An ounce of silkworm eggs yields about 35,000 worms, during gestation, which lasts approximately three weeks, the eggs must stay between 25 and 31 °C, in a tray with high humidity. as they hatch, each of the tiny creatures must be carefully moved to a ‘petri dish’, a circular flat bamboo tray, to be fed with fresh mulberry leaves several times a day. When the baby silkworms emerge from their eggs, they are really tiny, about the size of a lowercase ‘i’, and almost black. from the moment they emerge they start eating with an enthusiasm that never abates. when designboom entered the farmer’s household we could hear them constantly chewing. the worms are protected from harmful flying insects by wrapping the trays in homespun cotton.