The first time I heard of African Silk, was from a man by the name of Ian Cumming.

His hair was drawn back into a well groomed sumptuous pony tail and he was obviously a Colonial expat. He spoke with the warm laid-back drawl of Colonial accented English, and he was dressed in a natty but beautifully cut two-piece suit with waistcoat.

Silk Vendor in a Shop in Madagascar

The cloth was coarse looking with a rough surface, in a variety of mixed beige and brown colours interwoven almost like tweed, but light, delicate and soft to the touch; uniquely unusual to say the least. On enquiry about the suit cloth, I was informed that it was Indigenous Madagascan Silk.

This type of Indigenous Madagascan silk cloth was originally worn first as a garment, and then used as a burial shroud. In fact, Cumming had at one time bought up a sizable parcel of cloth, which he sold in London for a substantial sum.

Originally a well kept secret, silk has been spun in China since before the Mulberry Moth was used as a domestic animal. Cocoons have been collected in nature from as far back as 4500 years ago. Their secret was jealously guarded from outsiders until 3000 years later. Silk cloth was highly valued because of its beauty.

However it was not only used for making fine and beautiful clothes, and banners, but also for document blotting pads. More than 200 different characters in the Chinese Alphabet have a connection to sericulture, mulberry or silk.

The Koreans learned to cultivate silk larvae and cocoons in the 200’s AD and the Japanese and Indians 100 years later.

Mulberry Silk Worm Cocoons

Silkworm Mulberry Leaf Feeding Troughs

In Africa there seems to be no indigenous mulberry species, except maybe in Madagascar, and sericulture using domesticated mulberry based silk moths has taken place in Madagascar and South Africa only since the 18^th Century. The worm, which consumes mulberry or other leaves, is utilized in this process.

These worms were introduced to the Cape Colony of South Africa, by the Dutch East India Company in 1726, where sufficient mulberry trees and slave labour were available. This indicates that some of the local mulberry varieties must already have been present in the 1600’s. These were introduced from Indonesia by Dutch traders  – together with exotic varieties from Thailand and Taiwan.

Spinner in Graskop

After grading and cleaning for impurities, the pupae are killed by heating in an oven, and then the cocoons are placed in very hot water, whereby the silk glue (sericin), which keeps the silk together in the cocoon, is partly dissolved. The loose outer layer of the cocoons is removed with a brush. Only then will one be able to reach the end of the coherent cocoon thread – the raw silk.

The silk is reeled off the cocoons by a reeling machine. Silk from at least 7 cocoons are reeled together into one thread, as the single silken thread from one cocoon is too thin for further manufacture. The reeling machine, maybe of a simple hand-driven design, to be used under conditions of no power. More sophisticated designs exist. The reeled twisted threads are then gathered into bundles.

Handmade Spinning Loom

Before these silken threads are ready for weaving on looms, they have to pass through a number of processes;

1. The silk glue is removed by heating in oily water.
2. The dried bundles are placed on swifts, where the thread is smoothed of knots before it is transferred to pulleys. This is done, by letting the thread pass through the eye of a needle. If the knot is too large to pass through the eye, it will break, and then must be rejoined by twisting the ends together by fingers.
3. The spinning process is then begun on spinning machines, where the un-broken threads are spun together according to whatever need.
4. Before the threads are ready to be used in the weaving process however, they have to be twisted into a thread, that is both strong as well as elastic. This twisting takes place in the opposite direction, but is not as difficult as the first twisting.
5. The finished silk thread is finally transferred to pulleys and then further to the shuttle of the loom.

Japanese Matawa Silk Plates

Adult pupae are occasionally allowed to emerge alive from cocoons, which are then split from one end and the silk spread easily across a square piece of wood with nails in each corner. This process results in what is called in Japanese – Matawa.

Feathery duvets with inners of silken plates drawn out of the cocoons, using this Matawa method, are also produced from mulberry silk in South Africa. Europe has a massive market for these products, which is being met by imports from China.

Feathery duvets with inners of silken plates drawn out of the cocoons, using this Matawa method are also produced from mulberry silk in South Africa. Europe has a massive market for these products, which is being met by imports from China.

The waste silk from the inner part of the

Spinner in Graskop

Japanese Silk Curtains

cocoons is used for cheaper blouses, shirts, and curtain fabrics. It is also used for blending in with cotton, wool or flax. There is an increasing demand for silk blends and knitted silk. This silk is utilized in numerous other ways for many different products.

Wild Silkmoth Cocoons

There are also other silkmoths besides the Mulberry silkmoths which spin silk threads. They belong to three families of moths, Saturnidae, Notodontiae, Lasiocampidae, and one family of butterflies, Pieridae.

Saturniidae Cocoon

Saturnidae includes some of the largest species of moths found.

The wild silkmoths live on leaves of mainly deciduous trees in Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia where people through the millennia have used the silk from cocoons.

The tribal people of India and other South East Asian countries  have taken care of wild silkmoths of the genus Antheraea for as long as 2000 years. This takes place in forest areas, where larvae feed on the leaves of Oak trees, and other deciduous trees. In Africa’s more arid regions such as in the Eastern and Southern parts, the larvae of Gonometa postica feed on the leaves of several Acacia and other tree species.

Gonometa Postica Food

Cocoons from several of the wild silk species are covered with urticating hairs which may irritate the skin when collected; for instance from Anaphe and Borocera. The collectors may have to wear protective masks and gloves to prevent inflammation. More seriously, the intestinal tract of livestock can be seriously damaged if animals ingest the cocoons. Serious costly surgery has had to be undertaken to save animals in South Africa,

Two varieties, although reasonably scarce, due to uncertain supplies, because of  fluctuating weather conditions, are exploited in South Africa; Gonameta Postica (host plant Acacia Tree) and Gonameta Rifobrinnae (host plant Mopani Tree).

Mopani Leaves

The quality of this silk is so high that it attracts the attention and interest of both local and foreign tourists in South Africa.

The adults of wild silkmoths are allowed to emerge from the cocoons. There are different ways of obtaining silk threads from wild cocoons, which are generally much harder than cocoons from the mulberry silkmoth.

In Burkina Faso, the wild cocoons are opened and then the silk mass placed into water with potash for a whole month before it is boiled in oily water.

Mopane Moth Cocoon

The cocoons of the Mopane silkmoth in South Africa must go through a kind of fermentation process after being placed in hessian bags, and then buried in the soil for 3 weeks, before they are soft enough to be opened.

In South Africa and Botswana the pupae of the wild silkmoths are also collected as a gastronomic delicacy.

The silk mass has to be carded before it can be spun into yarns like cotton and wool. The spinning may be done with a hand spindle or on simple spinning machines.

Body Care Range

The Products are enriched with the Biopolymer Sericin during the spinning procedure.

Africa Silks Body Lotion

This principle, designed by Mother Nature and employed for ages is now being copied and perfected to provide an innovative ingredient for the Silk Africa Body Care Range.

Silk softly caresses the skin, gently soothing it and creating a feeling of luxury. The range combines the latest technologies with the best that the natural world has to offer. Synthetic fragrances and colourants are excluded.

Naturally produced Sericin is the main active ingredient used in these products. It is the protein that binds silk fibres together when cocoons are produced, and is extracted and purified under strict GMP procedures for use in the range.

Body Care Lotion

As the Sericin binds the fibres of the cocoon together, to protect the vulnerable creature inside, so these products were formulated to protect delicate and vulnerable skin, being our only defence against a polluted world.

The skin being the largest organ, and our final barrier against environmental factors, it stands to reason that we should take as much care of it as possible.

As the Sericin binds the fibres of the cocoon together, to protect the vulnerable creature inside, so these products were formulated to protect delicate and vulnerable skin, being our only defence against a polluted world.

Alpine Silk Body Lotions

The skin being our bodies’ largest organ, and our final barrier against environmental factors, it stands to reason that we should take as much care of it as possible.

Sericin has a high affinity to the Keratin present in the skin and hair, creating a MOISTURING, SEMI OCCLUSIVE, MULTI-PROTECTIVE ANTI-WRINKLE FILM, that imparts an immediate and long lasting silky-smooth feeling. The uniform film formed after the application persists even after washing.

Bibliography
African Ways of Silk – Ole Zethner/Suresh Kumar Raina 2008
African Textiles – John Picton/John Mack ISBN 0-7141-1595-9 1999
The Art of the Loom – Ann Hecht ISBN 0-7141-2553-9 1989

Join TRIPS ZA for exciting History and General Interest tours of the Panorama Region and beyond. Call our Dream Merchants on
013 764 1177.

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com

Heavy Clouds

One beautiful sunny midmorning on the berg, at the head of Blyde Canyon, after the sky had darkened over, and turned an ominous grey, a huge cloud started developing in the south. The cool southerly breeze grew stronger, and by mid-afternoon the dark cloud was nearly overhead. Suddenly a frighteningly violent electrical storm broke all around us. We fell flat, hands over ears and faces, being intimidated and petrified by the sudden viciously marvellous flashing tongues of lightning, during incessant, deafeningly, terrifying bursts of angry thunder.

Lightning over the Berg

It reminded me of my sister’s sermons on the awful wrath of the Good Lord ! The smell of fire and brimstone was definitely in the air that day.

The storm eventually passed over us, leaving us soaked and cold, but so grateful to still be alive ! The others were quiet that afternoon on the way back to camp.

Lowveld Cloud Cover

The next morning we awoke to a soft, drizzly, foggy day. We made our way up the kranz in dense mist. I stopped for a breather near Pirow’s cairn at the top, out of the mist, and turned to look back towards the east.

Cloud Blanket

Fluffy Cloud Cover

The usual expansive Lowveld vista at our feet that spreads as far as the mountains of Mozambique, was totally covered in a fluffy, thick blanket of dazzlingly white cloud, in the brightly shining sun.

Oswald Pirow's Grave and Cairn

Sitting on a nearby rock and viewing this magnificent spectacle, all I could think of was how infinitely insignificant I was, in the midst of such dramatic contrasts.

I was awe inspired, and most certainly very humbled.

A Snippet from “Mgolomben” by Gordon Robertson

Call our Dream Merchants at TRIPS ZA for exciting History and General Interest tours of the Panorama Region and beyond on
013 764 1177.

Email us at johnt@tripsza.com