Interesting Facts about Whitchurch Silk MillDo you have any silk worms? A. No we don't. The silk arrives as yarn and after we send it off for dyeing and we weave it into high-quality silk fabric. The only place we know of that keeps silk worms in the UK is Worldwide Butterflies, P.O. Box 101, Liskeard, Cornwall PL4 3ZS Tel: 01579 384050.www.wwb.co.uk Who buys your silk? Our main customer makes the silk fabric into costumes for stage, film and television. Whitchurch Silk has appeared in many costume dramas and it has been worn by lots of famous actors. We also sell to interior designers, undertake commissions for stately homes and make products to sell in our shop. How much does your silk cost? It varies, depending on the type of silk, number of colours and type of fabric being woven, but as a rough guide between £70 and £100 a metre. Do you still use water power? The water wheel operates a winding frame for demonstration, but it is too unreliable to drive machinery for production. Can we get close to the looms? Visitors can get a good view of the looms in operation, but for health and safety reasons must remain behind a barrier. If the shuttle leaves the loom it can be moving at 65 miles per hour. How much silk is in a cocoon? About 1 mile or 1500 metres as a single length. How much thread is on a bobbin? 16 miles or 25km of raw silk How much fabric do you weave a day? It varies as some looms are faster than other and different fibres weave at different speeds. On average each weaver produces between 5 and 9 metres of fabric a day. |