AHIMSA PEACE SILK 

Ahimsa Silk, also known as peace silk, cruelty-free silk and non-violent silk, refers to any type of silk that is produced without harming or killing the silk worms. (It is also, erroneously, called vegan silk. As an animal product, however, it is not vegan.)

 

This is in contrast to conventional silk, whereby cocoons are steamed, boiled, or dried in the sun, killing the silk larvae inside. According to PETA, 3,000 silk worms are killed to produce one pound of silk; 10,000 silk worms are killed to produce one silk sari.

Ahimsa silk is made on a very small scale as a cottage industry in India, and its production supports a wide community of rural silk farmers (usually women), spinners (women) and weavers (women & men).

 

The word “ahimsa” itself derives from Sanskrit and translates as “noninjury”. Ahimsa is an important ethical tenet of three major religions originating from the Subcontinent: Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism. It concerns doing no harm against any other living things.

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Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practiced by everybody in all affairs of life. If it cannot be practiced in all departments, it has no practical value.

                                                                                            Mahatma Gandhi

The origin of ahimsa silk

 

 

The creation and commercialisation of ahimsa silk is credited to Kusuma Rajaiah, a 60-year old government officer from Andhra Pradesh in India, who holds the patent and trademark for Ahimsa Silk. Inspired by Ghandi, Rajaiah applied his 40 years of sericulture experience and the theories behind the ahimsa way of life to the making of silk. 

He found that it was possible to create silk without killing the silk worms and began weaving ahimsa silk in 1990. In 2001 his company began marketing the silk and it continues to gain popularity both in India and abroad.

The silk

 

“The silkworm caterpillar builds its cocoon by producing and surrounding itself with a long, continuous fibre, or filament. Liquid secretions from two large glands within the insect emerge from the spinneret, a single exit tube in the head, hardening upon exposure to air and forming twin filaments composed of fibroin, a protein material. A second pair of glands secretes sericin, a gummy substance that cements the two filaments together.

Silk is a continuous filament within each cocoon, having a usable length of about 600 to 900 metres (2,000 to 3,000 feet). It is freed by softening the binding sericin and then locating the filament end and unwinding, or reeling, the filaments from several cocoons at the same time, sometimes with a slight twist, forming a single strand. Several silk strands, each too thin for most uses, are twisted together to make thicker, stronger yarn in the process called throwing, producing various yarns differing according to the amount and direction of the twist imparted."

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

 

This is the only way to weave the most common type of silk fabric - which is smooth, fine and lustrous - and can be woven from mulberry, tussar or moga silk. 

 

Ahimsa silk production is a humane alternative to this conventional silk production. It can be produced from any type of silk. In this method, silk cocoons are only harvested and processed after the moth has hatched from the cocoon. The moth secretes a liquid to dissolve a hole from which to hatch, breaking the long, continuous silk fibre into shorter staples. These shorter staples must be spun together; just as wool or cotton staples are spun into yarn. The high sheen and lustre of the silk are exchanged for a thicker and more textured cloth. 

From an economic perspective, ahimsa silk is around double the price of regular silk. An extra 10 days are required to allow the larvae to grow into moths and hatch. Moreover, ahimsa silk cocoons yield around one-sixth of the fibre volume.

Know your silks

 

There are 4 main types of silk made commercially in India: mulberry, eri, tussar and muga. Here we explore these plus several rarer types of silk.

Mulberry Silk

 

Description: From the moth Bombyx mori which feeds on mulberry leaves. Mulberry silk is a domesticated species of silk and accounts for around 90% of global silk production. 70% of this comes from China; India is the world’s second largest producer. Its name, unsurprisingly, is derived from the diet of the worms who feed predominantly on mulberry leaves. 

 

Is it non-violent? Both ahimsa and non-ahimsa mulberry silk are produced commercially. Ahimsa mulberry, called matka silk in India, is produced by allowing the moths to hatch the cocoons before harvesting. Therefore, matka silk is a spun silk, not a filament silk; making it very different in texture and lustre from 'typical' silk.

 

Non-ahimsa mulberry, which represents almost the entire global production and is usually made at a very large, commercial scale, is produced by boiling cocoons with the lava still inside. Single, continuous filaments are pulled off the cocoon to create very long fibres. A few of these fibres are twisted together and woven to create highly lustrous silk.

 

Origin: In India, 6 states account for 97% of the country's raw mulberry silk production: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal.

 

Eri Silk

 

Description: From the moths Samia ricini and Philosamia ricin. Eri silk, along with mulberry silk, is the only fully domesticated silk worm. The name "eri" is derived from the Assamese word "era", which means "castor", as the silkworm feeds on castor plants. Also called ahimsa, endi or errandi in India. Eri silk worms also produce red eri cocoons; it’s not clear whether this derives from a diet of ficus citrifolia or from polymorphism.

 

Is it non-violent? All eri silk is ahimsa. Often, ahimsa is used synonymously with eri, though the two words refer to very different things. Due to the highly irregular, uneven spinning of the eri silk cocoon by the worm, it is not possible to produce filament silk by boiling and drawing out continuous, single threads (as it is commercially done with other silks). Cocoons are only harvested once the moth has hatched For this reason, it is popular among Buddhist monks. Because it’s made from shorter staples, eri is always a spun silk.

There is a small caveat: amongst several tribes in India's Northeast, eri, tussar & muga silk worms are raised for eating. The pupae are high in protein and considered a delicacy. 

Tussar Silk

 

Description: From the moth genus Antheraea, this is a wild silk that lives in the forests of north India. Other names include tussah, tushar, tassar, tussore, tasar, tussur, tusser and kosa.

 

Is it non-violent? Both ahimsa and non-ahimsa tussar are produced commercially. Ahimsa tussar is produced by allowing the moths to hatch the cocoons before harvesting. 

Non-ahimsa tussar, which represents most of India’s production, is produced by boiling cocoons with the moth still inside. Single, continues filaments are pulled off the cocoon to create very long fibres. A few of these fibres are twisted together and woven to create lustrous silk. 

 

Origin: North and Northeast India (plus China, Japan, Sri Lanka).

Balkal Silk

 

Description: From the stem of the tussar silk cocoon that holds the cocoon to the tree stem where the moths weave their cocoons. A very rare silk produced only on a small scale and in India.

 

Is it non-violent? All balkal silk is ahimsa. Because the silk is produced from the stem, not the cocoon, no silk worm is killed.

 

Origin (India): Northeast India

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The history of ahimsa as an ethical tenet

 

 

"In Jainism, ahimsa is the standard by which all actions are judged. For a householder observing the small vows (anuvrata), the practice of ahimsa requires that one not kill any animal life. However, for an ascetic observing the great vows (mahavrata), ahimsa entails the greatest care to prevent the ascetic from knowingly or unknowingly being the cause of injury to any living soul (jiva); thus, ahimsa applies not only to human beings and to large animals but also to insects, plants, and microbes.

 

The interruption of another jiva’s spiritual progress causes one to incur karma—the accumulated effects of past actions, conceived by Jains as a fine particulate substance that accretes upon the jiva—keeping one mired in samsara, the cycle of rebirth into mundane earthly existence. Not only physical violence but also violent or other negative thoughts result in the attraction of karma.

Many common Jainist practices, such as not eating or drinking after dark or the wearing of cloth mouth covers (mukhavastrika) by monks, are based on the principle of ahimsa.

 

Though the Hindus and Buddhists never required so strict an observance of ahimsa as the Jains, vegetarianism and tolerance toward all forms of life became widespread in India. The Buddhist emperor Ashoka, in his inscriptions of the 3rd century BCE, stressed the sanctity of animal life.

 

Ahimsa is one of the first disciplines learned by the student of Yoga and is required to be mastered in the preparatory stage (yama), the first of the eight stages that lead to perfect concentration.

 

In the early 20th century Mohandas K. Gandhi extended ahimsa into the political sphere as satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance to a specific evil."

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

Fibers

 

Fiber or fibre (British English; from Latin: fibra ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide.Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.

Synthetic fibers can often be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to natural fibers, but for clothing natural fibers can give some benefits, such as comfort, over their synthetic counterparts.

Natural Fibers

Natural fibers develop or occur in the fiber shape, and include those produced by plants, animals, and geological processes.They can be classified according to their origin:

• Vegetable fibers are generally based on arrangements of cellulose, often with lignin: examples include cotton, hemp, jute, flax, abaca, piña, ramie, sisal, bagasse, and banana. Plant fibers are employed in the manufacture of paper and textile (cloth), and dietary fiber is an important component of human nutrition.
• Wood fiber, distinguished from vegetable fiber, is from tree sources. Forms include groundwood, lacebark, thermomechanical pulp (TMP), and bleached or unbleached kraft or sulfite pulps. Kraft and sulfite refer to the type of pulping process used to remove the lignin bonding the original wood structure, thus freeing the fibers for use in paper and engineered wood products such as fiberboard.
• Animal fibers consist largely of particular proteins. Instances are silkworm silk, spider silk, sinew, catgut, wool, sea silk and hair such as cashmere wool, mohair and angora, fur such as sheepskin, rabbit, mink, fox, beaver, etc.
• Mineral fibers include the asbestos group. Asbestos is the only naturally occurring long mineral fiber. Six minerals have been classified as "asbestos" including chrysotile of the serpentine class and those belonging to the amphibole class: amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite. Short, fiber-like minerals include wollastonite and palygorskite.
• Biological fibers, also known as fibrous proteins or protein filaments, consist largely of biologically relevant and biologically very important proteins, in which mutations or other genetic defects can lead to severe diseases. Instances include the collagen family of proteins, tendons, muscle proteins like actin, cell proteins like microtubules  and many others, such as spider silk, sinew, and hair.

Artificial fibers

Artificial or chemical fibers are fibers whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. In fashion, a fiber is a long and thin strand or thread of material that can be knit or woven into a fabric. Artificial fibers consist of regenerated fibers and synthetic fibers.

See also: fiber modification

Semi-synthetic fibers

Semi-synthetic fibers are made from raw materials with naturally long-chain polymer structure and are only modified and partially degraded by chemical processes, in contrast to completely synthetic fibers such as nylon (polyamide) or dacron (polyester), which the chemist synthesizes from low-molecular weight compounds by polymerization (chain-building) reactions. The earliest semi-synthetic fiber is the cellulose regenerated fiber, rayon.Most semi-synthetic fibers are cellulose regenerated fibers.

Cellulose regenerated fibers

Cellulose fibers are a subset of artificial fibers, regenerated from natural cellulose. The cellulose comes from various sources: rayon from tree wood fiber, bamboo fiber from bamboo, seacell from seaweed, etc. In the production of these fibers, the cellulose is reduced to a fairly pure form as a viscous mass and formed into fibers by extrusion through spinnerets. Therefore, the manufacturing process leaves few characteristics distinctive of the natural source material in the finished products.

Some examples of this fiber type are:

• rayon
• Lyocell, a brand of rayon
• Modal
• diacetate fiber
• triacetate fiber.

Historically, cellulose diacetate and -triacetate were classified under the term rayon, but are now considered distinct materials.

Synthetic fibers

Main article: Synthetic fiber

Synthetic come entirely from synthetic materials such as petrochemicals, unlike those artificial fibers derived from such natural substances as cellulose or protein.

Fiber classification in reinforced plastics falls into two classes: (i) short fibers, also known as discontinuous fibers, with a general aspect ratio (defined as the ratio of fiber length to diameter) between 20 and 60, and (ii) long fibers, also known as continuous fibers, the general aspect ratio is between 200 and 500.

Metallic fibers

Main article: Metallic fiber

Metallic fibers can be drawn from ductile metals such as copper, gold or silver and extruded or deposited from more brittle ones, such as nickel, aluminum or iron.

Carbon fiber

Carbon fibers are often based on oxidized and via pyrolysis carbonized polymers like PAN, but the end product is almost pure carbon.

Silicon carbide fiber

Silicon carbide fibers, where the basic polymers are not hydrocarbons but polymers, where about 50% of the carbon atoms are replaced by silicon atoms, so-called poly-carbo-silanes. The pyrolysis yields an amorphous silicon carbide, including mostly other elements like oxygen, titanium, or aluminium, but with mechanical properties very similar to those of carbon fibers.

Fiberglass

See also: Glass § Fibreglass

Fiberglass, made from specific glass, and optical fiber, made from purified natural quartz, are also artificial fibers that come from natural raw materials, silica fiber, made from sodium silicate (water glass) and basalt fiber made from melted basalt.

Mineral fibers

Mineral fibers can be particularly strong because they are formed with a low number of surface defects; asbestos is a common one.

Polymer fibers

• Polymer fibers are a subset of artificial fibers, which are based on synthetic chemicals (often from petrochemical sources) rather than arising from natural materials by a purely physical process. These fibers are made from:
• polyamide nylon
• PET or PBT polyester
• phenol-formaldehyde (PF)
• polyvinyl chloride fiber (PVC) vinyon
• polyolefins (PP and PE) olefin fiber
• acrylic polyesters, pure polyester PAN fibers are used to make carbon fiber by roasting them in a low oxygen environment. Traditional acrylic fiber is used more often as a synthetic replacement for wool. Carbon fibers and PF fibers are noted as two resin-based fibers that are not thermoplastic, most others can be melted.
• aromatic polyamids (aramids) such as Twaron, Kevlar and Nomex thermally degrade at high temperatures and do not melt. These fibers have strong bonding between polymer chains
• polyethylene (PE), eventually with extremely long chains / HMPE (e.g. Dyneema or Spectra).
• Elastomers can even be used, e.g. spandex although urethane fibers are starting to replace spandex technology.
• polyurethane fiber
• Elastolefin
• Coextruded fibers have two distinct polymers forming the fiber, usually as a core-sheath or side by side. Coated fibers exist such as nickel-coated to provide static elimination, silver-coated to provide anti-bacterial properties and aluminum-coated to provide RF deflection for radar chaff. Radar chaff is actually a spool of continuous glass tow that has been aluminum coated. An aircraft-mounted high speed cutter chops it up as it spews from a moving aircraft to confuse radar signals.

Microfibers

Invented in Japan in the early 1980s, microfibers are also known as microdenier fibers. Acrylic, nylon, polyester, lyocell and rayon can be produced as microfibers. In 1986, Hoechst A.G. of Germany produced microfiber in Europe. This fiber made it way into the United States in 1990 by DuPont.

Microfibers in textiles refer to sub-denier fiber (such as polyester drawn to 0.5 denier). Denier and Dtex are two measurements of fiber yield based on weight and length. If the fiber density is known, you also have a fiber diameter, otherwise it is simpler to measure diameters in micrometers. Microfibers in technical fibers refer to ultra-fine fibers (glass or meltblown thermoplastics) often used in filtration. Newer fiber designs include extruding fiber that splits into multiple finer fibers. Most synthetic fibers are round in cross-section, but special designs can be hollow, oval, star-shaped or trilobal. The latter design provides more optically reflective properties. Synthetic textile fibers are often crimped to provide bulk in a woven, non woven or knitted structure. Fiber surfaces can also be dull or bright. Dull surfaces reflect more light while bright tends to transmit light and make the fiber more transparent.

Very short and/or irregular fibers have been called fibrils. Natural cellulose, such as cotton or bleached kraft, show smaller fibrils jutting out and away from the main fiber structure.