1. Cocoons after the silkworms have spun them. The silkworm converts mulberry leaves into a liquid silk, which it stores in a special gland. When the gland is full, the worm ejects the silk in two continuous strands which join together and harden on contact with the air. Nodding and bobbing, it wraps itself up in this delicate fiber; inside, it proceeds to turn into a moth.
2. Spools of silk thread.
3. To make thread, the cocoon must be unwound before the moth cuts through it. The Chinese discovered 5,000 years ago that sericin, the gummy substance that binds the cocoons together, dissolves in hot water. The process of unwinding the cocoons is called reeling. Several cocoons are unwound together, because the individual filaments are too fine. The sericin remaining on the silk binds these strands into one. In the 1830's, New England farmers used various versions of the Piedmont reeler*.
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