Silkworms & Sericulture

For folks who raise silkmoths. A lot of us are actually interested in the silk, although there are also several who are primarily interested in the moths. Focused on raising the cats (caterpillars) but discussions of other aspects of sericulture, such as degumming, spinning, weaving, etc., are considered entirely within our topic.

A series of engravings that bring to us the very clear representation of the crafts and technology of his time, and the relative importance which these discoveries and inventions had in the mind of a well-informed layman of the 16th century.

New Discoveries includes illustrations of: The Lodestone, The Magnet; The Astrolabe; America; Gunpowder; Printing Books; Iron Clocks; Guaiacum (a New World remedy for syphilis); Distillation; Silk, or the Silkworm; Stirrups, or Foot Rests; the Watermill; the Winged Mill (windmills); Olive Oil; Sugar; Oil Colors (oil-painting); Spectacles (eyeglasses); Longitudes of the Earth Found from the Deviation of the Magnet from the Pole; Polishing Armor; Engraving on Copper; and the travels & discoveries of Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Ferdinand Magellan.

THL Serena Kimbalwyke's web site that contains period research and projects involving silkworms and other insects. Features include links to publications, class notes, and a blog that chronicles ongoing insect rearing research projects.

A translation from Olivier de Serre's Le Theatre d'Agriculture (1600).
(A very large PDF.)

Mostly an illustrated practical guide to small-scale sericulture, but with some SCA content, including tabletweaving and silk reeling using traditional methods.