Craftswoman Skate's silk threads

Community and Forum → Blog → Craftswoman Skate's silk threads

Lev Bely, 20.11.2012 22:27

Mulberry leaves are now coming from different parts of Waiheke island to Surfdale for craftswoman Skate, or exactly for her silk worms.

Skate's hard-working silk worms got their glory along with considerable supplies of mulberry leaves right after the story of Skate's silk industry had appeared on Stuff.co.nz in the Waiheke Marketplace. People from across the island responded to Skate's call for mulberry leaves and now they're sending them over to her silk worms.

The latter seem to feel pretty good about that: they've just entered into their final stage and now are eagerly weaving fancy cocoons.

Skate's patiently waiting for them to get their work done and eventually crawl into their little canary-coloured “homes”, from which they are sadly never meant to come out. Skate is clearly not excited with the next step to do as she should put cocoons into hot water with all the worms inside. This is needed for to untangle the cocoons, each of which is weaved with one single silk thread that's of about 1.5 km length!

This thread is such fine that, as Skate says, all that could be created would be something as small as a pair of silk knickers.

“I love silk. It is a living fibre and I enjoy painting it.”

The post is illustrated with a photo of Skate posing in a brand new tailored cape made with a bit of cloth hand-painted by Skate.

She got so inspired with a collective positive response to her story that now Skate's spreading her skills in the island's primary and Steiner schools, and the kindergarten. She says she has enjoyed recounting the silk creation process to a new generation.

Still Skate has a few cocoons kept for the forthcoming silk moths to give birth to a new offspring and the silk worms that will weave lots of new silk for neat-handed Skate.

Stuff.co.nz, http://www.stuff.co.nz

Photo: craftswoman Skate with her cocoons, http://www.stuff.co.nz

All the rest posts on: experience, how to, New Zealand, education, DIY, technology