Unfortunately I don't have anything to unwind the cocoons other than my own two hands, I had read that the cocoons unwind easily and I figured...what the heck we'll unwind one by hand
3 hrs LATER...
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| It took 3 hrs to unravel a cocoon |
silkworms produce silk via two protein based liquids that harden when they are exposed to air, one is the silk the fibrin and the other the sticky glue called sericin. A cocoon is produced in one single strand making it possible to unwind an entire cocoon as a single stand
Inside the cocoon we found that they larvae had transformed into a early stage moth (so you see both the casting and the dead body in the above picture) the other part is the "cradle" which houses the silkworm within the cocoon
I cant say that I actually measured the silk myself as I unraveled it but I have read that a single strand can be 1200-1900 ft long!
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| a factory in China where cocoons are being unraveled |
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| You need to slightly boil the cocoons to dissolve the sericin that is keeping the silk strands in the cocoon |
The one cocoon was all that I unraveled but the people who run this website wormspit have unraveled many and can explain the process WAY better than me if you are interested
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