She's pretty cute in a larval sort of way.
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SBS Silkworm Gut Line
- Thread starter TicTokCroc
- Start date
Sort of off topic, but I'm modifying my project to 'build a fly from scratch, seriously.'
Time to get some duck wing quills and other feathers. They aren't as white as I hoped, but they were free... time to play queen of hearts!
Time to get some duck wing quills and other feathers. They aren't as white as I hoped, but they were free... time to play queen of hearts!
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I've been triple booked for festivals and markets all week, along with keeping my shop open. Haven't had a lot of time, more like a few minutes each day to throw some food at them... and they needed some TLC. I began moving the big catapillers to a new container with nest tubes since the aquarium was getting crowded and nasty, some started spinning cocoons in the aquarium and making things complicated. Next time I'll do a different set up, I learned a few things so far. No mesh netting for one, and try to use real mulberry leaves, the chow is a pain to work with and clean around. Also do smaller numbers of eggs, like maybe a batch of 50 not 250. The first moth hatched way earlier then the rest so hopefully I get a few more hatched so I can mate them before the first one dies. I'll see how many eggs I can get and save for next year. After I have enough eggs I'll start baking cocoons to stop the pupation and save those cocoons to reel into silk thread. Then start pickling some to make into silk gut.
They aren't interested in each other so I either got 2 males or 2 females. The size of the abdomens suggests females though. And we wait...
FinLuver
Native Oregonian…1846
Well I miss gendered my moths. 2 males. I had one stain the cocoon with the fluids from hatching but failed to melt the hole to escape. After a day I cut the cocoon open with a razonblade and freed a female, abdomen was wayyyy bigger. What was amazing is as soon as I split the cocoon open the pheromones hit the males senses and they just went hecking nuts, flapping and buzzing their wings after days of basically staying still and not moving.
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Putting the mating pair under a cup on a piece of paper keeps the females egg deposits confined to a nice circle.
They should turn from pale yellow to black in 3 days, if not then they are not fertile. Eggs can be stored in the refrigerator till needed or if left out will hatch in 10 days.
Mixing up the brine. No measurements just "as much salt will dissolve in vinegar"
A few have walked the plank today but this guy gave me that look and I said fine... and put him in a tube to spin.
They get a pale yellowish translucent color right before they start to spin.
They should turn from pale yellow to black in 3 days, if not then they are not fertile. Eggs can be stored in the refrigerator till needed or if left out will hatch in 10 days.
Mixing up the brine. No measurements just "as much salt will dissolve in vinegar"
A few have walked the plank today but this guy gave me that look and I said fine... and put him in a tube to spin.
They get a pale yellowish translucent color right before they start to spin.
It's been interesting to follow along with this adventure. Don't forget to boil the cocoons to remove the sticky stuff. Plus the caterpillars are a valuable and tasty source of protein.
They will go to the chickens when I get them unwound. I still need to figure out some sort of reeling system for the silk. I have seen video of people using a crock pot to soak and keep the cocoons hot and degummed. Also I can't find any info on how many individual strands of silk are in something like persals gossamer silk. A single silk thread is made up of 5 strands but floss seems to have way more.
Just baked this first batch at 200 degrees for an hour, hopefully that's enough to kill the pupas. Then they will sit till I have time to figure out unwinding them.
FinLuver
Native Oregonian…1846
Seems to me, that there was a YouTube or something seen on OPB, that shown the process for unwinding.
Oops... everything I read says in 3 days eggs should turn black if they are fertile, then put them in refrigerator till needed. Well 10 days passed and they were still white so I thought they were not fertile, then all of a sudden. Within a day they turn black, yes! I think... Then the next day they hatch 
I really didn't want to do this again but it's the cross of the gray worm with a tiger worm so... I guess I'll be giving persals gossamer silk a run for their money.
Also got my mulberry seeds from Canada finally. Freeze for a month then I can plant my orchard.
I really didn't want to do this again but it's the cross of the gray worm with a tiger worm so... I guess I'll be giving persals gossamer silk a run for their money.
Also got my mulberry seeds from Canada finally. Freeze for a month then I can plant my orchard.
They are all dead, just in storage.
Baked cocoons that won't hatch.
Worms in vinegar solution
Preservation worked quite well I must say... we will see..
They are quite rubbery, like caterpillar pickles
Well, I'll spare the nasty part but I extracted some silk glands and here's where I messed up. It's all a total failure. They are super brittle and won't stretch, just crumble apart. I must have left them in the solution too long. I figured it would just preserve them till I could work on them at my leisure, wrong! So total loss, but I do have some new worms growing, didn't think I would need them but I guess now I do. So next round I will extract the gland when I harvest and stretch it out then.
Baked cocoons that won't hatch.
Worms in vinegar solution
Preservation worked quite well I must say... we will see..
They are quite rubbery, like caterpillar pickles
Well, I'll spare the nasty part but I extracted some silk glands and here's where I messed up. It's all a total failure. They are super brittle and won't stretch, just crumble apart. I must have left them in the solution too long. I figured it would just preserve them till I could work on them at my leisure, wrong! So total loss, but I do have some new worms growing, didn't think I would need them but I guess now I do. So next round I will extract the gland when I harvest and stretch it out then.
@TicTokCroc how's this project coming along
The good news: I have a box full of baked cocoons waiting to be water processed into silk thread, I need to make a spindle first. I also planted 36 mulberry tree start in the fall.
Bad news: The project is shelved for now. I have too many personal and business problems to deal with this year. I mailed off this last fly swap, packed all my fly tying equipment and fishing gear off into a corner and accepted that I won't be able to do any of that for the foreseeable future.
Sorry to hear, hope things work out.
Hard to believe that this silly sport can't always be top priority allbthe time, but life is like that sometimes. What a cool and unique project. I was rooting for ya having a self made silk line someday and still am. Thanks for the update
