Blog post by Aron Palmer (aged 9 years)
1. Mulberry farming
At the organic silk project in Phonsavan, Laos, they plant mulberry trees and use the leaves to feed the silk worms. They also use the leaves for tea. [The berries are like blackberries and nice to munch, as Ariel is demonstrating - Ed.]
2. Silk worm feeding
Here are the silk worms eating the mulberry leaves. The silk worms are kept in baskets inside a small wooden hut. The women feed the worms until they produce cocoons.
3. Cocoon collection
The cocoons are made of silk threads. These are cocoons that have been collected into baskets.
4. Spinning a thread
Cocoons are dropped into hot water (80 degrees) and the tiny silk threads get spun into one big thread. It is sad that the pupae inside the cocoons get killed by the hot water. To make sure you don't run out of silk worms some are kept aside to let them turn into moths and lay eggs.
5. Silk drying
The silk is drying after being spun and tidied into bundles. Some bundles are white and some are yellow because of natural colours.
6. Softening the thread
At first the silk is like fishing line so they have to soak it in ash water to soften it.
7. Dyeing
Using different parts of plants so they are able to make over 100 dyes. Here the women are putting silk threads in pots of boiling red dye.
8. Dyed silk drying
The red colour is made from cochineal, which is crushed beetle shell. Here is some silk drying after being dyed.
9. Spooling the thread
Here is a woman winding a thread onto a small spool for the weavers.
10. Weaving the silk
Here is a lady weaving a scarf on a loom.
11. Finished piece of silk
The silk cloths tend to be colourful and mostly complicated. Some like this one can take 2 months to make. [This piece won an international award for excellence in weaving! Ed.]
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Photos by Daniel Palmer (all rights reserved)
1. Mulberry farming
At the organic silk project in Phonsavan, Laos, they plant mulberry trees and use the leaves to feed the silk worms. They also use the leaves for tea. [The berries are like blackberries and nice to munch, as Ariel is demonstrating - Ed.]
2. Silk worm feeding
Here are the silk worms eating the mulberry leaves. The silk worms are kept in baskets inside a small wooden hut. The women feed the worms until they produce cocoons.
3. Cocoon collection
The cocoons are made of silk threads. These are cocoons that have been collected into baskets.
4. Spinning a thread
Cocoons are dropped into hot water (80 degrees) and the tiny silk threads get spun into one big thread. It is sad that the pupae inside the cocoons get killed by the hot water. To make sure you don't run out of silk worms some are kept aside to let them turn into moths and lay eggs.
5. Silk drying
The silk is drying after being spun and tidied into bundles. Some bundles are white and some are yellow because of natural colours.
6. Softening the thread
At first the silk is like fishing line so they have to soak it in ash water to soften it.
7. Dyeing
Using different parts of plants so they are able to make over 100 dyes. Here the women are putting silk threads in pots of boiling red dye.
8. Dyed silk drying
The red colour is made from cochineal, which is crushed beetle shell. Here is some silk drying after being dyed.
9. Spooling the thread
Here is a woman winding a thread onto a small spool for the weavers.
10. Weaving the silk
Here is a lady weaving a scarf on a loom.
11. Finished piece of silk
The silk cloths tend to be colourful and mostly complicated. Some like this one can take 2 months to make. [This piece won an international award for excellence in weaving! Ed.]
---------------
Photos by Daniel Palmer (all rights reserved)
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