Silk quilts are light and smooth, have good fluffiness and strong breathability, and are widely favored in daily life. However, do you know what kind of “transformation” each ordinary silkworm cocoon undergoes before it finally becomes a qualified silk quilt? On the 15th, the fifth Chongqing Sericulture Industry Vocational Skills Competition was held at the Chongqing Sericulture Science and Technology Research Institute.
One of the competition sections is called “peeling cocoons and opening cotton”, which is often called the first step in making silk quilts.
I saw 60 contestants from various districts and counties in Chongqing, divided into three groups, with 200 silkworm cocoons placed in front of each person.
Competitors need to peel off the cocoons one by one, remove the pupae and impurities in the water, clean them, and then pull the peeled cocoons into small cotton pockets by hand and put them on the bamboo bow. Open the mold.
The referee of the competition said that as a part of the competition, this is the end. But to make a silk quilt, the cotton pockets need to be strung together and dried. After drying, the silk becomes fluffy and soft, and can be used to make quilts. Therefore, during the competition, whether the cotton bag is pulled evenly, whether the silkworm chrysalis, silkworm excrement and other residues are thoroughly cleaned, as well as the cleanliness of the silk cotton stretched out on the bamboo bow mold, the length and thickness of the silk, etc. will ultimately affect the silk quilt. The quality depends on the skill level of the craftsmen.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Sericulture Science and Technology Research Institute, usually 1 kilogram of silkworm cocoons can only produce about 4 taels of silk. Making a 2 kilogram silk quilt requires about 10 kilograms of cocoons, and one There are about 600 cocoons per kilogram. As a skilled worker, he can peel off 200 cocoons in half an hour. Therefore, to hand-make a 2-kilogram silk quilt, just peeling off the cocoons and opening the cotton requires a skilled worker to work continuously for at least 15 hours.
“These traditional handicraft techniques represent the wisdom of the Chinese working people and must be passed down well.” The person in charge said that sericulture culture is an important part of Chinese traditional culture. Through this skills competition, the main Assess the inheritance and development of traditional silk product production techniques by professional and technical talents, deeply explore and cultivate silk product production technical talents, and promote the high-quality development of the sericulture industry.
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