From Cocoon to Silk - Silkworm processing

[MossMaskface]

This is facinating! I've always wondered about how the silk cocoon was harvested. I never imagined that it was so easy.

What an informative video. Thanks for posting it!

[dsrevo79]

nothing beats how hard it is to make pina garment... or pineaple garment....mostly used as barong tagalog in the philippines

[Watrmellom]

isnt silkworm silk expensive?

[heavym3tal]

Who gives a shit about killing the goddamn things. Do you cry when you eat a salad, since you are killing plants?

[psynema]

@heavym3tal I didn't know salads have a central nervous system, eyes, legs, brain etc. Thanks for informing us genius.

[heavym3tal]

@psynema Your welcome. Please continue committing Veggie-cide.

[lest128]

very amazing

[PoonamTv]

stretchy...

[bosbcn]

@CharmyCupcake wow, that's the best compliment, thank you

[BraniusBalki]

How does someone come up with this? amazing stuff.

[irishbreakfast]

hhmmm,its mass expanded.i bet that abiliity would come in handy for space flight! stronger than steel,and more flexable and expandable than any other textile?hhmmmm! fascinating!

[priceandpride]

i hope those babies weren't still alive. does he eat them?

[MrShabbirpatheria]

nice

[marianchi79]

to interersting

[HelliPilot]

Very interesting,nothing wasted also.

[nikanj]

This kills the silk worm.

Wonder how many silk worms laid down their lives to make all my ties :P

[NenitaaaBonitaaa]

I dont get it why human beings always have to kill animals for their own pleasure :( why you need silk? there are so many other things you can use to produce scarves or clothes!!!!

[cupcakexrider]

@NenitaaaBonitaaa silk worms arent animals..their worms..

[kevinsinger2]

it looks like if the silk is rubbery

[killergirlgoodgirl1]

is the worms still alive??

[bosbcn]

@killergirlgoodgirl1 I think they are in the stage where they turn into a butterfly. I am not sure if those cocoons were alive or not.

[MissChistil]

@bosbcn Lmao, I learned that in 2nd grade..that they turn into...a MOTH? :P

[derrickwei30]

@bosbcn they actually turn into moths

:)

[NenitaaaBonitaaa]

@killergirlgoodgirl1 well now the little black things he takes out are the dead bodies of the worms, they are dead because of the hot water he puts them in.

[dappledbaybeauty]

@killergirlgoodgirl1 there is a persone in australia called peacfullsilkworms

they get silkw ith out the moths dying yes the boil them in hot water till they die so it is easer to get the silk instead of humanly degumming each empty coocon

[killergirlgoodgirl1]

@dappledbaybeauty aww boo hoo y must humans take everything

[slaprakshas]

@killergirlgoodgirl1 The enzymes produced by a moth to tear its way out of cocoon can harm the quality of silk fibers, thats why cocoons are boiled before the live insect gets out.. The dead pupas are eaten sometimes or fed to birds, most of the times thrown away..

[mariyam1995mon]

why did they kill them

[bosbcn]

@mariyam1995mon To make silk, they were going to die as a butterfly in a few days anyway. Not that that is any justification...

[jradetzky]

@bosbcn we eat them, they are very tasty

[Wadi3Maher]

@bosbcn There is no justice in taking its life even if it was going to die in a few days

[TheHanaLuluable]

Nice! i wonder how they stretch it, wanna try this thing once :]

[Wh0rse]

I cant believe you can just stretch it out like that in some water and its INSTANTLY a whole woven fabric made of a single long strand of silk

[bosbcn]

@Wh0rse never thought of it like that. i guess the silk worm must knit the fabric, and the water just allows it to strech

[Powder686]

Quite amazing, I have never seen anything like that, he is so proficient!

[Pyroblazer]

I hope you people whining about the poor bugs, dont eat anything with red food dye in it..

[bosbcn]

@Pyroblazer what is in red dye food?

[Pyroblazer]

@bosbcn Red Dye#7? Its made from crushed red bugs..

[bosbcn]

@Pyroblazer that's funny

[Pyroblazer]

@bosbcn Yeah it's in everything, even Soda.. 

[bosbcn]

@bosbcn so not only red, but tasty too? amazing

[CheesyProdo]

some kind of out-stretched condom!

[bosbcn]

I am guessing he does, i can't imagine he would stop the business. You can call him up, the number is on the video, but he only understands mandarin... Let me know if you contact him, i would love to know about him.

[tc123123]

this video was back in 2006, does he still sell silk?

[P0PPABURGUNDY]

So interesting.

This is such an old, ancient process.

Id love to learn how to do that

[bosbcn]

@P0PPABURGUNDY I do not think it is as simple as it looks

[P0PPABURGUNDY]

@bosbcn no I agree.... but id still like to learn.

[TehEnforcer13]

What do you do after he gives you the silk? (sorry if this is a dumb question) Do you just weave it into what ever you want?

[bosbcn]

@TehEnforcer13 He weaves it into bed covers, you can find his # on the video comments.

[rerolledDK]

Gotta love the comments from people crying over dead caterpillars. How many moths & butterflies (not to mention other bugs) do you smash up every time you go out for a drive on the highway?

[bosbcn]

@rerolledDK :D

[TheBurnMachine]

@rerolledDK this is different, you do it on purpose, you can just use cotton then silk

[sadgreen]

Quote from Wiki:

If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon, it will release proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so that it can emerge as a moth. This would cut short the threads and ruin the silk. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten

[AnGangseh]

its a shame people still do this when artificial silk is totally an option....

[pinkshinobi1]

thats kinda cool. 

[bosbcn]

@pinkshinobi1 Thanks!! :D

[poracas]

sooooooooooooo cool 8-)

[keirownzu]

that sucks monkey balls he should hug trees instead man!

[CDRdot]

this sucks, he uses animals for gaining money

[bosbcn]

@CDRdot soooo many ppl do... starting by my boss.... what to do?

[CDRdot]

@bosbcn my uncle does that too.. but I totally disagree

[DaDude9211]

@CDRdot First off, it's an INSECT. Secondly, everyone uses animals for gaining money directly or indirectly. This is especially true when you consider humans are animals. Did someone hire your for a job? Heh, heh, heh, guess what he just did. Hell, it's not even like the guy in the video is slaughtering the worms for the silk, they get kept alive and fed, it's even important to him that they are healthy so they produce lots of silk.

[ScottMcSanchez]

@DaDude9211 Silk worms are killed when they are harvested. That boiling pot of water he's next to does this for him. Just making a correction.

If the larva is allowed to live, when it exits the cocoon it drastically reduces the length of the fibers to being useless. Silkworm's have to die during this process therefore.

[Tsuguayme]

@CDRdot A lot of people do that nowadays. But some could argue that just because it's normal doesn't mean it's right. Petsmart, Petco, Mcdonalds, a lot of places do it. It's a sad fact of life

Maybe it's possible to not have a single job on Earth or at least in this country that harms animals but not everyone thinks like us.

[happysexytimee]

@CDRdot so when u eat a chicken u dont think about that?

[codeagent47]

@CDRdot

that's what human do... chicken, cows, sheep, and pork are all profitable!

[Tsuguayme]

Is this guy single? :D

[bluecheesecow]

poor silkworms

[marcusliou]

this is inhumane D: they boil the silkworm while its still in its cacoon i dont get why they dont let the thing go free then boil and process the silk...

[bosbcn]

@marcusliou I agree, i think the reason why the do not do that is bcs the silk get ruined when they leave the cocoon... maybe someone else who knows better can comment.

[ekici123]

@marcusliou In my country we mostly use plants to get silk. So no boiling! We do use boiling but not THAT much.

[Michaelasds]

@ekici123 LOL WTF only silk worm produces silk lol

[ekici123]

@Michaelasds What are you convincing?

[TToucanSSam]

@marcusliou The main reason is because when the moth emerges it pokes holes in the silk which greately reduces the amount of silk you can retrieve from the cacoon. Also when the silkworm is boiled, its easier to open the cacoon and the worm is usually eaten as food.

[MrThemilkman369]

@marcusliou Asshole....

[Fairyhorn]

@marcusliou The point is, if they let/wait for the caterpillars to escape as moths they will die anyway... and think of it this way: It's thanks to them that we have the lovely... soft... silk...

[Tsuguayme]

This is very cool, I love it. Thanks for showing us. So are the bed covers woven or not? Are they just made from stretched silk?

[bosbcn]

@Tsuguayme Hi Tsuguayme- They are regular woven bed covers, I wish I had recorded those inside his house, he showed us how they made them.

I always think of buying one, now that i can afford it, at the time I was a poor backpacking student :D

[Tsuguayme]

@bosbcn Be careful to expose all his secrets to the world or else he might not be able to make a living anymore.

[bosbcn]

@Tsuguayme can you please expand on that? I was trying to help the guy market his products

[Tsuguayme]

@bosbcn Oh okay :3

I mean don't show people how he makes everything. Like don't show people the whole process but only part of it. Right? :D

He is a cute man. Oh look there's his number. Hmmm but I don't have long distance... :((((((((((

[TheDino3731]

@Tsuguayme its not a secret how to make silkworm blankets people do it all over Thailand....

[Tsuguayme]

@TheDino3731 It's pretty much unknown to other countries like America. That's what I'm saying.

[TheDino3731]

@Tsuguayme your telling some of the most advanced societies in the world don't know how to make silk, but Thailand a impoverished country does? i think that is falsified just because we dont do it by hand doesn't mean we don't know how.

[Tsuguayme]

@TheDino3731 I dunno. I've lived in USA all my life, I've been around a lot of places in USA, I never saw anyone make silk, that's all. I'm not saying no Americans know how to make silk, I'm just saying many people don't know how to make silk here in USA.

[NekoFoxLvr]

poor little things. I wish they waited for the moth to come out then collected the coccon! It be the best for both worlds!

[11breanna]

cool!

[bosbcn]

@11breanna thanks ;)

[Sceptileking]

cool video.

[bosbcn]

Thank you for posting!

[widicus]

wander if they have worms for lunch

[bobaflex]

Thats pretty cool

[magicalhearingman]

Just some more Asian barbarism

[22reTOYOTA]

Or maybe just a guy doing a job to make money. Strange concept?

[flaboy4rmbg]

tight

[paulxnoodles456]

that pretty smart

[tulluad]

that was very interesting

[smlbmfx]

haha date seed in a cocoon...

[joiceflorful]

Coitado do pobre bicho! O q que custa usar algodão, jeans, sei lá... Q absurdo! Sem contar q antes o bicho é jogado vivo em um caldeirão fumegante. Cruel!

[francacristina]

Casulo sente dor?

[ButlerGTAS]

you are disgusting

[LMShinigami]

I do hope you've learned a little more about silk worms since your "reply" 2 months ago. Silkworms first of all do not turn into butterflies, they turn into moths. And no, They do not wait for them to hatch, because that would destroy the silk. They are boiled alive while in the cocoon, the cocoon is unraveled from the now dead worm/moth (those "hard pellets" you saw) wtf would a date seed be doing in a cocoon?!

[bosbcn]

I have, specially right at the end, after reading your explanation. Point well taken, thank you for the clarification

[eminatic]

actually there are 2 types of silk. one type is made by boiling the cocoons prehatched to keep the fibers intact, the other DOES let them hatch but produces a more...stiff/textured silk due to the shorter "threads" of silk.

[lavendardust]

very interesting to see. thx.

[bosbcn]

Thank you, i am glad you liked it.

[messyjessett]

aww, poor silkworms!!!

the finished product is impressive though.

[bosbcn]

silkworms, have converted into butterflies and left the cocoons behind by the time he uses them.

[darkdoom645]

what are those pellets that he throws out

[bosbcn]

I do know, i believe they looked like hard date seeds, but I really have no clue what they are. I was asking myself the same question.

[mirzasmells]

the hard pellets is the actual silk worm that is going through metamorphosis. the white layer of silk is their cocoon

[darkdoom645]

oh well thanks for the info

[sutae]

what are those do they eat that kind of worm i think it's cultured

[bosbcn]

not sure i understand you. can you clarify?

they do not eat those worms

[tokyo3457]

great, thank you!

[tokyo3457]

what are those for???

[bosbcn]

What do you refere to as those?

He uses the silk to make bedcovers

[Sasukegirl911]

He makes bed covers? I'd like one x] but I'd much rather let the silkworms hatch and then boil the cocoon (spl?) or whatever and then use the silk instead.

[gregieb0i]

This goes back 5 thousand years... Still amazing to see it.

[jcmegabyte]

Interesting - I've never seen it done that way. I always saw them boiled, and then "unwound" onto a spool directly from the cocoon.

[pufflepoop]

That is so......

COOL!