Byssus - Sea Silk made from Clam Saliva

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Whilst reading the BBC News I happened to stray upon an article about sea silk which is much rarer than normal silk. It is made from the saliva of a large clam...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33691781

Silk is usually made from the cocoons spun by silkworms - but there is another, much rarer, cloth known as sea silk or byssus, which comes from a clam. Chiara Vigo is thought to be the only person left who can harvest it, spin it and make it shine like gold.

<snip>

The raw material comes from the glistening aquamarine waters that surround the island. Every spring Vigo goes diving to cut the solidified saliva of a large clam, known in Latin as Pinna Nobilis.

She does it early in the morning, to avoid attracting too much attention, and is accompanied by members of the Italian coastguard - this is a protected species. It takes 300 or 400 dives to gather 200g of material.

 

[Morning Glory]

Whilst reading the BBC News I happened to stray upon an article about sea silk which is much rarer than normal silk. It is made from the saliva of a large clam...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33691781

This is reminding me of something I read recently. Maybe it was this article but I don't think so. It was some other source of silk, I think. This may drive me insane.... I'm not really interested in silk! Am I?

 

[Morning Glory]

OK. It was definitely a radio broadcast (quite recently) and must have been Radio 4 as I don't listen to much else. It was definitely Sea Silk. But the only broadcast I can find is a translated interview with (I think) the woman you mention. It was broadcast on Outlook (World Service). In the broadcast which I heard on Radio 4, there were two women weaving the sea silk. Sisters, I think. Oh well... at least we are talking about the same thing. The Outlook interview is worth a listen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02y7yt6