Making Mawata

It's a rainy day here, so I decided to spend the day making some mawata with the silk cocoons I bought last weekend. I used this tutorial.

I started with about a gallon of water, Borax, and powdered Ivory laundry soap.


I boiled those together, and then added the cocoons.

They hung out for about 20 minutes and then it was time to start making the silk hankies. I used an 8x8 canvas and had my husband put nails in each corner.

The silkworms are still in the cocoon, so they have to be removed before I started to stretch out the silk.

Ewww, gross

I stretched out between 5 and 10 cocoons on the frame, and then rinsed and took the hankies off the frame to dry. This is what it looks like when it's off the frame:

I'm glad that undertook this project, but I think next time, I'll just buy the silk hankies ready to spin.

Are there any fiber projects you think about trying out?