Sea silk
Sea
silk is an extremely delicate, rare, and precious fabric made from long silk
fibers or diameters hidden by a gland at the base of the pen shell. The byssus
uses clams to attach itself to the marine bed. In the early twentieth century,
sea silk was produced in the Mediterranean region from the large marine bivalve
mollusc Pinna Nobilis. The animal, whose shell is often about one meter long,
points downwards towards the rock in the intertidal region, using a summary of
very stiff thin fibers. These byssus or filaments are cut and, when treated
with lemon juice, turn a golden color, which never fades. The fabric produced
from this fiber is woven more finely than silk, and it is extremely light and
warm; it was said that a pair of women's gloves made from fabric could fit with
a half walnut shell and a pair of stockings in a snuffbox. The cloth attracts
cloth insects, whose larvae will eat it.
History of sea silk
The
sophisticated writer Alciphron recorded the first "sea wool" in his
"Galenus to Cryton" letter. Early Christian Tertullian (c. 160-220
CE), while justifying the wearing of pallium instead of his toga, noted that
the materials for tunics were not sufficient for combing and sewing. Fishing
was also important for someone's clothing; because the fleece is found in the
sea where the shells of extraordinary size are decorated with a tuft of mossy
hair. Sea silk was advised to explain the nature of the gold fleece discovered
by Jason and the Argonauts, but scholars have rejected this assumption.
Beginning
from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), Chinese history documents imported
sea silk. Chinese names include "cloth from the west of the sea" and
"mermaid silk". They have fine brocade fabrics that are known to be
made from the bottom of the “water sheep”. It is called Haixi cloth. The
country produces six domestic animals such as horses, cattle, sheep, chickens,
dogs, and pigs, which are said to come from water. It is said that they use not
only sheep's wool, but also silk from tree bark, or wild silkworms, brocades,
mats, pile rugs, woven fabrics, and curtains, all of which are of better
quality and brighter color than those made in Haidong Country.
The
early use of the English name sea silk remains uncertain, but the Oxford
English Dictionary defines sea-silkworms as "a bivalve mollusc of the
genus Pinna." Pinna nobilis is at risk of extinction, partly due to
overfishing, depletion of marine fields, and pollution.
As
it has declined so dramatically, the once small but vibrant sea silk industry
has almost disappeared, and the industry is now only preserved by a few women
on the island of Sant'Antioco near Sardinia. Chiara Vigo has claimed in various
media outlets to be the only person today to become proficient in the industry
of working with byssus and locals helped him open the Sea Silk Museum in
Sant'Antioco was closed after a building code dispute with the local
government. The Basel Natural History Museum from “Project sea-silk” is
collecting extensive information and studies on the subject and informing the public that several women still produce and work with byssus in the Sardinia
Sant'Antioco.
Sea silk collection
The giant mollusc lives in shallow water where it was intensively fished. For this purpose, the collectors used a specific tool, Plino referred to as the pernilegum, which consists of two curved iron rods that acted like pliers, fishing giant shells at the end of the length adapted to the wooden handle. All the fishermen had to do was hold the shell in both hands of the pernilegum and then rotate it at a 90 ° angle to pull the shell off the seafloor. The pernilegum was used by fishermen in Taranto (Italy) and other equipment elsewhere worked for the same purpose. Thus, a split-knot rope could be used, requiring only two crew members: a diver who tied the loop to the shell and a sailor who was pulling the boat into the boat. However, whatever fishing equipment was used, the entire length - about 25 centimeters - was cut from Tuft's base, which is inside the shell. The shell was opened for this purpose and so died.
Sea silk production process
Collected
tufts, each weighing about 1.5 grams, should be washed repeatedly in soft water
until the fibers are salt-free and have their optimal elasticity.
Alternatively, tufts are set to be isolated from daylight and allowed to dry in
fairly ventilated conditions.
A
silky tuft lightens the color of the fibers and, therefore, enhances the
quality of their laminates, the secretion was immersed in cow urine. However,
as citrus fruits have become common in the Mediterranean region, lemon juice is
used instead of urine at the same end in a 36-hour bath.
Then,
needs more washing, done with soapy leaves, and an alternative period of drying
in the shade. When this is done, the tufts still show impurities and incrustations.
To clean these, the tufts are carded, first with a fine metal brush sprinkled
with nails.
Spinning
After Carding - 5/6 of their first weight-lost silky golden locks come in
spinning. Clean fibers are now so sensitive that they seem invisible and require
the lightest and most sensitive touch. Thus, spinning was dependent on the only
young girl whose hands were not yet involved in the hard work.
The
required spindles are about 30 cm long and lead weight, as used in Taranto
(Italy) or Cyprus. The end product is a single thread, which is good for
embroidery work or twisted and doubles as strong as necessary for weaving.
The sea silk used in Mesopotamia had loomed vertically such as in Greek or Persian or
horizontally. In all, 250 grams of sea silk is made to collect from one thousand
giant shells.
Applications of sea silk
The
use of sea silk goes back to antiquity. This is evidenced by a part of the
fourth century CE found in the tomb of a woman in the city of Aquincum in Rome.
The oldest surviving sea-silk item is a fourteenth-century knitted hat found
near the Basilica of Saint-Denis, near Paris, France. In modern times, southern
Italy - Sardinia and various places in Apulia - hosted the main centers of
small-scale production, mostly in convents, girls' schools, and some families.
Only small accessories were made: woven gloves, shawls, ties, caps, animal-like
items such as hats, muffs, collars, and children's clothing, wall hangings and
stitching and embroidery and sea silk on linen or silk cover are woven sea silk
Rare, although sea silk was tested in French and German textile factories in
the late eighteenth century. Almost all sea-silk items are found in natural
history museums spread across Europe rather than textile collections. One
reason is, of course, that in the previous century, sea silk textiles were
often gifted among the elite or souvenirs from Italian travelers on grand
tours. These items were put together with shells of curious personal cabinets,
which for their part later formed the basis of Europe’s first natural history
museums. A knitted pointed cap and gloves and an animal-like muff were later
sold to Marshall Field, founder of the Chicago Fields Natural History of Fields
Museum.
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