Silk Hanky - Mawata experiment

 I was looking for silk cocoons several years ago to make my own silk hankies, or mawatas and couldn't find affordable whole ones.  They're a bit icky, because they still have the larvae in them.  Of course now, the prices for cocoons are crazy high, plus I couldn't find anything that didn't have to be imported.    Finally with a bit of in from Michael at Worm Spit, I decided to try the cut cocoons for facials.   Since a portion is missing, I figured that I'd need a smaller frame.   It was faster to take my 6 inch continuous weaving frame that my husband made for one of the Olds Master Spinner levels and remove most of the nails. 

Before the cocoons can be stretched, you have to remove the sericin which is the glue that binds the silk filament together.  I simmered them in a solution of soap and sodium carbonate or washing soda.   First, I let them simmer for too long so they were really soggy.  Then I realized I'd used too much soap, so rinsing has been a big job.   The cut cocoons are a bit more delicate than the whole ones so they flatten and get a bit misshapen while simmering.  As well, they have a few more loose, cut threads of silk so a couple of them clung together and had to be separated when I pulled them out of the bath.

They stretched on the frame fairly easily, although they were a bit fussy at times I think due to being cut.  It wasn't onerous though and once I got into the rhythm, it went quite quickly.  I did stretch a few by hand to square up the edges a bit.  I think my original frame had side nails to help with this, but I remember thinking that they were less helpful and made the process a little more difficult.  I left them out this time and had no issues.  It was easier to stretch them on the diagonal first and then to the remaining nails.

Even without a lot of side manipulation to square them up, this was what I woke up to this morning.  A lovely bundle of 12 cocoons to make up a good sized silk hankie.   I was very happy!

I have a few full cocoons to add to the rest of the packet of cut cocoons. I'm prepping for a class which will hopefully happen in May, so people will get to try both the cut cocoons and a couple of the full cocoons, to get the whole buggy experience!  

They can be dyed once this process is finished.  When you dye the whole cocoons, much of the dye is absorbed by the sericin and just washes out once you remove the sericin.   They dye beautifully in the hankie stage though.    These are easy to draft the fibres out, which can then be spun, knitted or used in felting.  I've only spun them though.