What is tasar? (various spellings: tassar, tussar)  It's wild tussah from India.  According to my intelligent and very trustworthy silk guy in India, there are TEN types of wild tasar silk worms in India.

Daba tasar:  this variety is reared in halls of Arjuna plant farms by local tribal people. The cocoons hang from ropes via their peduncle (silk connecting "stem"). There are 4 crops per year.  The natural color of the silk is golden.

Both Daba & Raily tasar are "hard" cocoons.  If you compare these cocoons to Bombyx, Chinese Oak Tussah, Eri or Muga cocoons, you will understand how "hard" they are.  This is first time these tasar cocoons have been used to make mawata cakes--a process developed by our India Silk Supplier and exclusively available at Treenway Silks.

As mawata cakes, it can be a challenge to see the difference in color between Daba Tasar & Raily Tasar. I teased out one mawata of each variety--now the difference in color is quite apparent.  See photo (Daba on left, Relly on right).  "Puffing" a single mawata before teasing the fiber helps.

You can feel the "wildness" of this silk compared to bombyx silk mawata hankies.  The tasar silk take a bit more effort to tease out, partially because the remaining seracin makes the tasar silk stiff.  And you may find bits of leaves, pupa, etc., that need to be carefully picked out.

But to get two gorgeous colors of tasar silk to spin and use in your project--worth every bit of effort!

*Raily is sometimes misspelled as "relly" or "rally"

25 grams (0.9oz) package

Color:  natural

Photo 1:  Daba Tasar Mawata Cake with single teased mawata in the front
Photo 2:  Daba Tasar (left) & Relly Tasar (right) single teased mawata.  Daba is lighter; Relly is darker
Photo 3:  Daba Tasar cocoons & silk moths