What Are Silk Rods?

Silky fibers like these come from the cocoons spun by silkworms.

Silk is a fiber harvested from silk worms. In this process, the silk producers remove the worms from their cocoons, providing the actual silk fiber that becomes thread or fabric. The carrier rod comes from this process and has a variety of uses in crafting, including fiber arts and textile arts.

Silk Origins

Silk moths lay their eggs, in the wild or a silk production facility, and those eggs hatch into larvae or worms. When these worms mature they weave cocoons for themselves, intending to stay inside their cocoons and mature into adult moths. In the wild this process actually happens, but in the silk production facilities the manufacturer kills the worms with heat while they are inside the cocoons to harvest the silk fibers. The cocoon itself is the result of the silk secreted and spun by the silk worm; in this process it is also covered in a gum-like substance and it hardens in the air.

Cocoon Harvesting

The silk manufacturers harvest the cocoon by removing the moth and stretching out the cocoon to find the ends of the silk threads that the moth spun. Each cocoon yields approximately 1,000 yards of silk fiber, which can then be used in textile production. The manufacturers remove the silk worm's body from the cocoon in the process and then they leave some cocoons intact and stretch out others to get the silk fibers out of them.

Carrier Rod

In the process of stretching out the cocoons to harvest silk, some of the silk will stick together too much to separate into usable fibers. The silk manufacturers stretch the cocoons over a frame to create silk mawatas, which are sometimes called hankies. These can be spun into thread and used in yarns or fabrics. The rest of the silk left over in this process is the carrier rod; it is usually a longer strip of clumped-up silk with ragged edges on the short ends.

Uses

Hand spinners will wet down a carrier rod and spin it into yarns for a textural, artistic effect. To spin this type of silk product the spinner has to soak the rod and then anchor it into the yarn as she spins by using thread and wool or other fibers to grab onto either ragged end of the silk rod. When the yarn is spun the spinner also has to soak out the carrier rods after knitting or crocheting to mold or ply them into the proper shape. In other textile arts, carrier rods add interesting texture to projects such as needle felting and wet felting. A felter creates fabric by combining several wool and silk fibers together on a flat surface and blending them using hot, soapy water to mesh the fibers together. Silk rods add bumps of texture and shine to a project like this.

References

• The Yarn Tree: Silk - Carrier Silk Rods
• Grandma's Sewing Cabinet: Textile Tuesday: Where Does Silk Come From?
• "Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns, and Creative Spinning;" Lexi Boeger; 2008