Surprisingly, the Chinese contained the secret of silk for thousands of years. Even in the past, it was an exclusive material and was reserved for the high society.
The Silk In Silk Scarves
Commencing the production of Thai silk involves a small worm know as Bombyx mori: which are silk worms that appear from the eggs of the silk moth.
The leaves of mulberry trees are the worms’ food source. Following one year, the worms utilise that energy to build a cocoon from their spittle.
In order to extract the silk thread, the process of placing the cocoon in hot boiled water is initiated.
It is evident that the length of a silk thread located in a cocoon varies, from 500 to 1,500 yards! However, the length of the thread is reliant on the species of worm that produced it.
In the present, Thailand harbours silk threaded by women through a hand-reeled process – which involves the filaments from various cocoons being reeled together on a wooden spindle into a uniform strand of raw silk.
It is genuinely a time-consuming process. For instance, it can take up to 40 hours to reel one and a half kilograms of silk.
Various sericulture families have clarified the job, through using a reeling machine. However traditional manufacturers still employ the “authentic” method, in which involves producing two categories of silk – lightweight fabric and thicker fabric.
The skeins of the silk later soaked in hot water, in order to remove excess seracin. Thai silk must be bleached before the dyeing process, since the silk yarn is the color yellow. This process involves immersing the skeins in tubs of hydrogen peroxide, after which they are rinsed and dried using sunlight.
After the silk is dried, it is then woven on a handloom.
Since Thai Silk is hand-woven fabric, it’s quality is not only measured by set standards of width and color, but also a sense of individuality, in which can not be achieved through advanced technology.