the making of silk...

A friend recently asked me if I could get reasonably priced silk scarves here in country, since she'd always heard about the famous Cambodian silk. We did buy a silk scarf for Troy's girlfriend when we visited Siem Reap a few months ago, but I hadn't really looked into sourcing it myself. Now, I'm grateful for my friends simple inquiry.
I began to ask a few friends about getting silk closer to home (Siem Reap is a 6 hour drive). I was told about several fair trade shops in the city as well as some local markets that would sell it more cheaply. Then, one friend said, "you could always go out to Silk Island."
Of course, that was intriguing, so I did some research. Silk Island is an island (obviously) not too far from Phnom Penh, where most silk is made. It's quite famous for that single thing, hence the name, but it's real name is Koh Dach. It turns out that when you visit the island, you get the benefit of leaving the city and you can see the process of making silk in person.
I reached out to our friend Don who is a tuktuk driver. I figured he might have taken at least a few groups out that way, since his job was driving people around. Sure enough, he was familiar with it, so we put it on the calendar.
Today was the day! It's a short ride out of the city and then you get on a ferry across the river.

This is us in the tuktuk (we had to cross a bridge over the Mekong).

                            

This is the guys on the ferry ride over to the island.

On one side you can see the city (Phnom Penh) in the distance.  And the other side (below), you see the country side.

Now, I'll tell the story through photos with a little caption to save you the time of a lot of reading, but it was very interesting. We got a tour of a place that makes silk from start to finish. They do grow the mulberry leaves to feed the caterpillars, but I didn't take a photo of that part.

These are branches full of cocoons.

                               

These are the cocoons that have already hatched.

We did get to see newly hatched moths (apparently they mate for 8-10 hours, then the male dies and the female goes on to lay eggs). Then we saw a basket full of baby worms all over shredded leaves to eat. They take about a month to be ready to make their cocoon.
Silk is actually made from the cocoon. Once the moth hatches, the cocoon is saved for the silk making process. Each cocoon is about a 700 meter long thread. They are put in boiling water, where they become a bit sticky.

Using a leaf like the one in the picture, they touch the hot cocoons and the thread sticks to it. 

If you look closely at the pic, you see the fine threads attached to the leaf.

They get 20 of them to connect at a higher point and then start the spinning process. Here's a video of me giving it a try. Floyd had a little trouble with the zoom feature, but it still turned out fine. Our guide spoke some English, so you'll hear him directing me. :)

The guide did explain that he once asked his grandmother why men did not make silk or weave. She explained that men are strong and their brains are good for the hard, physical work of farming. But making silk and weaving takes a lot of patience and is very complicated. To make the complex designs, fix any problems when the silk tangles or breaks, and other difficult things, it takes a woman's brain. LOL! 😃

After the silk is spun, you get a fairly rough/course thread. We were pretty surprised when we touched it. They can use this course silk for things like curtains or table runners that are thicker and sturdier. 

In order to get a soft silk that is better for delicate things, they spin it a second time. The difference was quite surprising when you touched them. 

Also, the silk is always a yellow color because that's the color of the cocoons. Of course, the silk is dyed to different colors before it is weaved.

After the first round of spinning.

After the second round of spinning.

 After the threading and dying process.

Now, on to the weaving...

the looms are very large with thousands of threads running through them

 Look at this detailed pattern! As we watched, a fine string broke. She had an immediate verbal reaction, but then quickly went about finding the specific thread that broke and repairing it. One tiny thread out of thousands!

 I love this color!

 

I bought a lot of them, but here's a little sample. The picture on the left are my own scarves (since I bought so many, they gave me the far left one made of cotton and Floyd bought me the one in the middle as a surprise because he saw me comment on how pretty and unique it was). The picture on the right are ones I bought for Raegan. The 100% cotton one on the far right is so soft, almost like a fine cotton throw blanket, so it will make a nice scarf in the cool fall season. I can't show pictures of the rest because they're gifts.😃

In case you wonder, they do have some that are more manly. This one is Floyd's and Troy got a solid black one. This particular style like Floyd's (in various colors) is a very common type of scarf that Cambodians wear quite often, especially in the provinces.

We'll finish off with our ferry ride back across. It is a different boat this time. 

The climb to the top level required a bit more caution. The steps were narrow and slanted down. 

Customary couple photo :) 

We did get Troy to join us for a picture. :) 

                                
 We got on while the boat had several vehicles, but apparently they wait until it's full to depart. I can't say that I blame them, and wouldn't you be glad if you were one of the people in the last vehicle that pulled up. 😂

We finally got moving, but by then it started to rain. :) Luckily for everyone who wanted to stay dry, there was a cover. It was a fun excursion that still got us home by mid-afternoon and a little bit of a science lesson.