Tent caterpillar silk!!!

For years I had eyed tent caterpillars thinking, can I spin their silk?

This year I found out, yes! And it is strong!

It has a lot of poop still in it, but it is a lot less violent than traditional methods of silk growing and preparation, and the tent caterpillars grow wild, too. I am excited to try harvesting more and using it for making yarn and possibly even strings for musical instruments.

I'm wondering whether de-gumming the tent caterpillar silk might help - if it has gum that is, like regular 'silkworm' silk.  Worth a try?  perhaps on part of the trial spin to gauge is there is any difference.  Tent caterpillars don't live in this neck of the woods, otherwise I'd volunteer to try