Chapter 229 Natural Colored Silk

"After all these years of raising silkworms, this is the first time I know that silkworms can be fed sugar water," Yang Chunhua sighed.

All the larvae in the winnowing basket crawled onto the mulberry leaves sprayed with brown sugar and garlic water and ate the leaves. They were much more active than the larvae in the other winnowing basket.

"These are just little tips I heard by chance. Whether they work or not still needs to be tested and compared with data to confirm. Finally, it all depends on the cocoons produced!"

Su Ying carefully observed the condition of the ant silkworms and recorded it on paper with a thin charcoal stick.

"Look, the pen Aying uses is different from others." Yang Chunhua smiled.

After living closely with her, Yang Chunhua discovered that there were too many unsolved mysteries about Su Ying, and she always came up with strange things.

Take recording for example. Others would have to prepare pen, ink, paper and inkstone, but Su Ying would just take a thin stick, heat it over the fire, and then write on the paper.

I prepare several pens at a time. If one runs out or breaks after a while, I just replace it with another one.

No one had ever thought of such a simple truth, but she did.

I have to say that it’s really frustrating to compare yourself with others. They are just very smart.

"Haha, Second Aunt, feeding you sugar water is nothing. There are more magical things coming up!" Su Ying said with a smile.

"What else? Ah Ying, tell me quickly. Could it be that all these years of raising silkworms have been in vain?" Yang Chunhua's curiosity was aroused.

"You'll know when the time comes!" Su Ying kept it a secret.

"Oh, Ying, tell me quickly, what else is there? You're telling me half and leaving the other half. It's making me feel so uncomfortable." Wei couldn't stand it anymore.

She doesn't understand other things and isn't very interested in them, but she knows about raising silkworms, but Su Ying refuses to tell her. Isn't this asking for her life?

Wei shook Su Ying and said with a smile, "Tell me quickly, or even tell Auntie San quietly!"

"Sister-in-law, why did I only tell you what you said? Are my sister-in-law and I wooden people?" Yang Chunhua smiled and refused.

The sisters-in-law laughed and joked, and insisted that Su Ying speak.

"Actually, it's not that magical. It just lets the silkworms spit out silk of various colors, natural colored silk! The brocade woven with it is pure natural colors!" Su Ying said surprisingly.

"It's hot, Caisi?" The three sisters-in-law were all stunned. Oh my god, what kind of outrageous idea is this? Too horrifying.

Why did poor people in ancient times wear brown clothes? Because dyes were mostly plant-based, with a few minerals, and the color was simple.

The poor weave cloth from linen and kudzu, which are originally light brown in color.

Therefore, "bu yi short rou" refers to the poor, who wear inferior coarse cloth short clothes and work in the fields.

Silk is the softest and warmest of all fabrics and only the nobility could afford it.

The processing of a piece of colorful silk fabric is very complicated and tedious, and it is very valuable, otherwise it would not be used as both hard currency and currency.

Nowadays, there are silk fabrics made from naturally colored silk, which are more valuable than artificially dyed ones!

Artificial dyes will fade, but natural colored silk will not!

"Ah, Ah Ying! Are you talking in your sleep?" Wei's voice trembled.

If the silkworms at home could spin out colored silk and weave a piece of pure natural colored brocade, they would be as famous as Leizu!

"Aunt San, it's broad daylight now, so any dream you have is just a daydream! Hehehe..." Su Ying giggled.

"It's just an idea at the moment. Whether it can succeed or not depends on our joint efforts!"

"Yes! Let's work together! Work hard! Aying, we will do whatever you say!" Wei excitedly pulled Su Ying.

The things mentioned above, such as planting rice and building roads, were all done by men and had nothing to do with women. The only thing that was women's specialty was raising silkworms.

If you can make natural colored silk, you'll be better than men!

From ancient times to the present, Leizu has to be mentioned when talking about sericulture. It was Leizu who taught the ancients how to raise silkworms, which led to the creation of silk fabrics.

If natural colored silk is discovered, future generations will mention the names of Du Xian'e, Yang Chunhua, and Wei Zhen'er in addition to Leizu!

Thinking of this, the three sisters-in-law became excited. Who says women are inferior to men?

"Don't be impatient. It's too early now. We have to wait until the silkworm molts twice before we can start the next step!" Su Ying was surrounded by her mother, second aunt and third aunt.

"What happened next?" the three asked.

"We will then feed them with pigmented mulberry leaves. We can feed them any color you want, and they will keep eating mulberry leaves until they form cocoons." Su Ying said.

"Is it that simple?" The three thought it was so complicated.

"What else?" Su Ying smiled cunningly.

There are many varieties of silkworms, including mulberry silkworms, tussah silkworms, castor silkworms, cassava silkworms, horse silkworms, natural silkworms, camphor silkworms, chestnut silkworms, Chinese tallow silkworms, and willow silkworms.

Among them, mulberry silkworms are easy to raise, easy to survive, and their cocoon fibers are long and tough, which is the most popular. The second is tussah silkworms, which have relatively short fibers and their fabrics are not as good as those of mulberry silkworms.

The key to determining the color of silk lies in the silk gland of the silkworm, which is the organ inside the silkworm's body responsible for spinning silk, and its color determines the color of the silk.

During the development of the silk glands, adding color to mulberry leaves can produce colored silk, allowing the complex printing and dyeing process to be completed inside the silkworm's body.

The output is pure in color and good in brightness. The colorful silk is woven with natural colored silk, directly skipping the complicated artificial printing and dyeing. It is environmentally friendly and the fabric is gorgeous and colorful.

"Colored mulberry leaves? Where can I find colored mulberry leaves?" After the excitement, Yang Chunhua came to his senses.

Mulberry leaves are green, so are there other colors? Why haven't I seen them before?

"Mulberry leaves are only green, but we can spray color on them, just like brown sugar and garlic water." Su Ying said.

"Ah?" The three sisters-in-law were stunned. They felt it was too frivolous. They thought it was very profound and complicated, but they didn't expect it to be so simple.

"Ah, whether it can work or not, we will know if we try it." Su Ying couldn't help laughing.

"Aying, where can we find those colors? Besides, won't the silkworms be killed by the poison?"

Yang Chunhua felt that these novel ideas were too different from his usual silkworm breeding practices, and even contradictory.

"Well, I just heard about it by chance. Whether it can be successful or not may take several seasons or even years to produce. Maybe it can't be produced at all." Su Ying said.

Pigment is a key issue, and in modern society there are ready-made pigment feeds.

This was in ancient times, and the only way to do it was to collect natural pigments and make juice for spraying.

We must ensure that the silkworms are not killed by the poison, and also ensure that the silk spun by the same batch of silkworms is of the same color. It cannot be too dark or too light.

It sounds simple, but if you think about it carefully, the problem lies in the paint.

Several women gathered together and began to think about the problem of green dye.

In fact, there is another way, which is to choose natural colored silk silkworms.

Generally, silk cocoons are white, but occasionally they are yellow, light yellow, or light green. These are the silk spun by mutant silkworms.

Silkworms after the third instar can be distinguished by the color of the spiracles on their feet. Silkworms with yellow spiracles mostly produce yellow cocoons.

However, this mutation is genetically unstable, and the silkworms hatched from its eggs may not necessarily produce yellow cocoons.

Therefore, feeding with colored feed is simple and convenient. As long as the pigment is solved, the problem will be solved.

Feed whatever color silk you want.