The two diagrams illustrate the life cycle of silkworm and how the silk cloth is produced. The 4-step of silkworm’s life cycle begins with a silkworm that hatches at the top of the leaf and ends with the formation of cocoon. This is achieved by making the mature silkworm breed to produce another cocoon that can be turned into silk cloth. The 5-step of silk cloth production starts with the selection of cocoon and finishes with the weaving of the silk cloth.
The cycle starts by a silkworm laying eggs on the leaf. After 10 days, the eggs hatched into silkworm larvas, which eat mulberry leaf as their food. Four until six weeks later, the larvas form silk thread that wraps around their bodies. In 3-8 days, cocoon was formed, which is used for silk cloth production. The cocoon hatches into a moth in 18 days and the process commences again.
The process of silk cloth starts with the selection of the good quality cocoon that will be used in the production process. The next step is boiling the cocoon in the water to soften the outer layer. After that, the cocoon is removed from the water and unwinded until forms silk thread. Usually, one cocoon can form 300-900 meters of silk filament. Then, the silk fiber is twisted until desired thickness. The last step is weaving the twisted silk thread into a silk cloth. The coloring process can be done after twisting or after weaving by soaking the yarn or fabric in the dye.