Spinning a Yarn

An illustrated account of the silkmoth’s journey from egg to thread.

The arrival through the post of a small box of eggs in May 2006 defined the beginning of this project to document the lifecycle of the silkworm.

I had never actually seen, let alone bred silkworms, but was keen to find out more about these fascinating insects that play such an intriguing role in the textile industry.

For me, drawing is the best way of exploring a subject, and keeping a visual diary of the project enabled me to record the metamorphic process as it happened from beginning to end, from egg to thread.

All the drawing was done directly from observation, sometimes using a magnifying glass to get a closer look.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW TO SEE LARGER VERSIONS OF EACH PICTURE

1 bombyx mori eggs, with blob of tissue for humidity	2 the first larvae feeding on finely shredded mulberry	3 all hatched and beginning to grow	4 changing colour and growing
5 shedding skins, some growing and some dying	6 detail of shedding skin process and one unwell caterpillar	7 fully grown in about four weeks	8 starting to spin
9 a cocoon is finished in about two days	10 two weeks later the moth emerges	11 wings are pumped up	12 empty coccoons cut open
13 mating moths	14 laying eggs	15 eggs change to grey	16 adult moths die
17 selected cocoons for reeling	18 lifted out of warm water	19 gathering the threads through a buttonhole	20 revealing the dead pupae

Supported by The Arts Council of Wales