Silk - The Queen of Fibers Essay -- Textiles

Silk, sometimes affectionately referred to as the queen of fibers, is the strongest inborn fiber in the world, and it is apply to make expensive cloth. Theres more to silk, though, than being great to make fine garments. Did you know that a thread of silk can be stronger than some kinds of steel? Probably not. We hold to give you more insight into the wonders of silk in our report.THE DISCOVERY OF SILKOne of the lone(prenominal) if not the only documentation on the discovery of silk is an ancient Chinese legend. According to this legend, silk was discovered in the garden of emperor butterfly Huangdi around 2700 B.C.E. The mulberry tree trees in his garden were being destroyed, and he severalizeed his wife, Xilingshi, to go protrude there and see what was the cause of the damage done to his trees.When Xilingshi went out to adjudicate the trees, she found white worms eating the leaves of the mulberry leaves and spinning shiny cocoons. She and so accidentally dropped one of the cocoons into some hot water. And when she started playing with the cocoon in the water, long white strings disentangled themselves from the cocoon. It is said that this was how silk was discovered.Xilingshi then went to Emperor Huangdi to ask him to give her a grove of mulberry trees, in order for her to breed thousands of worms that would spin these beautiful cocoons. The king then obliged. Some accounts statute title that she was the person who invented the silk reel, which is a device used to join fine silk filaments into a thread thick enough to be used for weaving. Others also deferred payment her for being the maker of the first silk loom.How true these stories are still lodge uncertain with historians. One thing they are sure about, though, is that silk was first used in China. The Ch... ...pired designs (like leaves or cherry blossom trees) or of animals (like dragons or phoenixes). Pictures of Chinese silk are on the last page of the report.Works CitedHistory of Sil k. Silkroad Foundation. Silkroad Foundation, 2000. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. . Hong, Lily Toy. The Empress and the Silkworm. Morton Grove, Illinois Albert Whitman, 1995. Print. Silk. World Book S-Sn Volume 17. 2004. Print. Textile Fabric Consultants Inc., Amy Willbanks. Silk. www.fabrics.net/ amysilk.asp. fabrics INC, 19 Feb. 2011. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. . Who smuggled the silkworm into japan + broke the silk monopoly of the Chinese? yokel Answers. Yahoo Inc., 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. .