Dyeing of Tussar Silk !

Tussar is a wild silk. Wild silks are cultivated from silkworms that grow in forests. The silk farmers visit the forests to collect the cocoon of these wild silkworms. Tussar is cultivated from a special wild silkworm called “Antheraea Mylitta”. This silkworm does not feed on mulberry leaves but on leaves of sal, saja, jamun, oak.

Since they are reared in the wild, these silkworms produce silk that is different in colour and texture than the domestic silkworms that are usually the Mulberry silkworms. The silk threads of the wild silk are also shorter in length. However, though Tussar stands out among the silk types due to its unique copperish golden colour, offlate coloured Tussar is very much in demand. These coloured Tussar is dyed Tussar. Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye than silk from the domesticated silkworm.

Dyeing of Tussar silk is carried out in stages of Degumming, Bleaching, Dyeing and Finishing. Degumming is a sort of purification of the silk to eliminate the gum or silk glue, called sericin, present in raw silk. Other than gum other impurities in silk include starch, CMC, gum tallow etc. These impurities cannot be eliminated by the degumming method. They must be removed by, a desizing treatment before the degumming treatment. Tussar also is eliminated from all impurities with these processes. It is an important step before the dyeing of Tussar since all these impurities hinder the absorption of dye ingredients into the Tussar material.

Bleaching must also be done before dyeing. This is an important step also known as the "whitening" of the silk by removing its inherent colouring components which are not required. The natural colours, odors and impurities are not suitable for creating garment material out of the Tussar. So, this step is very vital because the term "whiteness" measures the degree to which a material attains the properties of a ideal reflecting surface that neither absorbs nor transmits light, but instead reflects it evenly in all directions. This ensures the prefect colouring of the material and adds to the brilliance of the material, as well.

The pH of the dyebath and the temperature of dyeing should be conducive to slow and even adsorption of the dye right from the start of the process. The finishing should also be done with great care so as to retain the classic raw feel and sheen of Tussar, whatever colour it takes.

Once all these processes are carefully completed, the product is fine colourfull Tussar that has its raw and intrinsic texture. Kamaniya takes great care to complete of these processes in the dyeing technique and hence it's coloured Tussar products are the finest in quality, texture and finesse.