm that never abates.
when designboom entered the farmer’s household we could hear them constantly chewing.
the worms are protected from harmful flying insects by wrapping the trays in homespun cotton