The ancient art of spinning golden sea silk – or byssus – from the saliva of a clam has been around for 10,000 years. It was brought from the ancient Middle East by the great-granddaughter of Herod the Great during the second half of the First Century, and is commonly believed to be the finest fabric known to Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
If treated properly with lemon juice and spices, the remarkable material shines when exposed to the sun. It is also incredibly light, so much so that the wearer cannot even feel it touching the skin. It is said to be as thin as a spider web, resistant to water, acids, and alcohols.
The Bible itself mentions indirectly the byssus. Remember when it says that King Solomon appeared “shining” in public? Why do you think that is? He was wearing byssus-made clothes, that in the light, they shine like gold. It was also the cloth that God instructed Moses to lay on the first altar.”
Now, however, there is only ONE PERSON LEFT who knows how to make it. A woman named Chiara Vigo who lives on the Sardinian island of Sant’Antioco. Every day Chiara goes out diving to cut the solidified saliva of a large clam, the endangered Pinna Nobilis, that is native to the Mediterranean Sea bed. Vigo has mastered a special cutting technique that allows her to take the saliva without killing it. 300 to 400 dives later (!!!!!), she is able to gather about 200 grams of material needed to make the byssus.
Once she has the material ready, she starts the weaving process at her studio. She begins by leaving the material to soak in a mixture of eight seaweeds. When it is dry, she combs it with a wool card and twists the fine filaments together with a spindle made of oleander, to form the gilded thread. She spins the yarn several times to strengthen it, so it can be used in the loom and woven into fabric that lasts for thousands of years, immune to destruction by moths or fire.
Vigo’s pieces are displayed in museums in Rome, London, New York and Paris, and have been gifted to presidents and popes. Each piece is estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But surprisingly, Chiara does not accept any money in exchange for the material that she so painstakingly produces.
“It would be like commercializing the flight of an eagle,” she says. “The byssus is the soul of the sea. It is sacred.” The fabric is actually believed to bring good fortune and fertility, so she gives the fabric away for free to all the people who approach her for help. “Before it was emperors [who wore byssus], now it is young women and newlywed couples. I weave for outcasts, the poor, people in need.”
Vigo, who learned the dying art of weaving byssus from her grandmother, said:
“Weaving the sea silk is what my family has been doing for centuries. The most important thread, for my family, was the thread of their history, their tradition.” But no one in her family has ever made a penny from it. Vigo and her husband live on his pension and occasional donations made by generous passersby.
From Oddity Central: “Apparently, no one in history has been able to commercialize the weaving of byssus, which is probably why it’s a forgotten art. Evangelina Campi, a professor of Italian history, revealed that a number of women were skilled with the byssus up until the Mussolini era. Some of them even tried to set up a business and make money from it. ‘The factory ran out of business in three months,’ she said. ‘This is a thing you cannot profit on. Strangely, something bad has happened to people who wanted to manufacture byssus on a large scale in the past. It’s like God sending a message.'”
A few elderly women in the region of Apulia are believed to know how to weave sea silk, but Vigo is the only person in Italy who regularly harvests and produces the fabric. Vigo’s daughter, a student in northern Italy, intends to follow in her footsteps. “Although I will leave very little to her, she will have to continue this tradition,” Vigo said. “So humankind can benefit from it.”
WHEW. I was worried for a second there that I’d never get to own a byssus cape or jumpsuit.
(via Oddity Central)
The post There’s Only One Woman Left on Earth Who Knows How to Spin Silk from Clam Spit appeared first on World of Wonder.